Sin and Death Are Defeated in the Body of Christ Jesus

Christ is risen! — He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

By His death He has destroyed death.  And in His rising from the dead He has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.  Sin is forgiven, and the whole world is reconciled to God in Christ Jesus.  Consequently, death has been defeated and the devil is utterly undone.

But for all that, the last great enemy, death, has not yet been abolished.  Defeated, yes, but death is not yet “dead and gone.”  People are still dying every day, both Christians and non-Christians alike, even throughout Eastertide.  Cemeteries continue to expand as graves continue to increase.

Life has triumphed over death in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, and God the Father has put all things beneath His feet.  But you do not yet see or feel that reality.  It sure doesn’t look like Jesus has got the upper hand.  What you see is that His disciples, His people, still bear the Cross in this world.  Sin and death are rampant everywhere you look, and both of these are still at work in you.

The new thing that God has created is already established, it is sure and certain in the crucified and risen Body of the Lord Jesus.  But it does not yet appear as it shall be.  For the time being, in this fallen world, life has the appearance of death, while death has the appearance of life.  What I mean is this, that real life is hidden under the Cross, whereas sin is so tempting and appealing, as though it could liven things up and make your life better, when it actually brings only death.

It is true that, before you have ever called out for help or cried out in dismay, the Lord your God has already resolved your dilemmas, He has already answered your prayers and met your needs.  But His answers are elusive.  So, you do call upon His Name and beg Him for mercy, because you neither see His solution in your life nor experience His salvation in your mortal flesh and blood.

Even so, while you are still speaking, He is not only hearing your prayer, but He is also already responding with His gracious gifts of the Gospel and with His promises of Life everlasting.

The Truth remains that the Crucified One is the Living One, now and evermore.  He is never to die again.  He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!  And that is good news for you, because He has died and risen as your Savior, in order to become your great Salvation.  All of that is rock solid.

But what you see is an empty tomb.  Or, rather, what you see is nothing.  In any case, Him you do not see.  That is the odd thing about this Holy Gospel from the Resurrection Chapter of St. Luke:  The Lord Jesus doesn’t appear in this account.  He is mentioned, and His Words are recalled, but He makes no personal appearance and He doesn’t speak for Himself.  His Body is not found, nor is He seen alive.  The women are first of all perplexed, then they are terrified; and when they have gone to report what they discovered and what they heard from the angels, the Apostles and the rest of the disciples refuse to believe them.  Peter runs to the tomb, to check out their story for himself, but he doesn’t see Jesus, either.  He goes home marveling, which is quite different than believing.

It is an odd Holy Gospel for such a joyous festival day as this one.  But then again, it cuts pretty close to where your own Christian faith and life are given to abide in this poor life of labor.

The words and promises of the Gospel are perplexing, and they honestly do sound like nonsense.  St. Paul acknowledges that earlier in his letter to the Church at Corinth.  So it’s no surprise that you are hampered by doubts and fears, within and without, no less so than those first Christians were.

At times, no one believes; and that includes you, no matter how much and how badly you want to.

It is still a struggle — a strange and dreadful strife — the contending of life and death inside of you and all around you in the world.  That combat stupendous, which Christ Jesus has already won, still rages in your flesh and blood and in your heart and mind.

It certainly would seem as though Christians were really delusional nut cases to believe in the Resurrection against all evidence to the contrary.  It is by faith alone, and not be sight!  Indeed!  But is that just a ruse, a clever hoax, a pious excuse to keep on kidding yourself?

The fact is that you labor long and hard, seemingly in vain.  And you bear children, apparently for calamity; or perhaps you bear no children at all.  Either way, it still remains the case that, in Adam, all the children of men die.  And to be sure, the tombs of your ancestors and of your loved ones, including some of your own children, are not empty at all, but full of death and dust and bones.

So, what gives?  And what is the point?  Where is the power and promise of the Resurrection?

Beloved of the Lord, do not despair or give up hope!  Your Savior, Christ Jesus, is risen from the dead, and that has actually changed everything and made all the difference, for now and forever.

Children continue to be born to Adam and his kin; not for calamity and death — though they do experience all that — but in order to be reborn and recreated in the New Man, Jesus Christ.  If they are born but once, that is most pitiable, and it were surely better had they never been born at all.  But if they are born again by the water, Word, and Spirit of Christ Jesus, then they are brought forth out of death into the Resurrection of their bodies and the Life everlasting of body and soul.

