Sermon: Easter - 2019

21 April 2019

Text: Mark 16:1-8 (Job 19:23-27, 1 Cor 15:51-57)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

Alleluia!  This term comes from the Hebrew for “Praise the Lord!”  We have avoided saying this word for the six weeks of Lent not because we don’t praise the Lord during that time, but rather as a way of reminding ourselves of our sinful nature – which does not praise the Lord.

But it is all different now!  We remember the cross, where Jesus died to pay the debt of our sins, and we rejoice in the empty tomb, in which life defeated death, from which our beloved Teacher and Savior, our Lord and God, rose again – confounding the guards at the tomb, perplexing the government of the mightiest empire on earth from the highest levels on down, causing the angels to rejoice, making the demons shriek, and leaving behind a physical reminder that He is indeed who He says He is: God in the flesh come to rescue us from our corruption and mortality.  Alleluia.

We heard the abrupt account from the shortest Gospel of what happened that first Easter morning.  It ends with the women finding the tomb empty, and being afraid.  It seems a strange place to leave us this morning on Easter Sunday.  But, dear friends, for us Christians, Easter is not just one day (as it is for the world) – Easter is a seven week celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ, of life, of victory!  We linger in the resurrection, even as our Lord lingered among the disciples and in the world, for seven weeks following His rising from the dead.  The reaction of the women at the empty tomb is just the beginning of the account of the resurrection of Jesus – a history that has turned the world on its head, and has rewritten the entire history of mankind.  

For the fearful women and the rudderless men who followed Jesus to the cross will soon see Jesus, emergent from the tomb.  They will soon receive the Holy Spirit.  They will soon transform into fearless heroes and heroines, whose faith would in turn transform the Empire and change the world forever, a movement that reverberates around the world to this very day, even within these walls, on this Day of the Feast of the Lord’s Resurrection, in the year of our Lord, 2019.

But for today, having just heard this reading, we remember the women who went to the tomb, and we call to mind the first impressions of the first messengers to the first apostles, the first links in the chain connected to us today.  For it is astonishing.

The Marys and Salome were present at our Lord’s crucifixion.  They watched Him die.  They knew that He was rushed into the garden tomb with a hasty embalming ritual.  After the Sabbath, they have come to the tomb to “anoint Him.”  There is great irony here, for Jesus is the Messiah, which means “the anointed one.”  And moreover, the last thing that our Lord needs is embalming.  For He is the one prophesied who would not see corruption.  The Marys and Salome – like all of our Lord’s disciples – are still trying to figure it all out.  Jesus is still teaching them.  This is such an important thing to keep in mind as skeptics try to dismiss the Gospels’ account of the resurrection.  For if this were a faked account, everyone would now be taking a victory lap and boasting.  Instead, everyone is confused and afraid, kind of bumbling around and groping in the dark – which has the ring of truth to it.

And so the women head out on their mission of mercy, and they are in for a big surprise.  For the mercy is on them.  And walking in the dark, it dawns on them that the tomb is sealed by a large stone, “And they were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’”  And just at that moment, the divine sense of irony shows itself again, as they look up to see that the massive stone was already removed from the gaping mouth of the grave.  The tomb was literally gawking, like a person in shock, mouth agape, almost as if the tomb itself were looking at the women with equal perplexity, gasping for air.  For of all the tombs in history – even dating back to the grave of Adam – not a single one could boast what had just happened inside.  For Jesus had risen and took the time to carefully fold all of the linens, and then just left.  He just walked out.  Per Matthew’s account, after moving aside the large, heavy stone, the angel sat on it, which has the sense of a kind of victory lap.  He sat on it and waited for the women to arrive.

If the walls of this tomb could talk!  In a way they do, brothers and sisters, for this tomb is today a church, and in this church, and especially on this day, the walls resonate with the Word of God, calling to mind the Lord’s glorious resurrection that happened right there!

When the puzzled women went inside, the angel told them not to be alarmed, and correctly surmised why they were there, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has risen.”

“He has risen,” dear friends.  Listen to these words and cherish them!  “He has risen.”  Can you imagine what was going through their minds at that moment?  “He is risen.”  

They came to find a body, but instead found an empty slab, folded up linens, and an angel with very good news.  That, dear friends, is Easter.  That is the Christian life.  That is why we are here today.  And that is why we continue to come to this altar: an empty slab with folded linens, where instead of finding a dead body, we find the life-giving body of the bread of life.  Instead of coagulated blood, we find the blood of the fruit of the vine, flowing freely from the cup to forgive our sins and strengthen our faith.  We find the risen body of Jesus, and we have fellowship with Him – even as the women and the apostles will soon experience their Lord again in the flesh!

The angel invites them to have a look inside, to verify his testimony.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  Take a look.  Examine the claims of the church.  Did Jesus rise again?  Because if He did, it speaks to why you were born, dear friends.  It speaks to our universe and its meaning.  It speaks to our lives having purpose – even as the angel gave the women something to do as their calling: to tell the disciples.  If Jesus did not rise again, we are wasting our time.  If He did not rise, do something else on Sundays.  I’m serious about that.  But make no mistake, dear friends, there is an empty tomb in today’s Jerusalem.  There are historical accounts that speak about the empty tomb with amazement.  There are accounts of the various appearances of Jesus, and the transformation of these frightened Christian men and women into fearless conquerors of the mighty Roman Empire, whose Gospel would transform the world.  Those who dismiss the resurrection of Jesus without a fair examination of the many evidences for it, do so at their own peril.  It is worth looking into for anyone who wants to know the truth, for anyone who wants to know why we are here.

And so the women, though frightened, now know that Jesus has risen.  They don’t know what happens next, but the angel told them what to do next: “Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee.  There you will see Him, just as He told you.”

“Just as He told you,” dear friends.  Even angels quote the Word of God.  Jesus did in fact tell His disciples that very thing, that after the resurrection, He would meet them in Galilee.  And so He did.

The women trembled.  They were astonished.  They did not give the message to anyone until they had reached the disciples.  “For they were afraid.” 

Of course, the Scriptures teach us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  They were afraid, but they did as the angel had bid them.

And we know what happens next.  Jesus will indeed appear to Mary Magdalene and will invite her not to fear.  He will appear to the eleven (though without Thomas) and bless them with the greeting, “Peace be with you.”  And then He will appear to Thomas, whose doubts were driven away by putting his fingers into the Lord’s scars.  

But there is no need to be hasty, dear friends.  We have seven weeks of Easter joy to celebrate, to read, to hear, to proclaim, to meditate upon, and to rejoice in, the Word of God.  We have an eternity of “Alleluias” to sing.  For the women are not left in their trembling.  The world is not left in its shroud of darkness.  The church is not left in defeat by a culture of cynicism and unbelief.  For this is our time to rejoice, to praise the Lord, to say, “Alleluia!” again and again, even unto eternity!  Amen.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.