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 is risen indeed! Alleluia! And we’re thrilled to be here this morning! This is a day—the day—we can all let out with a big alleluia! The message today as we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection from the dead is taken from Matthew 28:1-10, it’s entitled, “Jesus is Risen! Bodily!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. For a moment, let’s step back from the delight and the emotion, and face a hard fact: Unlike every other religion, the Christian faith is subject to being proved wrong. Hinduism—no serious Hindu claims that the sacred stories ever happened. It’s the spiritual reality that matters. Buddhism—Gautama Buddha lived—we’re pretty sure of that—but then he died . . . and no one can prove or disprove whether he really made Nirvana or not. Islam—a very historic religion. We know a lot about Muhammad’s career. But, of course, Muhammad isn’t God, just a prophet, and whether Allah really revealed the Qur’an to him—just have to take that on faith.
3. But Christianity: If anyone ever did or ever could or ever does find the dead body of Jesus somewhere, that proves we’re wrong. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Cor 15:17). Still feel like alleluia? You should say it all the more, because when we say Christ is risen, we’re not just saying he’s alive in some spiritual sense. The “alleluia” is that, Jesus Is Really—Bodily!—Risen!
4. And that means our Christian faith isn’t just some spiritual speculation. Living the Christian faith is real, bodily life—including that one day we will really, bodily, rise! Jesus is risen just as he said he would! The Sabbath rest was concluded, and the grave had been hallowed. Matthew 28:1 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.” He would rise on “the third day,” equivalent to our saying “the day after tomorrow.”
5. Frequently, the number three speaks of deliverance in the Scriptures. Moses and the Israelites needed to make a three-day journey into the desert to worship Yahweh (Ex 3:18; 5:3; 8:27). Jonah was delivered from the belly of the fish on the third day (Jonah 1:17). Jesus predicted his deliverance from the bosom of the earth on the third day (Mt 12:40). We pick up on this in our baptismal order with the threefold renunciation of Satan, his works, and his ways (LSB, p 270). So, Jesus was fully in control as he predicted his crucifixion and resurrection (Mt 20:19; 26:32; 27:63).
6. All creation testifies to the resurrection! Matthew 28:2 says, “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.” Like kettle drums beating joyfully, the earthquake announces the great news. Unlike the earthquake at Jesus’ death, which spoke judgment on sin and unbelief, this earthquake trumpets forth victory over the grave. On this day of victory, “an angel of the Lord descended from heaven.” So at the parousia victory, the holy angels will assemble in joyful rank (Mt 24:30–31; 1 Thess 4:16).
7. The Christian aphorism is appropriate here: Those who are born once die twice; those who are born twice die once. The unbelieving Jewish temple guards fell down in fear like the dead men they were (Matthew 28:4) while the dead Christ rose.
8. The proof was in meeting the resurrected Christ—in his body. First, physical, concrete realities testify to the resurrection of Jesus. The massive stone requiring the strength of many had been rolled back. The herald who had descended from heaven sits on it. The stone wasn’t rolled back to free Jesus. In his exalted state, it couldn’t hold him, as the locked door of the upper room would be no barrier The stone was rolled back so the women could peer into the empty grave (Matthew 28:6).
9. Then, as the women go to tell the disciples, Jesus suddenly appears and proclaims, “Greetings!”—a word of forgiveness, of peace. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary took hold of Jesus’ feet, his physical feet! Physical bodies have feet, to which the women clung. This Jesus was no spirit or ghost! Both women were at the least on their hands and knees, if not lying on the filthy ground. Thus, they demonstrate that the highest worship of the Gospel is the desire to believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.
10. The difference between faith and foolishness is evidence! These two women saw and held Jesus! And so many more did! St. Paul appeals to evidence when he writes, “He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep” (1 Cor 15:5–6). Surely there were those who wanted to prove Christ was a lie, and all they had to do was produce the body. Instead, the soldiers themselves lied—and a first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, confirms that this was their story (28:11–15).
11. Now if Jesus is really, bodily, risen, the witnesses of his resurrection become the further evidence. Matthew 28:7 & 10 says, “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.” Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” The two women were sent by the angel and by Jesus himself to be apostles (“sent ones”) to the apostles. Jesus sent word by the women that the disciples were to meet him in Galilee of the Gentiles (Mt 4:15) where he did most of his ministry. The two Marys were commissioned to be apostles to the apostles. Though they were given this important, joyful news to proclaim, they are not inducted into the College of the Apostles or the pastoral office.
12. We, too, are to become witnesses, evidence, of the empty tomb to our world. In our Baptism, we have been commissioned to share the news of Christ’s death and resurrection. Like the Marys, we all are commissioned as witnesses, though only a few men are called into the pastoral office as public witnesses. From what we have received through the Word and Baptism, we proclaim the complete and full forgiveness of sins won through Jesus’ shed blood and his bodily resurrection—and we proclaim that since he rose and lives bodily, we will also live forever, both body and soul. Jesus sends us where we do most of our work, the living out of our lives—to family, neighbors, and co-workers. Jesus places you into your vocation as spouse, parent, aunt and uncle, farmer, office worker, lab technician, to share the good news of Jesus’ resurrection in places pastors can’t reach.
13. We all proclaim the Word of God. Most do so as baptized priests, while a few select men do so from the Office of the Ministry. What “activates” (makes efficacious) the Word to impact hearts and minds is the Holy Spirit, who always accompanies the Word of God (Is 55:10–11).
14. Is it hard work that makes the world go round—in academia, business, government, any vocational venue? To succeed, you take classes, you chase advanced degrees, you put in long hours. You borrow money, so you put off marriage and children to pay the debt—the enormous capital offense! But you finally get the diploma and, you hope, the successful career and life that follows. Is that what makes for success?
15. Or is it the other great wisdom of the world, the cliché, “It’s not what you know, but who you know”? Business deals are made on the back nine, promotions approved over martinis. It’s all about contacts, networking. Is that how it works? People certainly think the afterlife works on the basis of what we do, our hard work. People naively think enough good works, sincerity, and personal suffering will tip the scales in one’s favor and pay off the enormous debt of sin. But our cause is more lost than that of poor Sisyphus, who for eternity the Greek gods forced to roll a boulder to at least near the top of the hill before it always rolled back.
16. Instead, it is truly “not what you know, but who you know.” “For us fights the valiant One, Whom God Himself elected” (LSB 656:2). Our salvation is not found in what we know— our hard work and study and best efforts—but in who we know, Jesus, who was crucified but is risen (Mt 28:5–6).
17. It’s true, of the many world religions, only one can be falsified. Our faith does not make the resurrection true; the resurrection makes our faith true! Easter puts God’s seal of approval on Jesus’ self-donation on the cross of Calvary, which made atonement for our sins. And that’s the very reason for our joy. He really is risen! And that means we will also live really, in risen bodies. Alleluia! Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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