Indeed, the very Son of God has become a Son of Adam — by His conception and birth of the Woman — in order to die the death of Adam once-for-all, and by His death to bring an end to the tyranny of death, and in His own bodily Resurrection to raise the sons and daughters of Adam from the dust of the earth to live forever with Him as beloved children of His God and Father in heaven.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the First Fruits, as you have heard from His Apostle, St. Paul; and if Jesus is the First Fruits, then you shall follow after Him.  As surely as He led the sons of Israel out of Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea and through the waters of the Jordan River into Canaan, so surely does He lead you through the waters of your Holy Baptism, through death and the grave, into the gracious and glorious Paradise that He has promised and prepared for all of His people.

When He hands over His Kingdom to His God and Father, then He will surely bring you also to the Father in and with Himself; for you belong to His Kingdom by the grace of His Gospel.

For now He has established His Kingdom and His dwelling place within His Holy Church on earth, wherein He calls and gathers you to Himself, in order to bring you into His eternal Sanctuary with the Father in heaven.  As He brings you in and plants you here, so does He bring you in and plant you there, even forevermore.  Everything that belongs to Him, He gives to you here in His Church.

He hands Himself over to you here by the Ministry of the Gospel, no less so than He has offered Himself up once-for-all and handed Himself over to the Father by His Sacrifice upon the Cross.  Thus are you bound to God the Father, in both body and soul, in the Person and work of Christ Jesus — by His Word and Holy Spirit, and by His crucified and risen Body and His Blood.

Where, then, is the Body of Jesus?  That is the big question at the beginning of Easter, and really to this very day.  Where is the Body of Jesus?  That’s what everyone is looking for, or should be.

By the end of St. Luke’s Resurrection Chapter, as we shall hear and celebrate in these coming days of the Easter Feast, the answer is given clearly: The Body of Christ is in the Breaking of the Bread.  He is recognized and received at His Table in the eating and drinking of His Holy Supper.

It is by and with His Word that He reveals and gives Himself to you in this way, by this Means of Grace.  Do not suppose that it is foolish nonsense, no matter how marvelous and perplexing it is.  For with His Word He remembers you in love, and He Himself gives to you His own Body to eat, He pours out His own Blood for you to drink.  And by His Word, which He has spoken to you — and He still speaks to you by His messengers — by that Word of His, you also remember Him.

What is more, it is also by the preaching of His Word that His faith and His faithfulness become yours.  So, too, His Victory over death, His Resurrection from the dead, and the power of His indestructible Life all become yours by the Ministry of His Gospel.  Whereas unbelief and death go hand-in-hand — with each other and with sin — the Lord Jesus Christ has triumphed over sin and death, over idolatry and unbelief, by His Cross and in His Resurrection.  And His crucified and risen Body is the beginning of the New Creation in holy faith before His God and Father and in love for God and Man.  So, even when you and all others are faithless, He remains ever faithful.

So it is that, by His Word and Spirit, by the preaching of His Gospel of forgiveness, you also now believe — as the women who witnessed the empty tomb, and the other disciples, too, were brought from their doubts and fears and sadness to faith and life and peace and joy in Christ Jesus.

Your rejoicing and gladness on this glorious day and throughout this poor life of labor, even in the midst of sin and in the face of death — this joy and gladness are not a joke, a pretense or charade, and they are no lie or subterfuge, regardless of how you may be feeling on the inside.  They are as real and solid and true as the Flesh and Blood of Christ Jesus, not only crucified and risen, but given and poured out for you, unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting .

If you are trying to smile and sing on the outside, while in your heart and mind you struggle with sorrow and feel like dying, nevertheless, true joy and real gladness are rightly yours, both now and forever, in Christ Jesus.  Not because of how you feel about it or what you think about it, but here is the Truth: Your rejoicing and your gladness are found and received in the Lord’s rejoicing over you, and in His great gladness in you, because He does in fact delight in you.

The Lord your God, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, has recreated you for such joy and gladness and Life everlasting in Christ Jesus.  He has done it first of all in Christ Himself, in His Body of flesh and blood just like yours, in which He has been crucified for your sins and raised for your righteousness and salvation.  It is a done deal, permanently established for you in Him.

