The Resurrection of Our Lord (C)
April 20, 2025
Text:
Luke 24:1-12
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Remember. “Remember how he told you…” (Luke
24:6; ESV). Remember what? “(T)hat the Son of Man must be
delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day
rise” (v. 7). “And they
remembered his words…” (v. 8). Remember. Remember what He said. Remember what He has now done. Remember… Jesus, who died for you on
the cross, making atonement for all your sins, is now risen from the dead. Bodily.
Victorious over sin, death, and the very devil. As He promised. And beloved, that changes everything, and
makes all things new.
Remember that when your sins trouble
you. Persistent sins. Occasional sins. Sins of the past that insist on haunting
you. Guilt. Shame.
Fear. Remember… Your Lord
Jesus Christ has taken all those sins away.
He absolves your guilt and covers your shame, so there is no reason to
fear. Because all of that has been put
to death in His body on the tree. And
He, Himself, is risen, and lives. You
are baptized into that reality. His
death is your death. His resurrection is
your new life now, and bodily resurrection on the Last Day. His atonement has done your sins to
death. His righteousness is your
justification before God. Remember
that. Remember. That is what He says.
Remember that when the devil tempts
or accuses you. When he tempts you, say
to him, “My dear devil, my Lord Jesus suffered and died for me on the cross,
and is risen, and lives for me, and loves me.
How can I now deny Him by rebelling against Him and living for
myself? No. Be gone, Satan. I live in my Jesus, and for my Jesus. I love my Jesus, who so loves me.” And when he accuses you, that wily serpent,
that enemy of mankind, then heed the advice of Dr. Luther: “When the devil
throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought
to speak thus: ‘I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it?
Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means.
For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there I shall be also.’”[1] Christ is risen. Therefore, I live.
And remember that when death alarms
you. In the face of terror or
tragedy. When you grieve the death of a
loved one. When one you love, or you
yourself, suffer mortality’s symptoms, death’s hors d'oeuvres of pain,
disease, or injury. Remember it in your
last hour, when you hear the bell tolling for thee. Jesus died and rose again, as He said. And now, what does He say to you? “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet
shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die”
(John 11:25-26). Remember that Jesus has
blazed the trail. He walked through the
valley of the shadow and blasted a hole out the other side. Now, He leads us through death, to life
everlasting. Even as He rose from the
dead, bodily, so He will raise us, bodily.
Remember that, because that is what He says.
Remember that when all you can see
with your mortal eyes is the brokenness and filth of it all. The fallenness. The insanity.
The whole world in dark delusion.
Remember: On the first Day of the week, at early dawn, the women came to
anoint a dead body. But they didn’t find
one. Instead, they found that the stone
had been rolled away, and that the tomb was empty. And two men in dazzling apparel… it is safe
to say they are holy angels… reminded them.
They ought not look for the living among the dead. “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you” (Luke 24:6).
Beloved, remember. Remember the Words. Remember by hearing them again and again, at
every opportunity. By reading them,
confessing them, and being immersed, by God, in them. And then, in the face of all that is wrong,
and sad, and hurts you, say, boldly and confidently: “Nevertheless, Christ is
risen!” And then, with Dr. Luther:
“Nevertheless, I am baptized.” That is,
“I, too, have died with Christ, and have been raised from death with
Christ. My sins are forgiven. I am loved.
The serpent’s head is crushed. And death?
Death is living on borrowed time.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
He is making all things new. In
the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
[1] Luther: Letters of
Spiritual Counsel, Theodore G. Tappert, Ed. (Westminster/John Knox, 1955)
pp. 86-87.
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