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St. Mark 16:1-8 - Easter Morning 2010
St. Mark Lutheran Church - April 4, 2010
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Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen. In the name of Jesus. Amen. It was over. All of it. He was done - all that He did, said, and promised died with Him. So they thought...
The shame. The dreadful, terrible, shame - His beaten, lifeless, naked body hanging there between two thieves. He was their teacher, their Savior, and there He was mocked, abused, taunted.
The King of the Jews is crowned with thorns, the symbol of man’s fall into sin. God’s suffering servant - smitten by God and afflicted.
Crucified. Nails driven into His hands and feet. God’s Son is abandoned by His Father. “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” He calls out. How could God abandon His Son?
He gives up His spirit. He breathes His last. And the one who silenced demons and shushed people from saying who He was after He healed them, can’t stop the centurion from saying after He’s dead, “Surely, this man is the Son of God.”
For you, He suffered. For me, He died. For us, for our sins, for our failures, for our fall. On the six day, on Friday, He died for His creation. The day that the Creator called “very good” after He created us. On the seventh day, He rested.
So when the day of His rest was past, the women, His altar guild, rose early on the third day to go to the tomb to anoint the body of Christ, the Messiah, God’s anointed.
The sun was just up. They arrived to the tomb. “Who’s going to move that stone away? It’s very large. Oh wait, it’s already gone.”
A young man - an angel, no doubt, clothed in white is seated at the right hand where the Lord’s body was. Was - past tense. Not there now.
“Don’t be alarmed,” He says. “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, He is not here. See the place where He was laid.”
Jesus of Nazareth - the One who died for them. The angel is very specific. The Gospel always is specific. The Good News is not that someone died and rose again. Plenty of ancient dead religions have that. No big deal. But all of them from Buddha to Muhammad all have one thing in common: their religious leaders all stayed dead.
No, the Easter Gospel is that the Jesus of Nazareth, who was proclaimed to be the Christ, the Son of the Living God, was crucified for our sins on Good Friday, has now been raised again from the dead.
If He had stayed dead, that claim would have died with Him. But He is dead no more, see the place where they laid Him. He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
This is a reality that defies imagination. But it is the reality that we live in even today. Jesus of Nazareth suffered, died, and rose again for you on the third day.
It is not about some imaginary myths or people. Jesus didn’t die because you believe in Him. Nor did He rise because you believe that He did. Whether you believe or not, the Man Jesus lived His life for you and died in your place. He then rose again from the dead on Easter morning.
And since He lives, everything that He did - from His teaching, His miracles, to the feeding of thousands, to raising the dead, His holy life, His bitter suffering and death - all of it counts now for you.
For the thorns - the curse of God’s wrath - He has borne upon Himself. The curse of death...Death itself has been swallowed up by the victory of the Son of God.
Dr. Luther said it this way, “It was a strange and dreadful strife when life and death contended; the victory remained with life the reign of death was ended. Holy Scripture plainly saith that death is swallowed up by death. It’s sting is lost forever. Alleluia.” (458, 4)
The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the Law. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified for our sins. He is the fulfillment of the Law, so that we might be saints.
God Himself dies for His people on the sixth day of creation to redeem those He created. He desires not the death of the sinner, your death.
God Himself is raised from the dead on Easter morning. The tomb is empty. Salvation has been achieved. It’s delivered to you today in the words of the angel, “You seek Jesus, who was crucified, He is not here. See the place where He lay.”
“Go and tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, see I have told you.”
No one is left out from hearing the Gospel on Easter morning. No one - not even three-times denier Peter. Tell him too. Tell Him that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Tell him that his denial is forgiven. All three denials are forgiven - not by Peter changing, not by His being sorry, but by what Jesus did for Him.
Your sins are forgiven too. You aren’t left out of the Easter forgiveness either. He doesn’t forgive you because you change, or alter the course of your life, or do anything - but solely by Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified for you and rose again on Easter morning.
Today, you have been gathered by the Holy Spirit not to the tomb of Christ, but to His church to hear His Word. You’ve come with your sins, with your guilt, with the pain you’ve been feeling. Like the women, the angel’s words have entered your ears.
How do you know that even you are forgiven? How do you know that God smiles on you today? Do you know because you feel the sorrow of Good Friday? Do you know because you feel the joy of Easter?
No, your sins are forgiven because the One who died on Good Friday has risen from the dead, conquering your sins and kicking death itself in the teeth.
Today, Jesus comes to you in His gifts. He washes your sins away at the baptismal font. His Absolution proclaims to you the reality of the empty tomb: your sins have been answered for and you are forgiven.
And today, the blood shed for you on the Cross, He gives to you today under wine for the forgiveness of your sins. The body broken on the tree, He feeds to you under bread.
And you, you are raised from the dead by His life. Raised from your sins, raised from your guilt, raised from your doubt and your pain. Your death has been conquered, your sicknesses taken by God Himself, the curse lifted.
Now, the women left trembling and afraid that first Easter morning. They were stuck in the past reality that the curse of sin - death - remained. They didn’t believe, didn’t know what to do, and gripped with fear, they didn’t say anything to anyone. Fear, death, and hell seized them.
Reality has changed. Changed for them. Changed for you too. Death is not the end. Not any more.
“Christ Jesus, God’s own Son, came down, His people to deliver; destroying sin, He took the crown from death’s pale brow forever: stripped of power no more it reigns; an empty form alone remains and its sting is lost forever.” (458, 3)
Jesus is alive. So leave your sins behind, leave your doubts in the tomb. They can’t harm you any more. They died with Jesus.
He lives, so you will live too. Not might live, not possibly live... Will live. Faith clings to and believes that as surely as the One who died on Good Friday has risen from the dead, you will live too.
You’ve been raised - to life for others. To serve them, care for them, to love them as He has loved you. To proclaim to them the message of the angels that Jesus of Nazareth isn’t in the tomb.
Then let us feast this Easter Day on Christ the bread of heaven; the Word of grace has purged away the old and evil leaven. Christ alone our souls will feed; He is our meat and drink indeed. Faith lives upon no other!” (458, 7)
Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen from the dead! He is risen indeed! Amen.
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