“Our Capable & Committed Good Shepherd” John 10:11-18 Easter 4B, April ‘2

  

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The message from God’s Word this 4^th Sunday of Easter, known as Good Shepherd Sunday, is taken from John 10:11-18 and is entitled, “Our Capable & Committed Good Shepherd,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                In the movie Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner has done everything he’s been told to do. He builds a baseball field in the middle of his Iowa cornfield. He brings Terence Mann and Archie Graham to this field of dreams. And yet, he is not invited to go with the others out into the corn. When asked what he wants, in frustration he asks what he will stand to gain. Ah, suddenly it comes out: the hero hasn’t been doing all this for the love of the game or to “ease” someone else’s “pain.” He’s been doing it for himself.

3.                That’s the approach of the hired hand who watches sheep. He’s paid to be there. He’s in it for the money. He’s there to earn a living, not to give up his life. So, when he sees the wolf coming, he knows what’s in store, and he flees, leaving the sheep to fend for themselves. Not at all so with Jesus Christ as our Good Shepherd. When death comes rushing in, the Good Shepherd dies and lives for the sheep. Jesus is our capable and committed Good Shepherd.

4.                Death comes rushing in on God’s flock. Thieves and robbers threaten God’s flock with death. In the context of John 10, the Pharisees are called “thieves and robbers” (cf. v 1). Like thieves and robbers, they will not enter the kingdom of God through the door (Jesus), because they reject God’s grace in Christ Jesus. That’s why it helps to know the context surrounding why Jesus is speaking about Himself as the Good Shepherd. In the previous chapter of John 9, we’re reminded Jesus wasn’t talking to faithful Christians on their death beds or little ones gathered for a children’s message. He was rebuking a group of Pharisees. They were offended Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath. Rather than rejoicing with the man born blind, they were harassing him (and his family) for their association with Jesus.

5.                In His response to their criticism, Jesus contrasted a good shepherd with a hired hand. The difference between the two has to do with commitment. A hired hand is just that—one who is paid to care for someone else’s sheep. His connection to the sheep is transactional. He’s committed to the sheep only as far as he’s committed to himself. When danger arises and the wolf comes, the hired hand tends to his own safety and flees. His lack of commitment makes him incapable of providing protection.

6.                The Pharisees look for other ways to enter the sheepfold. They rely on their own self-righteousness as the means for entering God’s kingdom—and they keep others from entering. Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:13, 13“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”  Jesus’ words to Nicodemus the Pharisee are still ringing throughout St. John’s Gospel. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5).

7.                A hired hand is no help when death comes rushing in on the sheep, because he is not the shepherd. He does not own the sheep (vv 11–13). When he sees the wolf coming, he flees in order to save his own life. All sinners are like hired hands, who care only for their own lives. Instead of sacrificing ourselves to care for those whom the Lord has given us to watch over, we sacrifice them. We flee our callings and responsibilities in life and leave those entrusted to us to the gaping jaws of the evil one.

8.                Left to themselves, unprotected, the sheep die (v 12). False teachers rob us of God’s grace in Christ by their teachings. Their other ways of salvation kill and destroy the sheep. Hired hands look out for themselves, leaving the devil to snatch the sheep with all sorts of trials and temptations that scatter the flock.

9.                Contrast this with a good shepherd. A good shepherd cares for the sheep because the sheep are his own (verses 12 and 14). They belong to him and he loves them, not for his own sake, but for theirs. He will not abandon them when the wolf comes. He will protect and defend them. With him, they are secure.

10.             As His resurrection demonstrated, Jesus has the power to lay down His life and the power to take it up again. And He is not only capable, but He is also committed. Out of love and concern for His sheep, He is willing give Himself to the wolf to protect us His sheep. You, who are baptized into Christ and united to Him through faith) are among His sheep. You have been included in His fold. As such, you enjoy the protection and security of a shepherd who is both committed to your safety and fully capable of delivering on His commitment.

11.             Jesus is both capable and committed to you as your Good Shepherd. But He’s not only committed to you. In verse 16, Jesus tells the Pharisees He has other sheep that are not part of this fold. He was talking about the Gentiles, of course. This foreshadowed His mission to all nations which would become explicit after His resurrection. This mission is not yet complete. There are still more sheep to gather. Jesus, “must bring them also,” (verse 16) into His one flock. They will listen to His voice, Jesus assures, but first they must hear it. This is why Jesus sent His disciples after the resurrection. That is why Jesus sends you today so that many more people may know that they have a Good Shepherd who loves them so much that He lays down His life on the cross to give them the gift of eternal life.

