The Resurrection of Our Lord

The Resurrection of Our Lord

April 17, 2022

Text: Luke 24:1-12

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

            Then why do you seek the Living One among the dead (Luke 24:5)?  Why do you still live in fear, locked away behind closed doors, fearing those things and people who, at worst, can kill your body, but after that, have nothing more they can do (12:4 ff.)?  Why are you anxious about your life, what you will eat, and about your body, what you will put on (v. 22)?  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing (v. 23)?  Why do you grasp at the things of this life as though you must get all you can out of it now, before you die, building bigger barns to store your grain and your goods, so you can relax, eat, drink, and be merry (vv. 13 ff.)?  Why do you question in your hearts (5:22)?  Why do you doubt?  Why do you seek for spectacular signs that would somehow prove God true, when the sign of Jonah has been fulfilled (11:29 ff)?  O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken (24:25).  Why do you cling to the guilt of your sins, the shame, the condemnation and accusations of the Law?  “Man, your sins are forgiven you” (5:20; ESV).  Why do you despair of His help and healing?  “(R)ise, pick up your bed and go home” (v. 24).  “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace” (8:48).  And above all, why do you fear it may really be true?  That Jesus, who was crucified, is risen from the dead?

            You fear it, because this is not how things go in this world.  This is not what you experience in your body, what you see with your eyes, what you know by your mortal mind.  Here, now, you are oppressed by your enemies.  The devil lies to you.  He tells you Christ will only judge you and condemn you.  The world mocks the foolishness of a God who dies, and of a Man who rises from the dead.  And, though the spirit is willing, your sinful flesh renders you weak.  Like the women in our Gospel, insofar as you are flesh, you come to the tomb on Easter morning with the spices of your songs and praise, but ultimately you expect to find a dead body.  Like the Apostles, insofar as you are flesh, you gather with the Church on Sunday, more out of habit than anything else.  Or maybe not even that.  And so much of life seems hopeless, as change and decay in all around you see. 

            That is why this morning, and every Sunday, and every time we gather, you must hear the preaching of the two men in dazzling apparel who met the women at early dawn.  Why do you seek the Living One among the dead?  He is not here!  The tomb is empty!  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!  And then, Remember… Remember how He told you that it must be this way, “that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (24:7).

            Remember His Words.  This is your lifeline.  The preaching of Christ crucified, Christ who is now risen from the dead, lives, and reigns, this obliterates all doubt and despair.  It silences all fear and quells all anxiety.  It casts out sin and every idol.  It assuages guilt and covers shame.  Christ died for your sins.  He is risen for your justification.  He has purchased you for God.  The Father loves you as His own dear child.  If that is true (and it is), then “What shall we say to these things?”… these things that so trouble us…  “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Rom. 8:31-32)?  And, as Paul confidently preaches to us this morning, “in fact Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Cor. 15:20).  And if that is true (and it is), “in Christ shall all be made alive… Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (vv. 22-23).  And that means you.  And that means me. 

            You see… The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything.

            When the women came to the tomb at deep dawn on Sunday morning, they did not find a dead body sealed in the grave, as they expected.  The stone had been rolled away.  And the two men, angels, preached the good news.  He is not dead.  He is risen, just as He said.  They bid the women remember Jesus’ Words, and that’s just what they did.  This is what He said would happen.  And look… it has!  And now, they no longer despair.  They return to tell the Apostles and all the rest that it really is true!  Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!  The preaching of the risen Jesus opens the lips of these dear women in confession and praise.