But God has also brought about the New Creation of Christ Jesus in you through the Gospel, by your Baptism into Him, and by His Body and His Blood, which He gives to you here as your Meat and Drink indeed.  By these Means of Grace, in Christ you are a new creation — born of the new and better Adam, not for calamity and death, but for the Life and Light and Love of God the Lord.

Christ is your Strength in weakness, and He is your Song in both joy and sadness all your days, because He has become your Salvation.  That won’t change, not ever.  It stands fast, and it shall be revealed at the last.  As surely as He is risen from the dead, so surely shall you also rise; for He has died your death, and His Resurrection is therefore already your Resurrection forevermore.

The Prince of Life, who died, reigns immortal.  He reigns over you in love and with great joy.  This Victor King has mercy upon you, and the eternal sunshine of His grace, mercy, and peace, His Resurrection and His Life, His Body and His Blood, now warms and lights you all your days.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Lay Hold of His Feet and Worship Him

It is for the worship of the Holy Triune God in the Person of the Incarnate Son, Christ Jesus, that you have been created.  Indeed, it is the joy and the purpose of the whole Creation to find its life in Him, to the praise and glory of His Holy Name.  If you want to know the meaning of life and why you’re here, it is simply this, that you worship God in Christ with all that you are and have.

That is the goal of the women, too, of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, when they head to the tomb after the Sabbath, at the dawning of the New Day.  They go to worship God in Christ, though they are at something of a loss and do not know how to go about it.  We know from St. Mark that they were planning to anoint the dead body of Jesus, but St. Matthew writes that they were going “to look at the grave.”  It’s not unlike “staring off into the middle distance,” as some of my favorite authors like to describe.  Not much point to that, but they don’t know where or how to focus.

They’re looking for Jesus, really, because they love Him, and they miss Him, and they just don’t know what else to do at this point.  But they’re looking in the wrong place and in the wrong way.

You do the same thing, in your own fashion, when you set out “to look at the grave.”  By that I do not mean visiting the cemetery where your loved ones are buried, though that might be an example.  What I do mean are all the ways that you go looking for life and love and meaning and purpose in the monuments and treasures of this dead and dying world, when what you need is the crucified and risen Jesus, who is not dead but living.  He is not in the tomb, and you will not find Him there.

Not only that, but, ironically, those who try to guard and keep the tomb — to protect it from any disturbance or violation, as though it were the goal and the prize — they end up like corpses!  Which is the end result and consequence for all who set their hearts and minds on things below.

Those Marys do not find Him dead and buried, either, but by the grace of God they are not left in their ignorance and perplexity.  Instead of tending the tomb or looking at the grave, they are sent by the Word of the Lord to the place where Jesus has already said that He would be: in Galilee.  That is where and how He will be found — wherever His Word is spoken and directs.  As soon as the women leave the tomb and proceed as He has spoken, the Lord Jesus meets them on the Way.

It is always the case that the worship of God in Christ begins with His speaking and His coming to you.  Only then are you able to come to Him, to lay hold of Him, and to worship Him rightly.

You need not go to Galilee to find Him; but if you ever are in that part of the world, then seek out His Church in that place, in order to hear Him in the preaching of His Word, and to find Him in His holy Sacrament.  But that is the same as it is for you here in this place, too.  You are called and gathered to Him by the preaching and the catechesis of His Word, as spoken by His messengers.

Let your eyes and feet be directed by His Word and promises in your ears.  Then you are on the right path, and the crucified and risen Lord Jesus meets you on the Way, as He met and greeted the women.  By giving attention to His Gospel and the preaching of it, you set your heart and mind on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of His God and Father.  And then the mixed feelings of fear and joy give way to the pure and utter gladness of faith and the worship of Jesus.

There is a rather profound irony in all of this, that you find your life hidden with Christ in God, in the heavenly places, by laying hold of His feet and worshiping Him here in His Church on earth.  For heaven has come down to you in the flesh and blood of Christ and in His Word of the Gospel.  As the angels who spoke to Mary and Joseph and the shepherds directed them to the Body of the incarnate Son of God, and as the preaching and Baptism of St. John the Baptist were the means of grace by which the Father poured out His Spirit upon the Body of His Son, so does God continue to proclaim His Word from heaven on earth, to lead you to and give to you the Word-made-Flesh.