12.             The Good Shepherd dies and lives for the sheep. The Good Shepherd “lays down his life for the sheep” (v 11). Jesus sees death come rushing in. He is surrounded by wild beasts. Yet he is led willingly to slaughter. His vocation is to lay down his life “for” (“on behalf of”) the sheep. The Good Shepherd is devoured by death because he is the Lamb of God whose blood is shed to take away the sins of the world. His death satisfies the hunger of the Law for death (see Gen 2:17; Rom 6:23). His holy, precious blood and his innocent suffering and death redeem sinners from sin, death, and the devil.

13.             The Good Shepherd who laid down his life has taken it up again (vv 17–18). Jesus, who passed through death and the grave, has taken up his life again in the resurrection. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Ps 23:4), we need not fear, for the Good Shepherd, who has already been through death and the grave, leads us through this life, and death, to life everlasting. Now alive again, the Good Shepherd gathers his flock (vv 14–16). The whole flock is gathered to die with Jesus so that they might also live with him. “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” (Jn 12:32).

14.             The crucified and risen One continues to preach his Gospel and administer his Sacraments through His Church in order to gather the “other sheep” into his “one flock” (v 16). We, too, will listen to the living voice of Christ, who by his vicarious death delivers us from the evil one and gathers us into his fold.

15.             The field of dreams has been built, the fans are gathered, and the game is going on. Archie Graham, the farm boy Kevin Costner picked up who’d always wanted to hit in the majors, is getting his chance. But then Costner’s daughter falls; her windpipe is blocked. One person knows how to save her, but if he crosses the line and leaves the field, his dream of playing in the bigs will be over. Graham does it, willingly, giving up a life in baseball for a career as a small-town doctor—and to save this little girl.

16.             To sheep surrounded by wolves on every side, the Good Shepherd calls out: “Here is my blood and body, which I have laid down for you for the forgiveness of your sins. I have taken it up again that you may have abundant life. Take and eat, that you may safely graze in the green pastures of my kingdom.” Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

“Jesus’ Resurrection Signals Our Own Resurrection” Luke 24.36-49, Easter 3B, April ‘21

 1.                Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen., The message from God’s Word this 3^rd Sunday of Easter is taken from Luke 24:36-49, it’s entitled “Jesus’ Resurrection Signals Our Own Resurrection,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                After more than a year of facing our collective mortality as human beings, the promise of a physical resurrection is welcome news. It’s hard to miss Luke’s emphasis on the physical nature of Jesus’ resurrection today. It’s also hard to ignore the disciples’ difficulty believing what they saw. The two go together—Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead and His disciples trying to understand what has happened. These emphases are distinctly Lukan, which matters especially since we looked at John’s account of the same event last week in John 20:19-23.

3.                Luke’s context is also unique. Unlike John’s Gospel, where John takes us straight from the empty tomb to the locked room with the disciples, Luke details Jesus’ detour on the Emmaus Road. This encounter provides the background for this week’s reading.

4.                In Luke 24:36 we have our crucified and risen Lord and Savior Jesus talking with two disciples on the Road to Emmaus. The disciple named Cleopas and his unnamed companion had just experienced an unexpected encounter with the risen Lord on the road and in the breaking of the bread at table (Luke 24:13-35). After their eyes opened to see Him, they immediately retrace their seven-mile journey back to Jerusalem and find the eleven disciples of Jesus. As they are recounting their experience, Jesus does it again. He appears out of nowhere and interrupts them here in our text: “Peace be with you.” I can imagine the Emmaus disciples thinking, “See! We told you!” But if they thought it, Luke doesn’t tell us they said it.

5.                Instead, they together with the eleven disciples were skeptical. Luke records in chapter 24:37, “...they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.” Luke records in chapter 24:41 that even after seeing His hands and feet they, “...disbelieved for joy and were marveling.” Their disbelief was understandable. Jesus had been dead. There was no mistaking it. But now He stood among them. Apparently, modern skeptics in our scientific age were not the first to have trouble believing a body could literally rise from the dead. So, also did the disciples—and they were there in person!

