Remember...
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| "The Morning of the Resurrection" by Edward Burnes-Jones |
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Christ is risen! He
is risen indeed! Alleluia!
There’s something that I noticed about our text this year
that I hadn’t thought about before. That
happens to pastors once in a while. I’m
sure it happens to you, too. Something
new jumps out of God’s Word at you that you’ve never seen before. Well, for me, on this text, it was one question:
Where are the men? I mean the disciples…
the Twelve… the ones who followed Jesus and were taught by Him for those three
years? Why are they hiding in the locked
room? I know, hindsight is 20/20, but
should all of this really have caught them by surprise?
St. Luke tells us of a least three occasions on which Jesus had
told His disciples that He would be killed and rise from the dead. In Luke 9:22, Jesus said: “The Son of Man must
suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
In Luke 9:44, Jesus said: “Let these words sink into your ears: The Son
of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.” And in Luke 18:31-33, Jesus became more
specific: “See, we are going up to Jerusalem,
and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be
accomplished. For He will be delivered
over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging Him, they will kill Him,
and on the third day He will rise.”
The cross and resurrection are the very purpose for which He
came. Jesus makes that very clear. But somehow they missed the point. After all, if they had understood completely
what Jesus said the picture would have been quite different, wouldn’t it? If they really understood, they would have
been standing there outside the tomb with Jesus’ clothes waiting for Him to
walk out of the grave.
Imagine the story: “On the first day of the week, at early
dawn, all of Jesus’ disciples went to the tomb, taking Jesus’ clothing with
them. When they arrived they rolled the
stone away from the grave and waited for Jesus to come out.”
Well, that’s quite a different story isn’t it? And in fact, St. Luke tells us that each time
Jesus shared the cross and the resurrection with them, they didn’t understand
what He was talking about. It was
concealed from them and they were afraid to ask Him what He meant. They did not grasp what was said. Even though Jesus said, “Let these words sink
into your ears…” they didn’t let them sink into their ears, and so those words
did not penetrate their hearts and minds, either.
But the women weren’t much better. They didn’t really get it either. They didn’t come to see a living Jesus, but to
anoint a dead body. That’s why they took
the spices that they had prepared. They
didn’t remember. All Jesus’
followers—the men and the women—didn’t remember the words that Jesus spoke to
them.
Oh, they believed in bodily resurrection. They believed that God would raise all the
dead at the end of time. They just
didn’t expect a resurrection now. It’s
not that Jesus was speaking in code or something. What He said was clear enough. Even His enemies caught it. Sure, they twisted His words completely in
their kangaroo court, but they knew what Jesus was really saying. They heard Him say that He would raise this
body; that’s why they sealed His tomb and posted the guards. They didn’t want anyone to take His body and
say that He had risen from the dead. No,
it’s not that Jesus’ words were unclear—just impossible to believe.
Now, before we look down our noses at them, let’s try to put
ourselves in their sandals. After all,
you and I have the benefit of knowing how the story ends. We are not living it in the moment. So let’s try to see it from their
perspective.
Have you ever gone to a funeral and expected the deceased to
get up out of his or her casket? No! Death is unforgiving in that way. When it gets a hold of you, you stay
dead. That’s why it hurts so much for
the ones left behind.
When our loved ones die, we can’t talk to them anymore. We can’t hug them anymore. We can’t laugh and
cry with them. We can’t hear their voice
or look into their eyes. We can’t share
new memories with them. And it’s not
just that they are distant, far away.
There’s a hole where they were, a big empty space that nothing can
fill. That’s death. That’s the pain it causes. That’s the finality of it. That’s what the disciples were feeling on
Easter morning. They didn’t expect Jesus
to do what He said He’d do. After all,
He was dead. How could they believe that
He would rise? That’s impossible!
That is exactly the point.
What God does in Jesus is so amazing, so much against the way that we
think, that it just doesn’t seem possible.
Even when we hear it spoken very clearly we just say, “Now that can’t be
true.”
It’s right here. We
see the women and the disciples doing that very thing. The women go out there before dawn and find
an empty grave. They are perplexed. They don’t believe it can possibly be
true. “Why would the body be gone? This is where we saw them put Him. He should be here.”
But thank God, He does things in ways that we don’t
understand. Right there in the middle of
their doubt, He sends His angels speak to them.
And as the women were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground,
the angels say: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how He told you, while He was still
in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day
rise.”
And then it happens. God’s Word works in the women’s hearts. They remembered what Jesus said. Don’t underestimate that word
“remember.” It’s the difference between
being in the dark and being in the light.
It’s the difference between understanding and not understanding. It is in fact Jesus’ words of promise that are
spoken to them. It’s God’s Word that creates
faith and strengthens faith. And that
Word has the power to bring about that which it calls for: “Remember!”
