Rev’d Mark B. Stirdivant, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Yucaipa, California
✝ sdg ✝

White with Lilies

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The Easter message is all about a body. Early that morning those three women headed out to the garden tomb ready to worship. They were ready to demonstrate reverent devotion toward a dead body by anointing it. They would anoint the Anointed One! They had the spices prepared, but as they walked these women realized they forgot some small, but important details – like, who was going to help them roll away the massive stone – and how they would deal with the soldiers who’d been posted there as guards.

Then, as the tomb first came into view, some more questions soon began to overtake them. First, they discovered that the stone had already been rolled away from the mouth of the tomb – how could it stand wide open? They looked inside, there they saw a young man sitting – a young man dressed in white – an angel. The women were amazed and alarmed. Could you have seen them staggering back with eyes open wide, chins hanging down, and the hair on the backs of their necks standing up on end? It’s not every day you see an angel.

And what was the angel’s message? “You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, the Crucified One. He is not here. He is risen!” What could he be talking about? The angel was certainly speaking about the right Jesus – the One who’d come from Nazareth and just had been nailed to the cross. To be sure, all three of them had witnessed that whole episode with their own eyes. Yet now, here was this angel telling them a most amazing thing. From the very place where they saw the body of Jesus laid to rest— he spoke to them, saying: “He is not here anymore.”

Now what would have gone through your mind, if you’d been standing there at the tomb on that first Easter morning? Just like Mary and her companions, you probably couldn’t have avoided thinking, something else must have happened. Dead men don’t rise from the grave, do they? Perhaps it was the work of grave robbers, a cruel hoax by Roman soldiers, or a conspiracy with the religious authorities – anything but a Resurrection! But remember, at least three different times Jesus had told His disciples He would have to be handed over, crucified, and on the third day rise again. He even raised His friend Lazarus from the dead—clearly, death had no choice but to obey Him. In spite of that, all His disciples initially refused to believe the Good News that our Lord’s body was raised.

The Corinthian Christians to whom St. Paul wrote had similar problems. Their schools taught them some bad stuff, can you believe it? There was this pagan Greek philosophy which taught that the body was low-level material stuff, while the soul was high-level spiritual stuff – and that the body was a hindrance to the full expression of the soul. Sadly, that same kind of thinking creeps into Christian conversation today on occasion – even though we ought to know better. You’ve undoubtedly heard people talking about “spiritual experiences” they’ve had apart from – or outside the body. You’ve heard them speak of how they “encountered” God deep inside their feelings – rather than in concrete Word and real-life tangible Sacrament. And how many of us have thought of eternal life as if the saints of heaven somehow resembled disembodied souls floating around in the clouds beyond outer space?

We’re kind of funny when it comes to our bodies, aren’t we? On the one hand you might say we’re obsessed with them – pampering them, indulging them, dieting them, exercising them, massaging them, measuring them, and re-proportioning them. On the other hand, though, we live as if our bodies had no eternal consequence or meaning at all – like a soda can thrown out when it’s no longer of any use. So, we know all about what goes into our bodies – and think little about the greed, lies, hatred, bitterness and immorality that comes out them. In fact, we worry more about the brand name of our drinking water, than we do with putting the water of our Baptism into daily use. We concern ourselves more about the bread on our supper tables than we do when we eat the Bread of Life from the Lord’s table. Most people know more about their body from their phone and tablet than from the Catechism and the Liturgy.

God is definitely interested in our bodies, for God is the One who creates, Baptizes, nourishes, and blesses them. He’s the One who makes our bodies His temple – His dwelling place. That’s why St. Paul reminds us – that since we’ll all have to give an account on the last day for what we’ve done while living in our bodies – whether good or evil – we are therefore to glorify God with our bodies. You see, our bodies matter enough to God that He was willing to send His Son to be conceived, born, and suffer in a body for our sakes – to take up our sin and death into His body, to have His body crucified, die, and rise from the dead.

So you see, the body is what Easter is all about. It’s about God redeeming our bodies in the body of His Son. It’s about a physical Resurrection from the dead – for the One who was crucified now lives. His body – once pierced by nails and a spear – is still alive. That’s the Good News of Easter. Jesus, who was dead, now lives in His body. The tomb is empty; the stone has been rolled away; and death has lost its death grip on us all. The shroud has been pulled aside, and the disgrace of death has been swallowed up in God’s victory. The tears of our grief have been wiped away by the human hand of God – because Jesus lives!