            When the Apostles hear it, they do not believe at first.  Well, again, this is so contrary to all human experience.  Like us, they are hindered by their fleshly weakness.  It is not possible.  Dead men don’t rise.  But then, something happens within Peter, and it can only be the work of the Holy Spirit through the witness of the women… in other words, by the hearing of the Word.  “Peter rose” (Luke 24:12; emphasis added).  Πέτρος ἀναστὰς, from which we get the name, “Anastasia.”  The word is THE word for resurrection.  (If you’ve ever watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which you should do this very afternoon if you haven’t, you know that the Easter greeting is Χριστός Ανέστη, and the response, Aληθώς ανέστη: Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!)  Πέτρος ἀναστὰς, Peter rose, because he heard Jesus is risen, and now what was dead in him, namely his faith in Christ, rose to new life.  And he ran to the tomb.  The lame not only walk… they run!  You remember from the Prodigal Son text a few weeks ago, what it means to run in the ancient world.  How no respectable man ever, for any reason, runs.  It is disgraceful.  It is embarrassing.  You have to hike up your skirts and show a little leg.  It’s like running through the streets in your underpants.  But now, who cares?!  Jesus is risen!  This is worth the humiliation.  And he gets to the tomb, and what does he find?  Not a body.  The linen cloths by themselves…  You know, the shroud, in which they had wrapped the Lord’s corpse.  And he knows.  Jesus had prayed for this moment: “Peter, you will deny me.  You will fall”… “but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.  And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (22:32).  Now he does just that.  He will return to the Apostles.  He will bear witness.  He will become the great preacher of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

            Now, any number of times in the forty days subsequent to the resurrection, the risen Jesus appears to His disciples.  And this is important.  This is not just a myth somebody made up, or some kind of spiritual (metaphysical) resurrection, or a resurrection in the disciples’ hearts.  We have eyewitnesses who will testify to their death that they saw Jesus dead, and then saw Him alive, risen, bodily. 

            But in terms of the limits of our Holy Gospel this morning, have you noticed the one thing that we don’t get?  An appearance of the Man Himself, the risen Lord!  Now, we will get that in the readings over the next few weeks, and of course, you can go read it for yourself in the very next verses, and you should.   But there is something appropriate about our Easter morning Gospel ending here, where it does.  At this point, all the women have to go on is the preaching of the two dazzling men.  At this point, all the Apostles and those with them have to go on is the witness of the women.  Just like us.  We have not seen the risen Lord Jesus yet with our eyes.  But we have the preaching.  We have the Church’s confession.  We have the Apostolic testimony in Holy Scripture.  And that is enough.  Remember what He told you.  By His Word, the Spirit raises us to faith in Christ, who is bodily risen from the dead.  We rise, and we run.  And we see that the body is not in the tomb.  Why would we seek the Living One among the dead?  Now we should seek Him in all the places He positions Himself in the Gospel readings for the coming weeks, the places he has promised to be.  And that is to say, among His Apostles, in His Church, in His holy Word and Sacraments.

            You really do believe this, in spite of the devil’s lies.  In spite of the world’s mockery.  In spite of the weakness of your sinful flesh, which you should daily push back down into the baptismal waters and drown in repentance.  You believe this, because the Spirit of the Father has been poured out on you, and blown through on the preaching of the Gospel, the very breath of Jesus Christ.  You believe this… and it is a miracle.  It is nothing short of a resurrection from the dead.  You who were dead in your trespasses and sins, the Spirit has now made a living one, through the resurrection of Christ, the Living One. 

            And so, what happens to fear?  The worst that can happen is the death of your body.  But Jesus Christ, who is risen from the dead, will raise your body on the Last Day.  What happens to anxiety?  Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, who lives and reigns, will not fail to give you each day your daily bread, and provide for all your needs of body and soul.  What happens to greed and covetousness, the bottomless void you are always trying to fill with the things of this fallen world?  Jesus Christ, who sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty, fills you to the brim with Himself, and then graciously gives you all things.  The tomb is now empty.  There is no place for doubt, and no room for despair.  Why seek the Living One among the dead?  Remember His Words.  His death and resurrection are how it must happen.  Your sins are forgiven.  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord (Rom. 8:1).  And what further signs do you need?  You are baptized into Christ.  His seal is upon you.  Here is His body.  Here is His blood.  Given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins, now coursing through your veins with resurrection life.  Remember what He said.  At His Word, and at His touch, you are healed and made whole.

            The resurrection of Jesus Christ changes everything.  Jesus lives.  And in Him, so do you.  So you can live boldly.  You can live confidently.  You can live with joy, and in peace, in spite of the devil and the whole world.  Live as though Jesus is actually risen from the dead.  Because He is!  O wise ones, given wisdom and faith to believe all that the prophets have spoken.  It really is true!  Χριστός Ανέστη!  Aληθώς ανέστη!  Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.