Those dear ladies had it right when they took hold of Jesus’ feet and worshiped Him.  They sought the Lord where He is found, and they worshiped God in the flesh of His Son.  And this story has been written for your learning, that you might also believe in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, and that, by faith, you should likewise come to Him, lay hold of His feet, and worship Him.

Do not attempt to scale the heights of heaven.  That is what the dead things of this earth presume and aspire to do, though all the while they are trodden down into the dust.  But the Lord Jesus Christ — who has risen from the dust of the earth, and who has in fact ascended to the right hand of the Father in heaven — He meets His people and takes His stand upon the earth.  He speaks forgiveness into their ears, He pours out His Spirit upon them by the washing of the water with His Word, and He gives them to eat and drink with Him, even to feast upon His Body and His Blood.

So you also find your life in Him, hidden below in the flesh of Christ, in earthly means of grace, yet dwelling with Him above, even now, in the heavenly places, at the right hand of the Father.

You are looking for Jesus, who has been crucified for your transgressions.  And you are in the right place this morning.  For He is risen from the dead, and He is here for you.  This is your Galilee, to which His angels have directed you.  Here your Redeemer stands upon the earth.  Here His beautiful feet have come, that you may hear and believe His Gospel, and lay hold of Him in love, and worship Him in faith.  It is for this very life that you are created, redeemed, and sanctified.

Therefore, do not be afraid.  For this life that is given to you here on earth is safe and secure in the Body of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead.  It is hidden, yes, so much so that you cannot see it even in yourself.  But it is true, and it is real, as surely as the Lord Jesus Christ has spoken to you.  As all of Creation is made brand new in Him, in the Resurrection of His Body from the dead, there is nothing in heaven or on earth that can rob you of the Life that is yours in Him.

It is true and real for you here, where His Word has called and gathered you to Him.

It is true and real, also, in those places and stations in life to which He has called you to live in faith and love.  There, too, it is a hidden life, which the world does not recognize for what it is.  And you also may be discouraged and frustrated.  There are days when you are sorely tempted to go “look at the grave,” to stare off into the “middle distance,” to spin your wheels doing nothing at all, because it all seems lost and hopeless.  You’re looking for Jesus, but you don’t find Him.

And yet, do not be afraid.  That is not only my word to you, but His.  The truth is, not only is He risen from the dead, alive and reigning to all eternity, but He is now and ever with you where His Word has directed you to go and be.  He is here with you at His Altar, yes, where you worship the Holy Triune God in Christ by hearing His Word, by receiving His forgiveness, by remembering your Baptism, and by eating and drinking His Body and His Blood in faith and with thanksgiving for His great Salvation.  He is here as you confess what He has spoken to you, as you call upon His Name in prayer, and as you sing the new Song of the Lamb in the midst of His great congregation.

So is He also with you as you go to His brothers and sisters, to love and serve them within your own proper callings and stations in life, according to His Word.  There, too, you worship Him, and you glorify the God and Father of the same Lord Jesus Christ, by and through His Holy Spirit, as you carry out the duties of your office, and as you care for those entrusted to your stewardship.  Do not doubt that it is true, and do not be afraid.  His Word and His promise are sure and certain.

His feet not only come to you and take their stand upon the earth, they also go with you wherever you go.  He meets you on the Way, and He accompanies your journey, even unto Life everlasting.

Your life in Christ is a hidden life.  It is still hidden under the Cross, even in suffering and death, while this dead and dying world vaunts itself to great heights, attempting to make a name for itself.  But the Truth remains, which is Christ Himself in flesh and blood like yours, crucified and risen from the dead.  And that Day will soon come, which has already begun in His own Resurrection, when you shall see Him as He is, and you shall know as you are known, and you shall be like Him.  Already you are clothed in His righteousness, for your sins are all forgiven by His holy, precious Blood, and by His Word of Holy Absolution.  Therefore, sin and death have nothing more to say or do concerning you.  It only remains to be revealed what is already true for you in Jesus Christ.

He is risen, He is risen indeed, Alleluia! And so surely are you raised up and made alive in Him.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Death Is Defeated and Life Reigns in the Body of Christ Jesus

In this life, in this fallen and perishing world, there is suffering and finally death.  Consequently, there is the pain and sorrow leading up to death, surrounding it, and following afterwards.  There is sad disappointment and bitter loss.  The best laid plans go awry, and too often they backfire.

You labor in vain.  You bear children for calamity.  You plant, but you do not reap or eat of it.  You build your house, but you do not dwell or live in it.

As a Christian, you hope in God, and you look to Him for good and better things.  You rightly pray to Him and cry out to Him for mercy.  But you wonder if you are heard, and whether your prayers will be answered.  For the fact is that even Christians die, and their children die.  They also suffer losses and disappointments.  Whereas those who are not Christians often seem to prosper.

Now, then, hear the proclamation of Easter, and remember the Word and promise of the Lord Jesus Christ.  For your God and Father in heaven has already answered your prayers and provided for all your needs, before you ever thought to pray to Him or even knew how.  In Christ He has already acted to help you, to rescue and deliver you from death and the grave, and to give you life forever.

Both the prayer and the answer, along with everything else, depend on the Lord Jesus.  Everything in heaven and on earth, all of creation, hinges on Him, on His crucified and risen Body.  For in His Body of flesh and blood God has created new heavens and a new earth, and He has recreated Man in His own Image and Likeness.  In the crucified and risen Christ Jesus, all things are made brand new.  In Him God has established the New Jerusalem, His holy Church, in heaven and on earth.

So, where are you supposed to find and receive the Body of this one Lord, Jesus Christ, and all these good things that are in Him alone?  Where and how are you enabled to enter into and abide within the glorious New Creation of His Resurrection from the dead?  Those are the big and urgent questions set before you in this Easter Gospel from St. Luke, in which, ironically, Jesus does not yet appear (it is later, on the Road to Emmaus and in the Breaking of the Bread, that He does so).

It is by the way of His Cross that you enter into the Resurrection of Christ Jesus.  And it is in His Holy Christian Church that you find and receive His crucified and risen Body.  Not in the empty tombs of this old world, but in the Liturgy of His Gospel, in the Holy Communion.  That is where the Church receives and eats the Body of Christ Jesus, and so becomes the Body of Christ Jesus.

Certainly, the empty tomb of the Lord Jesus, to which the Gospel testifies, is evidence that He has risen from the dead, just as He said that He would.  In this sign of the empty tomb we greatly rejoice, and for it we give thanks and sing.  Nevertheless, it is still a tomb.  And it is still empty.  So you will not find the Living One, with His life and salvation, there in the place of the dead.

Do not be deceived, perplexed, or dumbfounded.  What the world calls life is really death.  And what the world perceives to be death — in the Cross and Passion of Christ — is really life indeed.

The Word of His Cross may appear to you as nonsense, but if you would find Jesus, His Body, and His Life, then hear and heed the testimony of His two men, His messengers, clothed in dazzling garments.  They are dressed in the Glory of Jesus’ Resurrection, as you also have been clothed in your Holy Baptism, whereby you have entered into His tomb and returned with Him to life.

The glory of your Holy Baptism — the dying and rising of repentance and faith in the forgiveness of your sins — is the manifestation of the heavenly life in Christ Jesus, which the Church on earth confesses before the world, even though it is for now still hidden under the Cross and suffering.

Do not search for it with your eyes, far less with your fickle emotions, prideful intellect, or human reason.  But hear the preaching of Christ Jesus in His Church, in the midst of His New Jerusalem, and so receive His crucified and risen Body here at His Altar from the hand of His servants.

Why should this appearance of heaven on earth terrify or frighten you?  And why should it cause you to flee and go away?  Why do you regard the Liturgy of the Lord as a burdensome obligation?

It is because of your native sin and unbelief that you are so afraid of His Cross and Resurrection and His indestructible Life.  For your sinful heart deceives you and beguiles you, and it turns you away from life with God — to sin, death, the devil, and hell.  And you settle for that judgment and demise, because you know that you deserve it; because your heart and your conscience and the devil accuse you and condemn you with the Law.  So when you are blinded by the dazzling light of Christ, you know that you are not worthy.  It is too beautiful and wonderful and high for you.

But now rejoice, dear Christian disciple of Jesus, and do not be afraid.  All your sins are forgiven.

God has raised His Son, Christ Jesus, from the dead.  He is the First Fruits of all those who sleep.  In Him, therefore, all the sons and daughters of Adam are raised from the dust to newness of life.

This Son of Man, the dear Lord Jesus Christ, was delivered into the hands of sinful men, and He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, for this very purpose: that sinful men and women, boys and girls, should be redeemed from sin, death, and hell, and on the Third Day be raised up with Him.  For His Cross is the Atonement of the world, and His Resurrection is the Absolution of the same.