Easter is not just an uplifting message, it’s action, God’s action. Talk is plentiful, but Resurrections are rare. We have plenty of great teachers, moral philosophers, and ethical men – but human bodies who rise from the dead after being bloodied and murdered are another matter altogether. There’s only One in human history who died and rose from the dead never to die again – only One!

You can’t ignore the Resurrection. You can’t leave here this morning stuck in neutral. You must either confess and adore Jesus as Lord and Christ – or you have to deny and dismiss Him as a hoax and a fraud!

When St. Paul spoke to the Greek philosophers at Athens, he didn’t spend much time or energy debating religious systems or philosophies. He simply proclaimed Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead because he knew that the Resurrection was the key – the one historic fact that confronts the unbelieving world each and every day – the one pivotal point around which all of human history turns. Nothing has ever been the same in this world since that first Easter Sunday – when a body turned up missing.

Now you’re always going to hear from somebody the Resurrection is nothing more than a pious myth. Never mind that our Lord Christ was seen after His Resurrection from the dead by over 500 men who were willing to go to a martyr’s death confessing His Name – and this during a time when the Roman government and the Jewish authorities held all advantage. If there had been a body to produce, you’d better believe they would have produced it and put it on public display to silence the so-called rumors of Christ’s Resurrection. Remember Peter, who went from denier of Christ to preacher in fifty short days – who went from someone who refused to admit he was a disciple of Jesus, to one who boldly preached Him to thousands at Pentecost? What could account for such a transformation? What could have happened to Peter in so short a time? Jesus rose from the dead – that’s what happened. Peter saw Him, heard Him, and ate with Him – and the Holy Spirit changed him forever.

So the Resurrection means three things: first, that Jesus’ death is the sufficient Sacrifice for all our sin. The Father accepted the death of His Son and raised Him to prove it. When from the cross Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” His work of redemption was actually completed. Salvation had been won. Now, the death of Jesus drowns out our sin – because He’s absorbed it all into His own body and nailed it to death on His cross. Now He is risen from the dead to say, “I conquered death for you. Trust in Me – rather than yourself – and you will never die.”

Secondly, the Resurrection means Jesus is true to His Word. He said He’d rise from the dead in three days, and He did. That means we can take Jesus at His Word when He says that those who believe and are Baptized will be saved – or when He says that the bread of His Supper really is His body, and the wine really is His blood – or when He says that His ministers have His permission to forgive and retain sins in His place. Those promises are sure and true. You know you can live and die with those promises, because Christ won’t lie to you or deceive you. His Word is true, and He’s true to His Word – His rising from the dead proves it.

Finally, the Resurrection means that the new creation promised by God has now come in the crucified and risen body of Jesus. St. Paul calls Christ the First-Fruits of the those who have fallen asleep. The first-fruits are like that first tomato that you see ripen on the vine. There’s more to come. So, the Resurrection of Jesus means there’s more rising from the dead to come. Death has been given its deathblow – and Christ has taken the sting out of death by dying for us all.

The women who fled from the tomb that first Easter morning were trembling, bewildered, silent, and fearful – that is, until later in the day when Jesus came to them again. It was then that their fear gave way to gladness. And so it is also with us. You may know all the facts surrounding Christ’s Resurrection. You may have heard the report. But it’s only a personal encounter with the crucified and risen Jesus in Baptism, the forgiveness of your sins in Absolution, the Lord’s supper, and in His body, the Church, which can calm your trembling, quiet your fear, and open your mouth to tell others. We meet Jesus here – here, where He’s told us He would come to us in His Word, in His Supper, and in His Church – whenever even as few as two or three are gathered in His Name to receive His gifts. Now our lives will never be the same again. Indeed, they cannot be. For Jesus – our Savior, our Christ, and our King – has risen from the dead! With the Prophet Isaiah we also now say: “Behold, this is our God. We have waited for Him and He will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the ✝ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Readings:
Apr. 1 The Resurrection of Our Lord Easter Day
Is. 25:6–9 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all people A feast
Ps. 16 Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption
1 Cor. 15:1–11 I declare to you the Gospel
Mark 16:1–8 spices, that they might come and anoint Him.

White Parament