The text this morning is from the Gospel of Mark, the 16th chapter:
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! I have to ask, why are you here? What are you looking for? Why have you come here today? Why this place? Why today? What are you looking for? Will you find it?
I suppose it’s possible that some of you may be here because it’s just the way you were raised. Your family always came to church on Easter, so you came today, too. Your grandma or mom asked you to come, so you did. Maybe you’re here every week. Maybe you’re here once a year. Maybe you’re visiting for the first time. There could be a thousand reasons why you’re here this morning, but let me tell you something: God knew you would be here this day, and God knew exactly what you would be looking for: you’re looking for the end of your journey, the end of your wandering, and you’re looking for home. And this morning, I’m going to give it to you.
What is home? It’s not just where your heart is, though it is certainly that. Home is the rest you find. It’s the peace that comes when you lay your head down on the pillow at night and snuggle in. Home is where there is no fear and no need because everything is taken care of. That feeling when the dinner is made, floors are clean, the kids are bathed, and you just melt into that hour at peace.
We spend all of our days looking for home. Obviously, this is more than just the place we claim on our taxes. We look around us and we see the things of this world and we’re searching for home. We look for peace. We look for security. We look for comfort. I have to tell you, you will never find it in the world. The world will always be out to get you, whether it’s the IRS, the other political party, the people who hate you, the oncoming car, the bolt of lightning, the cancer diagnosis. The world is out to get you. You won’t find home in the world.
But there is a place you can go to find home. It’s not home itself, but it teaches us about home. It teaches us about the rest we can find, the peace that is there. It may not always be peaceful itself, but it always shows us where the peace is. And more than that, it brings home to you. It literally delivers home to you so that you don’t have to look anymore. It’s not home itself, but it’s where home can be found. And, quite honestly, you’re already there.
You don’t have to look further than where you’re sitting to find that home. You really don’t even have to look, you only need open your ears to hear, your mouths to eat. And home is going to be there.
You know, on the first Easter morning, three women who were close to Jesus went looking for that home. They thought that they would find some peace if they could go to His tomb and make sure that His body was prepared to decay in peace. Maybe they’d find some closure, and after hiding for three days from the people who murdered their friend, that’s really what they needed. They needed the comfort of wrapping His body up in spices and linens, because, honestly, that was just their duty, and sometimes it just feels good doing what needs to be done.
They went to the land of the dead to see Jesus. They knew He was dead, and they went to the place where He had been laid because that’s where dead people are supposed to be. You have to realize, the tomb of Jesus is more than just a place where His body had been laid. The tomb of Jesus is the exact opposite of home. It’s exile from God for all humanity. Death is the consequence of sin, death is the reality we all will face. It’s true that we fight it or deny it. We prolong its coming with pills and surgeries. We cover its coming with makeup over our wrinkles. We stave it off with dieting and exercise. But we all will face it. And death is exile. It’s bad. It’s not home.
That’s, sadly, the devastation that has been brought to this world by our sin, by your sin. Adam and Eve began it. By all means, blame them. They sinned against God and made all of their offspring follow in their footsteps. But, we haven’t chosen so well for ourselves, have we? Oh, I’m a good person, we say. But have you hated anyone, lusted after anyone? Have you coveted what was not yours, whether it’s a thing or a person? Have you stolen or cheated or lied? The reality is, when faced with the option to do good or evil, we most often either choose the evil or not to do the good. We’re lucky when we do what seems good, but it will never make up for all the bad we do.
And so our sin will take us to the land of exile, the land of the dead. It’s coming. It’s not home. It doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t feel right. But that’s why Jesus was lying the land of the dead, so that you might never have to. He took the exile that you might always be home. He laid in the tomb so that, even if you do die in this life, you will have everlasting life.
He went to the cross, He suffered its shame, He was tortured by the beatings, He endured the people who mocked Him, and He breathed His last. It was awful. I can’t imagine it. I can’t imagine watching it. I can’t imagine what Mary, His mother, must have been thinking as she watched the very boy who she made laugh for the first time, who she helped with His first steps, who she taught to speak and to read and to write, I can’t imagine as she watched all that she poured into Him now pour out of Him in His blood and tears. It was brutal, it was agonizing, it was deadly, it was death.
And now His body laid in the tomb, and the women went to visit Him, hoping to catch a glimpse of home. But He was not there. He was not there in the tomb. They were expecting to find a corpse, but instead, they found an angel sitting there telling them that Jesus of Nazareth was no longer there, but He is alive, He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
The women were amazed into silence and fear. They didn’t know what to do. They had hoped to find some comfort, but it wasn’t there. There’s no comfort in a missing body, friends. You go and visit grandma in the funeral home and they tell you that she’s gone missing, there’s no comfort there. They probably didn’t hear the angel’s words telling them that Jesus was alive. They were shocked. And they fled from that place. There’s no comfort there. There’s no home in the land of the dead.
There can’t be. There can’t be hope in a cemetery. All the graves they walked through, there’s no hope there. They aren’t just going to magically spring from the dead and join in a rousing chorus line. Cemeteries are silent as the grave for a reason. Yet, they had hoped maybe, by their duty, they would find some comfort, but now the body was gone and all hope of home was lost.
The world is confusing and difficult. It’s overwhelming and uncomfortable. And there’s no hope in it. You will never find the hope of home out in the world because it’s the world of the dead. Surrounded by noise, we wander the world where it is silent as the grave because it can’t tell us about home.
But the Church can. And the Church does. And the Church brings home to you every single time we gather together. You want peace? You want joy? You want comfort? You want hope? You want rest? Guess what? We put it in your ears. We put it in your mouths. We put it on your foreheads. We preach and teach. We deliver the Sacrament of the Altar. We baptize your babies and anyone else who has need of it. That’s hope. That’s home. And it’s home because He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
That’s what the women missed that Easter morning. They missed His resurrection. They missed His standing among them. They couldn’t hear it. They were looking for the dead, not the living among the dead. They couldn’t hear that Jesus was raised from the dead, just like you wouldn’t be able to hear that grandma went missing at the funeral home because the hospital made a mistake and she wasn’t dead but has made a full recovery. When you’re looking for the wrong thing, you’ll never hear about the right thing.
So, look for the right thing. Look for home, and look for it in the place where He has promised to be. Christ Jesus is our home. He has lived, He has died, and He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And He did it all for you, to give you a home, an eternal home, an eternal hope, an eternal life, a resurrection like His that will last forever. He did it all for you. He did it so that you don’t have to look out in the world for a home that will never be sustained. Even the strongest of houses fall down. But the home that is in Christ, the peace, the comfort, the joy, the hope, the rest that you need, that is in Christ, is eternal. It never goes away, not ever.
So, why are you here? What are you looking for? Why have you come here today? Why this place? Why today? What are you looking for? Will you find it? Is it still because grandma or mom dragged you? Or is it because you finally realize that you’re here to hear of the home that we have in Christ Jesus, Lord of All Creation? Do you finally realize what this means? He is not dead, but He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Stop looking for home in the land of the dead; find your home, your rest, your comfort in Him, and receive it each and every time the Church gathers together. Home isn’t in the coffee shop, at the bottom of the bottle, in the newest fad or fashion. Home isn’t even at home. Our forever home in Christ is in the Church, right where He promised to be. And He is here, for He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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