As surely as Christ Jesus is risen from the dead — the very One who died bearing your sins and the sins of the world in His Body — so sure and certain is the forgiveness of all your sins.

Rejoice, therefore, in what the Lord your God creates.  For He recreates you in Christ Jesus by the proclamation of this Gospel, by the free and full forgiveness of your sins in His Name and stead, and by His Body given and His Blood poured out for you to eat and to drink in this Holy Supper.

He freely gives you such good gifts and manifold blessings, because He rejoices over you!  The Lord your God celebrates Easter with you and all the company of heaven, because He rejoices in your Salvation!  As the Father rejoices in His beloved Son, so does He rejoice in you, because you are baptized into Christ Jesus, and you are a member of His Body and Bride, His Holy Church.

Here then, in this Feast, is the Body of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead, the First Fruits of the Resurrection and of the New Creation.  It is given to you here, not for this life only, but for the resurrection of your body and the life everlasting of your body and soul in Him.

And as Christ Jesus your Savior gives Himself to you here and now, His Body into your body, so are you also crowned with His Glory and Honor and presented to His God and Father in Peace.

The last great enemy to be abolished is death, which does linger for a time in this fallen world, but it is already defeated, and there is no doubt that it is trodden beneath the feet of Christ.  Therefore, just as He is risen from the dead and seated at the right hand of His God and Father, so are you also raised from death to life in Him, and so shall you live forever with Him in His Kingdom.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Forgiveness of Sins, Life and Salvation

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who has risen indeed on this Day, this Jesus who was crucified.  And because He is the One who was crucified for you, the One who suffered and died in your place, His Resurrection is also your resurrection, that you should live with Him in His place.

And these good things that we celebrate today, which you have heard and know concerning Jesus of Nazareth, are all rooted in Baptism.  There was St. John’s preaching and Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, to which the Lord Jesus submitted Himself.  And there is the Baptism that you have received in His Name.  That is where the strange and dreadful strife of death and life is engaged, unto the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus.  And the victory remains with life.

It was in His Baptism that Jesus took your sins, and therefore your death, upon Himself.  It is in your Baptism that you receive His Resurrection and His Life through His forgiveness of your sins.  The very forgiveness that Christ Jesus has obtained for you and all by His Cross, He gives to you in Holy Baptism.  And as the consequence of sin is death, so the consequence of forgiveness is life.

It was sin that brought death into the world.  It was sin that brought Christ Jesus to death and the grave.  And His Resurrection is thus an open declaration that sin has been dealt with and forgiven.

In the meantime, the world has decided that death is just another stage in life; that death is natural.  The world preaches that death comes to all, so you just have to accept it and face it when it comes.  Live it up while you can.  Take care of yourself, or don’t; either way, you’re going to die.

That is true to a point.  But it is a lie that death is any part of life.  Not so.  Nor is death natural.  It is rather the curse and consequence of sin.  Sin has invaded and infected God’s good gift of life.  Sin has corrupted and twisted God’s good creation in this natural world.

But the violator has been violated by the voluntary sacrifice of Christ.  Sin has been atoned for, sinners redeemed, and death defeated by His death.  The world is reconciled to God and all things are made new in His Resurrection from the dead, in His crucified and risen Body.  It was a strange and dreadful strife, which went to the core of creation.  But it was finally no contest.  Death bit off more than it could chew and found its teeth and jaws broken and smashed into pieces by Christ.

So the stone is rolled away with a shuddering of the earth, because Christ cannot be held within the tomb.  And neither can you.

You cannot and will not be held in the tomb, because you belong to this Jesus who was crucified, who has risen, just as He said.  You are His disciple.  You are His brother.  You are His friend.  And all that He has done, he has done it for you.  So death doesn’t get to keep you either.

But that’s not yet what you experience in your life on this earth, is it?  The contending of death with life continues within your body and in the world all around you.  There is still the shaking and quaking of the earth beneath your feet, and of your heart and mind within you.

Your family and friends are dying, sometimes in old age, sometimes in youth, and sometimes even in the womb.  And you mourn with those who still remain, even as you are confronted with the fact of your own mortality — which is, at rock bottom, the daily accusation of your sin.  Suffering, sickness, sorrow, and death are all reminders that your life, your thoughts, your words, and your deeds are not what they should be.  You do not live as the faithful disciple, the beloved brother, or the faithful friend of Jesus that you are called to be, and that you ought to be.

