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INJ
St Mark 16
'Looking Back at Death'
Divine Service
Resurrection Sunday | March 22, 2008
Dear Saints,
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! The good news of Easter shines through the shadow of death. Light and life have come. Death could not hold Him. Death has lost its sting. Death is swallowed up in victory. Jesus is the victor. He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The stone is rolled away. The grave gives up; it is empty. Jesus is alive! He is not with the dead but the living. We know that our Redeemer lives! The bonds of the tomb are broken. The grave has been unlocked and the Son of David holds the key. The angels announce the good news, “He is not here! He is risen!” He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The Temple that was torn down has been rebuilt in three days. The sign of Jonah has been given. Jesus is risen, the bright Morning Star, with healing in His wings. He has been raised for our justification, for our forgiveness. The Father accepts the offered sacrifice. Heaven and earth are reconciled, God is at peace with mankind. It has been declared publicly that we are redeemed, reconciled, pure, innocent and perfect in Christ. The words spoken in death ring out with life, “It is finished.” Indeed, it is finished! Indeed, He is risen! Alleluia!
The mouth of death, that is, the tomb, is empty. The First-born from the dead has come forth. The pledge and promise of our own resurrection has been given. The chains of sin and the bonds of death are broken and we are set free. The devil is our slave master no more, for he has met his own Master. Freedom has come, and peace, and life. Christ is risen! Alleluia!
On the cross Jesus was clothed with our sins, wrapped with our wickedness, but those grave clothes were left in the tomb. They did not ascend to the face of the Father. Your sin is buried. Your shame stays in the tomb. All of God's anger is spent on Jesus. There is no more for you, not one drop. No more wrath. No more destruction. No more threats or condemnation of the law. All of that is spent on Jesus. All of it, gone, for He is risen! Alleluia!
This is our joy, our comfort, our hope, our life, our salvation, our blessedness, our laughter, our peace, our forgiveness, our righteousness, our justification, our treasure, that Jesus has died for us, and that He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
But it wasn't quite like this on the first Easter morning. It was all joy and rejoicing, but confusing and full of fear. Remember, early in the morning the women came to pay their last respects to the Lord Jesus, bringing spices to finish the work of burial. As they are going they begin to wonder, “Wait a minute, how are we going to get to Jesus? Who will roll the stone away?” But this question doesn't last long, for as they approach the tomb they see that the stone has already been moved, and going into the tomb they find that Jesus is gone and an angel is there instead, and they are afraid.
The angel preaches to the of the Lord's resurrection, but they are more afraid still, and the fled from the tomb, and, the text says, “They trembled and were amazed, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” [Mark 16:8]
Now this is not what we expect. Should it be that they were rejoicing. That they would dwell at the tomb, tarry there for a while and rejoice, and then head back to town to joyfully make know the things they had seen. But no, they are afraid, and silent. Why? Why do you think that these faithful women were afraid? What did they fear?
For the root of this fear we have to go all the way back to the beginning. Remember how it was when God planted a garden and put Adam and Eve there will all they needed, and gave them the command, “You shall not eat of the tree in the middle of the garden, for on the day you eat of it you will surely die.” And you all know what happened, the devil came tempting Eve, and she and Adam ate the fruit, and their eyes were opened, and they saw their shame. And then God came to visit them, and they hid themselves from God. The Lord calls out to Adam, and do you remember how Adam responds? “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid.” [Genesis 3:10]
And that's where is started, and where it's been ever since. There is fear in the presence of God. So it is that the very thing we should fear, the thing from which we should run and hide is sin, and sin's sister death. We should be afraid of these, but do you see that our sinful flesh, which is soaked to the bone with sin and death, has made us comfortable with the same. Sin is like that clanking sound your car makes; “Oh, you'll get used to it. If you turn up the radio you don't hear it.” And after a while it goes away. And death? It's like the rowdy neighbors in the apartment above you. “Just ignore it and pretty soon you won't notice.” We have grown comfortable with sin and death, all of us have, and in this state it is life and righteousness that makes us afraid. This, I believe, is why the women are afraid, why the disciples are afraid. And perhaps the reason that some of us are rarely in the church.
But things are all backward, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus is to straighten them up. The resurrection of Jesus puts sin and death in their proper place: as our enemies, our defeated enemies. And the death and resurrection puts these things behind us.
Do you see that on the cross Jesus was dying the death of every sinner, and that in the shedding of His blood all of our sins are covered and washed away? So that the Lord's resurrection is not the reversal of the cross, but the fulfillment of it, the result of it. Jesus' death is the end of sin and the death of death. When He shouts, “It is finished” from the cross, we know that the resurrection is coming, that the power of sin has been broken.
But is this all abstract and distant? Let's make it practical, as they say. The power of your sin and the power of your death have been broken, destroyed, made nothing. Jesus victory over the grave is your victory.
It was not for Himself that He took on human nature in the virgin's womb. It was for you. It was not for Himself that He preached the kingdom of God and did miracles. It was for you. It was not for Himself that He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, that He was betrayed in the garden with a kiss, that He was mocked, beaten and nailed to the tree. It was not for Himself that He suffered and bled and died. It was for you. And so it was not for Himself that He rose from the grave and ascended into heaven. No. All of this, every bit of it was for you.
The Lord Jesus, from eternity, is full of life and righteousness, He doesn't need all this for Himself, but He does all of these things for us, to give us life and righteousness, the forgiveness of our sins.
And so, dear saints, what are you afraid of? Your sin? Jesus has shed His blood to wipe them away. The debt you owe to justice has been paid. You sin is forgotten, forgiven. Are you afraid of your shame, the things you've done? Jesus hung naked on the cross so that He might cover your shame in His robe of righteousness. Are you afraid of the threats and condemnation of the law? These were nailed to the cross, shattered on Jesus. Are you afraid of death? Jesus has built a highway through the tomb. It is the way to eternal life for all who are in Christ.
Dear saints, let us cast off fear, let us laugh and rejoice, let us be at peace with God and with each other, let us stand firm in the sure hope of the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting, and so let us look at sin and death as strangers, for Jesus, the crucified and risen One, is our friend.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO