1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Christ is risen, He’s
risen, indeed Alleluia! The message from
God’s Word today on this glorious Easter morning we celebrate our Lord’s
resurrection from the dead is taken from Mark 16:1-8 and it focuses on, The
First Commandment. Dear brothers and
sisters in Christ.
2.
In
Florida , an atheist created a case against the Easter and Passover holy days.
He hired an attorney to bring a discrimination case against observances of
Christian and Jewish holy days. The
argument was, it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days. The case
was brought before a judge. After listening to the passionate presentation by
the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, "Case dismissed." The
lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling saying, "Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss
this case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter, and others. The Jews have
Passover, Yom Kippur, and Hanukkah. Yet, my client and all other atheists have
no such holidays." The judge
leaned forward in his chair saying, "But
they do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant." The lawyer said, "Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for
atheists." The judge said,
"The calendar says April 1st is 'April Fool's Day.' Psalm 14:1 states, 'The fool says in his heart, there is no
God.' Thus, it is the opinion of this court that if your client says there is
no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is
adjourned."
3.
In the First Commandment, God forbids you from
having any other gods than him. You are to fear, love, and trust God above all
things. Because he wants to be God for you! For your benefit. (Recite
the commandment together.) In fact, there is no other God than the man
Jesus, the Christ.
4.
You had such high hopes in him. Jesus was everything
to you. You followed him because you believed he was the Messiah, the promised
Savior. He did things only God could do. He said words only God could possibly
say. This always amazed you, many times to the point of absolute fear. You were
there when he healed a paralytic and forgave his sins. It amazed everyone (Mk
2:12). When he stilled the storm, you were terrified and asked one another: “Who then is this, that even the wind and the
sea obey him?” (4:41). You were absolutely amazed when he brought Jairus’s
dead daughter back to life (5:42) and when he walked on the water (6:51). On
the mountain, his appearance changed, transfigured; you were scared out of your
wits (9:6). Could he be . . . ? Sure think so! But then he went and preached a
sermon series about insistently heading up to Jerusalem. He had a Jerusalem
mania. A Jerusalem on the brain. Obsessed with doing a Jerusalem he was. Three
times he boldly proclaimed that he’d be . . . handed over to the religious leaders.
Arrested! Spit upon! Relentlessly
ridiculed! If that wasn’t bad enough, he promised that he’d be put on death
row, flogged, and killed. Then he said something about rising on (what was
that?) . . . the third day. Really? Again, you were totally blown away.
Genuinely scared.
5.
But you’d get over it. And you thought he would too.
That Jerusalem thing was just a fad—you thought. After all, these kinds of
things don’t happen—aren’t supposed to happen—ever—to Messiahs. And
Jesus was the real deal. At least you hoped. Especially after all the
miraculous things he did and the authoritative sermons he preached! Now what? He’s dead. Buried. What good is a
dead and buried Jesus? Can you trust in him anymore? Can you? But now, good grief . . . what are you to do?
6.
All that’s left is to let the ladies who took care
of his physical needs during his earthly life do their thing. They looked after
him. Might as well do it one last time. Spices in hand, Mary Magdalene, Mary
the mother of James, and Salome head to the grave to anoint his dead body.
7.
Strange. Very bizarre. The large stone has been
rolled away from the entrance to the tomb. Might as well go on in. Another big
surprise. They see an angel. Shocking! “No
need to be alarmed, ladies. I know you expected to see the corpse of crucified
Nazarene Jesus. Well, he is risen.
Therefore he’s not here. See. Take a look. This is where they put his body. Not
there anymore! Now, you go tell his disciples and especially Peter. He’ll meet
you in Galilee. You’ll see him there just as he told you.”
8.
What? Can it be? Really? Risen from the dead? Absolutely! Just like he said! Remember the
last part of the Jerusalem fixation? On the third day . . . ? Wow! The biggest miracle of all! Straight
from his mouth! He said so! Resurrection! On the third day!
9.
You and the women are visibly shaken. You never
expected this to happen! Seriously, you didn’t! Your hearts are pounding. The
adrenaline is flowing. Your minds are racing. Your hands are trembling. All
your thoughts are jumbled, can’t think straight at the moment. So all you can
do is beat it. Skedaddle. You’re so afraid.
10.
Well, I’d better remind you of something else the
preacher in the tomb told you. After all, sermons are so easily forgotten, in
one ear and out the other. He said: “But
go, tell his disciples and Peter. He’ll meet you in Galilee. You’ll see him
there. He said so. He promised.”
11.
Why meet Jesus in Galilee? You’re reluctant to go there, aren’t you? Of
course you are. After all, you’ve all got a bad conscience. You and Peter
denied and renounced Jesus and called down curses on yourselves. You deserted
him. Left him high and dry when push came to shove. You wouldn’t be caught dead
hanging around the humiliated, arrested, and sentenced-to-death Jesus. What a
difficult and dreadful falling away you committed! You wouldn’t let Jesus be
God for you in his shocking suffering and Good Friday dying! You stayed
away! You had no use for him! What sin! What treachery! What idolatry!
12.
This is why you’re so hesitant to go meet Jesus in
Galilee. You are uncertain. After all, what do you expect from Jesus—the Son of
God, whom you abandoned and disowned—if he’s truly risen from the dead?
Payback, right? Retribution and a divine reckoning of the highest order against
you for your unfaithful sins against him, right?
13.
No. Not hardly. Not even close. Couldn’t be further
from the truth. He is risen! From the
tomb! Not to give you what you expect but what you never, ever imagined as a
sinner. It’s totally amazing what he will give to you. Mind-blowing amazing.
Make-your-body-tremble remarkable. Melt-your-heart astonishing. He would meet
you in Galilee to . . . (are you ready for this?) . . . to greet you with a
friendly and courteous Easter “Good morning, friends!”
14.
And more! So much more. He will tell you the best
news you could ever hear as a sinner. It’s this: “I Am God
for You. I am not your enemy. I am not
against you, but I am God for you—in
this way: I died for you, Peter, and the rest of you disciples. I took all your
sin. I buried it in the black hole of my tomb, and I left it there forever. It
is no more. I forgive you. I don’t count your sin against you at all.”
15.
Forgiveness! It’s what his rising from the tomb is
all about. His divine forgiveness is for you. He comes to you. He meets
you in the Sacrament today, too, in order to act as God for you. Listen.
His crucified and risen body and blood he gives you with the bread and wine
with the promise that you are forgiven. “Given
and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” he declares.
16.
The benefits of such divine Good Friday and Easter
forgiveness are the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Because
Jesus rose, his Good Friday death was not in vain. It truly counts for you. You
are forgiven. Since he forgives you, you, too, will be raised on the Last Day
from the grave. He will not leave you there. You are that precious to him—God
for you, Jesus. As you believe, so you have. Happy Easter! In the name of Jesus. Amen.
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