6.                But Luke is absolutely clear, the resurrection was real, and it was physical. Notice how many physical details he includes. It begins with Jesus’ own words in Luke 24:39: “See My hands and My feet, that it is I myself. Touch Me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Then, Luke describes Jesus’ actions in chapter 24:41-43: “And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.” If simply hearing from Jesus and looking at His body were not enough, Luke goes on: “[Jesus] said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate before them.” Luke’s message is clear. This was no spiritual or metaphorical resurrection. The body which had been dead was now alive and well—even a little hungry.

7.                But what does Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead matter for us? Jesus’ physical resurrection was good for Him, but unless we have some advantageous connection to Him, the historicity doesn’t matter much. This is where some attempts to demonstrate proof of a physical resurrection fall short. Even with all of the historical evidence of the empty tomb, the benefit of Jesus’ resurrection for anyone beside Himself would still be a matter of faith. This is why it’s important for us to remember that the physical resurrection of Jesus signals our own.

8.                Luke’s emphasis on the physical reality of Jesus’ resurrection emphasizes our own bodily resurrection from the dead. The Bible teaches us that Jesus’ physical resurrection is only the beginning. Throughout the Scriptures we read Jesus is the first to be raised. 1 Corinthians 15:20 says, “²⁰But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” St. Paul also writes in Colossians 1:18, “¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Acts 26:23 tells us, “²³that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” After Jesus will rise all who die in Him. St. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:23, “Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:23). Our Epistle reading points in this direction, too. When Jesus returns John writes in 1 John 3:2, “We shall be like Him.”

9.                In other words, the physical resurrection of Jesus signals our own. How important the resurrection of the flesh is! Christ was raised in the flesh of our flesh. We will be raised in this same way. And yet, we have no experience with resurrections, or at least we think we don’t. How many resurrected people have we seen? How many empty tombs have we peered into? Of course, at one level the answer is quite simple. We have seen none. We have never peered into an empty tomb. But, we Christians have seen right to the bottom of the tomb of death to see it emptied by the life of Christ.

10.             Take this illustration of a new baptismal font in a Christian Church made of a single block of black granite. It stands about three feet high and is two feet square. The walls of the font are about five inches thick. The baptismal font is fed with fresh water from a natural Artesian spring below the church in which it stands. It is continually filled with water as the pressure of the spring flows the water gently over the sides of the font as a sign of divine generosity. When you look down into the baptismal font, it is a black hole. You don’t see anything but the empty tomb. Oh, yes, it is a tomb. But it is ever empty. It is an empty tomb. Filled with water. Filled with Christ in connection with His Holy Word.

11.             Baptism puts us into a tomb that God keeps perpetually empty. We are placed there into the death of Christ (Romans 6). We Christians are an exhibit for the empty tomb. We have plunged into the death of Christ. Jesus rose from the dead. We rise with Him. He is the type of death and life. We are the antitype of death and life. We are His shape. When we look in the mirror, we see a resurrected person. What we see there will be raised on the Last Day. We Christians have seen resurrected persons every day. Those resurrected persons are us.

12.             After more than a year of facing our collective mortality as human beings, the promise of a physical resurrection is welcome news. But, our Christian hope isn’t based on inoculation or herd immunity. It’s not subject to the vicissitudes of variants or vaccines. Instead, we find hope and strength in the promise of our own physical resurrection. Furthermore, this promise invites us to live courageously. If the pandemic doesn’t get us, something else will. This doesn’t lead us to be careless or cavalier, but rather confident and caring toward others. This promise frees us to serve others in word and deed, to sacrifice for others, and put their physical needs ahead of our own. Luther’s explanation to the 5th Commandment comes to mind. God says to us in the Fifth Commandment, “You shall not murder.” (Ex. 20:13) In explanation to this Martin Luther writes, “We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.”

13.             When we are raised on the Last Day it is in flesh of our flesh. Our flesh will not be some airy-fairy insubstantiality, but the re-created flesh created first in the Garden of Eden. God doesn’t raise phantoms or ghosts, but real flesh and blood people. Jesus especially emphasized this after His resurrection in our text from Luke 24:39, “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Lk 24:39). So, on the Last Day we will have flesh and bones; touchable and all, and yet unimpaired by sin and death as it is now. We will be resurrected persons. Jesus’ resurrection signals our own resurrection! May the Holy Spirit enable us to believe in this promise and give of ourselves in service toward others, so all might come to believe in the resurrected Lord and receive their own physical resurrection at His return. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.

