Sermon - Easter Sunday - Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24:1-12

Christ is Risen!  (He is risen indeed, Alleluia!)

At dawn, the women arrive.  They’ve got their burial spices.  They’re ready for the grim task ahead of them.  They remember the place.  They saw the body laid there just a couple days ago, and the stone that shut the grave tight.  But now, the stone is rolled back.  The grave is open.  What’s going on?  They go inside.

And what they find there – rather what they don’t find there – is the body of Jesus.  Just the grave cloths.  They are, Luke tells us, perplexed.  At a loss.  They don’t know what to make of it.

I suppose they could have jumped to the wrong conclusion.  That someone stole the body.  That maybe they got the wrong tomb.  That someone was playing a cruel trick on them.  Or maybe some other earthly explanation.  The evidence was there – if only they could interpret it correctly.  They could have known.  They should have known.

But before they can really piece it together… the roller coaster of Easter emotions takes another turn, as they are startled by the appearance of two men in dazzling white.  Fear knocks them to the ground, as usually happens with angelic appearances.  But these angels don’t even bother with the usual, “Don’t be afraid.”  They have some news to tell.  And it’s as wonderful as it is urgent.

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen.”

And that’s the heart of it.  The angelic message, let it be our theme today and forever:  “Christ is risen!”  (He is risen indeed, Alleluia!)

A pastor friend of mine with a particular sense of humor preached an Easter sermon once in which he entered the pulpit, greeted the people, “Christ is risen!”  They responded, “He is risen indeed, Alleluia!”, and then he immediately sat down.  End of sermon.  But maybe he had a point.  The simple Easter sentence that Christ is risen is the real gem, the wonderful truth, the blessed and eternal confession of the church. 

Yes, it was real, it really happened.  The women saw the evidence.  But they were still perplexed by it.  Until the angel spoke, and reminded them of Christ’s words – “Don’t you remember?  He told you this would happen.  All the way back in Galilee he was already telling you – the Christ must be handed over to the Jews, he must suffer, and die, and on the third day rise!” And then, only then, did they remember his words.

My friends, life can be perplexing.  It can be a roller coaster of emotions.  It can seem hopeless and confusing, it can lead you to despair.  You could look at all the suffering and death in this world, and in your own life, and jump to the wrong conclusion.  You could think that God has forsaken you.  You could reason that he is angry with you.  You might even be tempted to believe there is no God.  And the devil will gleefully cheer you own down any of these paths.

But just when the fog of life’s troubles and sorrows begin to suffocate you, and choke out life and faith, the dazzling message of Christ breaks through the darkness once again.  When we are perplexed, the Easter good news comes again in words that ring clear, “Christ is Risen!” and we remember.  We remember that it had to be this way.

There had to be a payment for sin.  For your sin and mine.  And Jesus had to pay it.  Only he could do it.  The betrayal, the arrest, the trial, the mocking, spitting, the blows.  The purple robe and crown of thorns, the scourging.  The cries of the crowd to crucify.  The cross.  The agony, the forsaking, the death, the burial.  It all had to be.  It had to be: to fulfill prophecy, for Jesus to accomplish his mission, to do the will of the Father and to procure for us salvation.

But there’s more.  Remember what he said.  The son of man must suffer and die, and on the third day rise!  Don’t forget that part!  It was always the plan, that death would be defeated.  It was always the destiny of Christ to live!  The Holy One would not see corruption, or be abandoned to the grave.  The greater Jonah would burst forth from the belly death.  The one who is the resurrection and the life cannot be contained by death, it couldn’t hold him, it has no power over him.  Christ Jesus lay in death’s strong bands, but he breaks those bands as if they’re made of soggy strips of paper.

The women depart from the tomb.  They go to the 11, and report what they saw and heard.  And you’d think the disciples would rejoice.  But no.  “It seemed to them an idle tale”. 

For too many today, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is an idle tale.  A worthless story.  A meaningless non-event.  They don’t believe it for any number of reasons.

Perhaps it just seems a quaint little story told but one of many religions – just another myth or fairy tale to placate the people – another puff off the opiate of the masses.  Or to some, the resurrection of Christ can’t be real because their god of science forbids it – along with any miracle or spiritual reality outside the bounds of strict materialism.  Still others may simply have hardened hearts – and see no need for a God or a Savior, they have dulled their own conscience along with their own fear of the grave, and thus live in denial of these, our great enemies of sin and death. 

But the words of the women must have had some sway, if only enough to prompt Peter and John to get moving.  To get to the tomb and see.  And when they saw, they marveled, and went home in wonder.  Could it be?  Could it be that he’s really done it after all?

Now, the other relevant texts show us that the disciples were a mess of emotions and a mixture of belief and unbelief in those early days of Easter.  Hiding for fear of the Jews, unsure of themselves and what they should be doing, and yet still holding together and waiting for Jesus’ direction.

As Jesus appeared to them on many occasions, and taught them the meaning of these events, and of his work – they slowly began to comprehend.  He opened the Scriptures to them, and showed them how even the Old Testament made it clear that the Messiah had to suffer, die and rise.

These Easter events are all well and good, and they are true.  But they go hand in hand with the word – the explanation – the proclamation of their meaning.  The women could have seen that Jesus was alive by just looking and seeing no body.  But the word of the angels, really the word given them from above, the Word of God – both confirms it and interprets it and proclaims it as a reality.  That’s why this is not just about what he did, but they tell the women to remember what he said.

Today, we too remember how he said…  and what he said… about his suffering, death and resurrection.  And in a few moments we will receive the resurrected Christ, and also remember his words:  This is my body, this is my blood,  Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. 

Those early disciples met the living Lord Jesus in the garden, the upper room, on the beach, and in many other appearances.  And we meet him today as he comes to us in his Holy Sacrament.  They saw him and heard him and touched his very wounds.  We see him by faith, and hear his words proclaimed by his servants in our day, but they are still his words, and the promises and blessings are the same.

And the resurrected Christ is with us.  He’s not there in the tomb, but he is here in the bread and the wine.  He’s not there, under the thumb of death, but he is here, with his life-giving gifts.  The tomb is empty, but this Sacrament is full of forgiveness, life and salvation for all who believe.

The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is no idle tale.  Instead, it is some of the best news you have ever heard and will ever hear.  But it means nothing if you don’t remember what he said – and see how in this victory over death and hell and devil, Jesus brings you the same victory, and a promise of your own resurrection.  You will rise, because Christ is risen.  You will live, because he lives. Indeed we are more than conquerors, through him who loved us with a love even stronger than death itself. 

Christ is risen!  (He is risen indeed! Alleluia.) Amen.