So the women run back and tell the rest of the disciples:
“Christ has risen!” Only the disciples
did not say “He has risen indeed!” They
said, “That’s crazy!” Or words to that
effect. Still Peter was curious enough
he had to go and check it out for himself.
He ran to the tomb. Saw with his
own eyes the strips of linen that had wrapped Jesus’ body. But he was still not able to figure it all
out, to reconcile it in his mind. He
went home marveling at what had happened.
It takes Jesus Himself to get it all sorted out. “Peace to you!” He said, appearing in the upper room. When they still disbelieved for joy, He reminded
them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that
everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms
must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their
minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that
the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that
repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all
nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
So, what this mean for you and me?
Well, what about your doubts? Of
course you have them. Sometimes while
you are standing next to the casket, you wonder if Jesus can really raise your
loved ones from death. And sometimes you
really are afraid of your own death. I
know you’ve had feelings like those, because I’ve had them myself. Just like all of God’s people you wrestle
with doubt. At the same time you know
that Jesus did rise from the dead. You
know His promises are true. So what do
you do in times like this?
Remember! Remember
what God has told you! Remember what God
has given you! Remember who God has made
you! Remember what God has promised
you! In Holy Baptism you were connected
to Jesus in His life and death and resurrection. You were made a child of God and given His
holy name. It’s the very first thing we
remembered today, isn’t it? “In the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
That name in the Invocation is the very name you received in
your Baptism. That name placed upon you
gives you the right and privilege to come into God’s holy presence. In that washing with water and God’s Word,
God gave you faith to believe. What you
are remembering is that Jesus’ death is for you for the forgiveness of your
sins, including your sins of doubt. You
are also remembering that just as Christ is raised from the dead, you too will
be raised from the dead. Jesus is the
firstfruits of the resurrection. He is
the new Adam, as Adam brought all of humanity into sin and death, so Christ
brings humanity into justification and life. As in Adam all die, so in Christ will all be
made alive.
This is the Christian hope. Not that Jesus will fix all our problems or
exempt us from the suffering of this life or put a Band-Aid on every hurt that
comes along. St. Paul is clear: “If in this life only we
have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” And what a pitiful lot we would be if all the
Jesus was for us was some kind of heavenly invisible Friend who bails us out of
trouble every time we mess up, a Life Coach who help us make better decisions
in life.
The empty, open tomb gives us much
more to hope. Christ is risen, and in Him
the dead will rise! Our last and
greatest enemy, death itself, lies conquered, vanquished under the
cross-bruised heel of Jesus. The old
icons of the resurrection always show Christ standing on the grave, pulling up
Adam and Eve from their tombs. The reign
of death and grave is ended; the reign of Jesus Christ has begun.
When the women and Peter stepped
into that open, empty tomb they were eyewitnesses of the new creation breaking
into the old. The old has gone, the new
has already come. The darkness of death
is ended, the sun has risen and the morning sky is bright with resurrection.
That’s why when you stand at the edge of death in doubt; you
also stand there in faith. That’s why we
sing hymns like “Jesus lives! The victory’s won!” “Christ the Lord is risen
today! Alleluia!” and “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Those hymns are the words of faith, spoken in
the face of doubt. Those hymns are hymns
of remembering that what God says is true.
In the face of doubt, in the face of death, don’t look inside yourself
for some kind of inner strength!
Remember instead God’s Word of promise to you in Baptism.
Need more? I do! In the face of doubt seek the Lord where He
may be found. Here on this altar, the risen
Christ comes again. He says to you, take
the bread that is His body and eat it.
He says to you, take the wine that is His blood and drink it. “Do it and remember me!” Jesus says. What you are remembering is that Jesus’ blood
shed and His body broken on the cross are for you, for the forgiveness of your
sins. His Sacrament of the Altar is the
medicine of immortality, a pure, wholesome, comforting remedy that grants
salvation and comfort, that cures you and gives you life in both soul and
body.
Through His Word and Sacraments, the risen and ascended Lord
Jesus is with you right now and always with His promise of your own
resurrection. “See My hands and My feet,
that it is I myself. Touch Me, and see,”
Jesus said to His disciples that first Easter night. Today, Jesus puts Himself right inside you so
you can have no doubts about His promise to you. And right here (in your hands and mouth and
ears) He gives you faith to believe.
So our story is a bit different now. Here we are standing at the mouth of the open
grave of Jesus Christ. The Lord Has not
abandoned His soul to Sheol. He has not
let His Holy One see corruption. We do
not seek the living among the dead. We
do not mourn as those who have no hope. We
remember. We remember Christ’s Word. We remember His promise. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
And because Christ died and is risen for you, you are
forgiven for all of your sins. In the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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