 

“Certainty in Jesus in an Uncertain World” John 20.19-31 April ’21 Easter 2B

 

“Certainty in Jesus in an Uncertain World” John 20.19-31 April ’21 Easter 2B

 

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word this 2^nd Sunday of Easter is taken from John 20:19-31, it’s entitled, “Certainty in Jesus in an Uncertain World,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                During the Sundays of Easter, the celebration of Easter Day continues. We celebrate in the reality that “It is finished; Christ is risen indeed.” Our faith is deepened in Jesus our Lord and Savior, the one who lived, died, and rose again. Our faith is strengthened by Jesus, the one who overcame death so that we might live in him (Jn 14:19). To revel in the reality of the really present Christ by faith is to receive the fruits of his work. This Second Sunday of Easter, the message calls us to faith amidst our doubts and fears.

3.                Nothing seems certain today. What happens when you work your whole life, saving every penny, only to see it vanish in one bad month of the stock market? Even human relationships seem more fragile today. Remember when our grandparents’ marriages lasted fifty, sixty years? What happens when marriages are cast aside even before the honeymoon is over? What can you count on in this world? What happens when all these questions seem “out of your hands”? The call of this lesson from John 20:19-31 is to cast your cares, your doubts, your concerns on Jesus alone! He’s the only thing certain in this world. His care, his promises, his Word—these are the things that make life worth living, both in times of uncertainty and in times of celebration. Hear the good news! You can have certainty in Jesus in the midst of an uncertain world! Your life now and your life eternal are forever secure in his hands!

4.                Here’s a little context of the events that were taking place surrounding our text from John 20:19-31. Word of Jesus’ resurrection has already reached the disciples by Easter evening. Mary Magdalene and other women have seen the Lord and, we can be sure, have dutifully carried out their assignment to bring word to Jesus’ brethren, especially Peter (20:17–18; also Mt 28:10; Mk 16:7; Lk 24:9–10). Peter himself, with John, had seen the empty tomb, and John had even “believed” (Jn 20:6–8). Further, the personal appearance to Peter (“Simon,” Lk 24:34; “Cephas,” 1 Cor 15:5) has almost surely taken place before our text. The fact that Jesus had risen could no longer have seemed like the “idle tale” the disciples had taken it to be earlier (Lk 24:11). What remains to make this appearance so noteworthy? Fear of Jesus himself! The disciples had abandoned him at the most crucial moment. Was it entirely good news that Jesus was alive?

5.           In our own hands, living life on our own terms alone, is to live in doubt and fear! John 20:19-20, 24-25 says, “¹⁹On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²⁴Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” Because living in your own hands, your weaknesses will always find you out. The hopes and dreams of the disciples end in fear, because those hopes and dreams were disconnected from Christ’s real mission and ministry, to go to the cross for eternal salvation (Mt 16:21–23); when he died, their earthly fantasies were suddenly shattered. If our hopes and dreams are disconnected from God, they, too, will be unfulfilled and will eventually lock us up in fear. All end in death (Rom 6:23).

6.                Because living in your own hands, your vision of the “big picture” will always be in doubt. Thomas’s false vision led to stubborn unbelief, closing him to the testimony of the others. Thomas’s stubborn unbelief kept him in doubt even amidst others’ joyful faith. Our vision of Jesus meeting our every  desire closes our eyes to the glorious things he has already accomplished on our behalf, leaving us in doubt and fear too. 

7.                What are those circumstances that leave us in doubt and fear? A doctor friend recently told me that anxiety prescriptions are off the charts this year—and it’s not just the pandemic. The sources are many. Uncertainty regarding the future is a frequent culprit. So is the potential for being shamed or letting others down. Others fear repercussions from past mistakes and habitual sin. There’s of course the fear that many have of contracting Covid or having other personal health concerns.

8.           Only Jesus’ hands and whole broken body can bear the reconciling work of the cross for all! They’re the hands of the God-man in action, routing all the forces of sin and death. Only Jesus can display those scarred hands to Thomas “in the flesh” and to you through this Word, so that you can be blessed. John 20:26-29 says, ²⁶Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

9.                Trusting your life in Jesus’ hands is to live in his confidence and blessing forever. Because his hands spread on the cross turn out to be God’s provision for doubt and fear after all. A crucified Messiah was God’s plan for us, even if it wasn’t ours. Perfect love casts out all fear. Christ crucified is perfect love in action for you! Because there is no place his hands of grace and mercy can’t reach.

10.             Jesus came to sinful, fearful disciples through “locked doors.” His grace can find you amidst your struggles of doubt and fear. He came to Thomas the doubter whose heart was closed by his own pride and demands. His pierced hands can pierce your heart as well. Because his word of assurance has reached you through his God inspired handwriting by the apostles! The apostolic ministry of forgiveness delivers that perfect love to you and me as a gift. The disciples’ gift has become ours through the ministry of forgiveness and sharing that work through the written Scriptures (vv 21–23, 30–31). With God’s promises sure in our lives, with Christ’s blessing delivered and received, fear and doubt give way to confident faith.

11.             Easter is not about eggs, flower buds, or the freshness of spring. All those speak of emerging life where life already existed. No, Easter is about the resurrection from the dead, life amidst death, peace in the middle of sorrow, joy from sadness, grace in a ruthless world, and confidence in the midst of doubt, all because of Jesus. Where death was the only thing certain, and “living life on our own terms” only assures death, Easter invites you to entrust your life to Christ in all things. Bring your doubts and fears to the one whose hands bring you life and salvation. Bring them to Jesus in faith. Jesus gives to us certainty in the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation in the midst of this uncertain world. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

 

“Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!” Matt. 28.1-10, Easter Sunrise April ‘21

 

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. “Alleluia! Christ Is Risen! He’s risen, indeed, alleluia!!!” The message from God’s Word this glorious day we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is taken from Matthew 28:1-10, it’s entitled, “Alleluia! Christ is Risen!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                Matthew 28:1-10 says, “Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”  “Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!” He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

3.                That feels a bit different this Easter—as we are still in the midst of this Covid-19 Pandemic! But this is the same: the Lord who died for you—shed blood to redeem you, forgiving all your sins that bring death—declares His victory over death, over every decomposing body that reminds how big death is, how pervasive death is, and what the deep stain of sin’s disease infecting us all has done to us. Jesus has swallowed death up whole by dying for you, crushing Satan’s head for you, and leaving the grave empty. For he is risen!

4.                But it feels different this Easter! We’re grateful that at least in this electronic way we’re able to “gather” once more from each of our homes. But even as marvelous as our technology is (for those who have access to it—not all do!), and how much it helps many to see and communicate these glad tidings to one another, our glowing screens are a weak substitute for being gathered as the Church in the flesh: the baptized dripping wet, the Body of Christ with Christ our Head, in a place together to receive the living body that hung dead for us, now risen for us, to drink the blood poured out for us, as he pours himself into us. “Body risen. Blood. For you. For the forgiveness of your sins, now. O Lord, let us do this again . . . often!”

5.                These past two Lents during Covid-19 have been bleak. The whole world has had to stop and pay attention to what happens in a diseased and collapsing world teetering with panic. Us? Afraid! And worried as all our other gods really fail, one by one. What have you depended on and looked to that has shown itself undependable? We need to know that Jesus is still the same, not dead. Risen.

6.                These days of the pandemic, Easter is in the conversation. Even most miserable unbelievers will tell you Easter is the day Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead. Trouble is, what they mean by “believe” isn’t a confident confession of truth, as we say again and again in the Augsburg Confession, “We believe, teach, and confess.” The world thinks our belief in the resurrection of Christ is misguided, foolish, wrong, or even nuts.

7.                But, the resurrection of Jesus goes beyond being an article of faith—even absolutely true and correct faith. It’s established, provable, and proved historic fact. That’s “the thing”! Not a matter of faith, but a matter of fact. It’s fact, so you can believe it and have saving faith in that fact. The resurrection of Jesus is a fact sworn by witnesses—the best kind, those who saw it with their own eyes! Much better than a guess or theory from people who had only a secondhand knowledge. And the more of them there are, the better! Mary and the other Mary, then Peter and John, then the other disciples like Matthew who wrote this down for us. Later James and later yet Paul. Best of all, 500 at once. If the resurrection were a fabrication, that’s way too many liars to keep their stories straight. All the naysayers would have had to do was interview a few of them separately and see how their stories didn’t agree. That would have put a stop to it! But they couldn’t. Yes, Christ is risen—“the thing” that happened. History. It’s established fact!

8.                For Jesus’ resurrection is the thing that everything else hangs on! The apostle Paul puts it plainly: If Christ isn’t raised from the dead—if that’s the fact, if Jesus’ body is buried somewhere near Jerusalem waiting almost 2000 years for some archaeologist to make the big find—“then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Cor 15:14). We’re all dead! And you may turn off the livestream. Just sit down to your Easter ham or lamb with a few close friends or family—but not too close; stay six feet apart!

9.                If Christ isn’t raised from the dead, then you are fools or nuts. Badly misguided. If Christ isn’t raised, it’s far worse than being trapped in your American home with this spinning world of death and unpleasantness of the last year. If Christ isn’t raised, then we are the liars—along with those apostles and 500 guys back in the first century. Liars about God, who sent them out precisely “as witnesses of these things”—and cost almost all of them their lives. Apostles! But still, not one of the witnesses, even under threat of death, would take back what their eyes had witnessed and their hands had touched: Jesus, risen, bodily!

10.             If Christ isn’t raised, you are still in your sins. So dead. And now you better do something to get out of those sins. Make your own salvation. But, you won’t be able to do it! And if Christ isn’t raised from the dead, drop all those sweet wishes about seeing your loved ones who have died again. Because that’s all they are—wishes, dreams. If there’s no resurrection, then when your blood stops circulating and the medical tech “calls it,” that’s it. So, who cares how you live or what kind of legacy you leave behind? Do what feels good. Maybe offer a wise piece of advice or two to your kids that can “live on” for a while after you. But, of course, your wise advice will probably only last until they die too. It really would be as Paul quotes the ancient hedonists: “Eat, drink, and be merry! Yeah! For tomorrow or maybe next week we just die.” That philosophy is still as current as the coronavirus stalking around today, isn’t it! Life is just sand leaking through your fingers.

11.             But look! Look into that tomb! What you see inside—or don’t see—changes all that! Just as the earth quaking on Friday when Jesus died not far away marked a 180-degree turn in history, an earthquake on this third morning wrote that change into the history books for everyone to read. Look inside! It’s empty! And read that history! The women brought spices for a dead Jesus. But they wouldn’t find him that way. There was no dead Jesus anymore. Only an empty tomb that confirmed the prophecy Jesus had previously spoken to them: “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day” (Mt 17:22–23).

12.             This now was the historical fact. “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” (Mt 28:6). The angel messenger announced it, and there was the stone rolled away and the empty tomb to prove it. There it was for everyone else to see too: an empty tomb!

13.             “So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples”—like Matthew! (v 8). We may not get that, but it makes sense. The women were afraid and rejoicing. Afraid because everyone who sees an angel is afraid. Afraid because stuff like this just doesn’t happen. “Did we really see that, hear that, ladies? What if we’re crazy?” Afraid because isn’t it too good to be true? But great joy because nothing could bring us greater joy than our beloved Jesus, crucified Jesus, alive again! And then their fear was dispelled! Risen-flesh Jesus meets them on the road. “Greetings!” he says (v 9). It’s almost casual. Not like any big deal has happened. It’s more like, “Well, sure, we were planning to get together today, weren’t we? I said we would, right?” “And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him” (v 9). They worship him—as Lord, as God—from the feet up. All those fears about maybe getting it wrong, imagining what they wanted to see and what they wanted to hear an angel say, were gone. You can’t take hold of your imagination’s feet! Jesus has feet! Won’t it be a joy to take “hold of him” again too? Their Lord—our Lord—is risen!

14.             This is Easter! Even this last year of Covid-19. Easter means there’s no need to be afraid of death, including death by virus. Christ has swallowed up death. No need to be afraid of the cemetery. One day cemeteries and churchyards all over the world will give rise to those bodies they’re holding. You are missing your husband, your wife, or your grandma, and you would so dearly love to see him or her again. You will. Christ is risen, and in him your dear one will rise too. With lost jobs and shaken investments in these days of uncertainty—we can even rejoice. Christ is risen! No need to doubt! Christ is risen! It’s a fact. It’s recorded history. It’s eyewitnessed. We live! For Jesus lives.  “Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!” He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.