You don’t love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with all your mind and all your strength.  You don’t hunger for His Word every day.  You don’t call upon His Name in every circumstance with prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.  You do not worship Him as you ought.

And you do not love your neighbor as yourself.  You carry grudges, chips on your shoulder.  You allow bitterness and resentment to eat away at you, sometimes for years on end.  You turn a cold shoulder to those who need you.  You turn your back on those you could and should befriend.

You live in fear because, by and with your sins, you still live to that extent in unbelief.  You resort to your idols instead of your Lord.  For though Christ Jesus has risen from the dead, you act as though He has not.  Or as though it made no difference.

But His Cross and Resurrection do make all the difference in the world.  So does the way that you think and speak and act.  I won’t tell you that it finally doesn’t matter, because actually it does.

When you live in the fear of unbelief, then, just like those guards, you’re as good as dead.  And isn’t that ironic?  The dead Man they were supposed to be guarding gets up and walks away, while those guards become like dead men.  Yet, that is how it really is for those who persist in sin and unbelief.  You’re as good as dead, even while you’re walking around doing your thing.  You’re afraid.  You have no peace, within or without.  And you do not love your neighbor as you should.

Christ Jesus be praised that He has not left you without help or recourse.  Indeed, He Himself has become your Strength and your Song, because He has become your Salvation.  Although He has risen from the dead and ascended to the Right Hand of His Father, and though for now you cannot see Him, take heart that He has not forgotten you.  He has not abandoned you.

He has gone on ahead of you, that is true, but He has not left you behind in the dust to languish on your own, to make it on your own.  Though you cannot see Him with your eyes, He’s really not far away from you.  In fact, He is not absent from you at all.  Lo, He is with you always.  He is a very present help in trouble — especially within His holy Christian Church.

Have you heard how the women took hold of His feet?  Maybe that seems odd to you.  That’s not how you would normally greet someone.  But the precious feet of Jesus are beautiful feet.  It is with those feet that He has trod death and the devil into the dirt; that He has crushed the serpent’s head once and for all.  And it is with those feet that Jesus comes to preach the Gospel to you.

Wherever in the world He causes that Gospel to be preached, there He plants His feet.  There He is with you, and there you can lay hold of Him.  As God once promised to Joshua, that wherever he put his feet, the Lord would give that Land to Israel, so wherever in the world Jesus plants His feet, there the Lord establishes His Church, on earth as it is in heaven.

He plants His feet wherever His Gospel is preached.  Where disciples are made through Baptism and catechesis in His Name.  Where sins are forgiven in His stead.  Where His Body and Blood are given and received in remembrance of Him.  That is the Mountain where Jesus meets you, where you lay hold of Him and worship Him by laying hold of His means of grace in His Church.

And everything depends upon His Word.  Just as everything has happened according to His Word, just as He said, so do His Word and promises remain sure and certain here and now for you.

It is by His Word that Jesus befriends you, even though you haven’t been so friendly.  It is by His Word of the Gospel that Jesus makes of you His disciple, and by His Word that He makes of you His brother, a son of God in Him.  It is by His Word that He keeps you steadfast in the true faith, in spite of your doubts and fears.  So that, even in the midst of death, you live and abide in Him.

It is by His Word, therefore, and not by your own experience, insight, or ingenuity, that you find Jesus — right where He has promised to be with you.  And it is by His Word that you take hold of Him in faith.  And it is by His Word that you worship Him.  For as He preaches to you and calls you to faith, so do you speak.  You confess His Name.  You pray, praise, and give thanks.  And it is by His Word that you speak the Gospel of His Resurrection to your neighbors in the world.

You testify that Christ has forgiven your sins; that He has given you life by His Ministry of the Gospel; and that He has made for you a home and family within His Church.  And you call your neighbor to come and receive all of this, as well, by inviting him or her to come along with you.

Not only with your words, but with your life, in all of your actions, and in all of your relationships, you confess the Gospel of the Resurrection, which is the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation.  You forgive your neighbor his trespasses against you, just as you are forgiven by Christ Jesus.

Friends, there is no place in Easter for any refusal to forgive any of your neighbors.  There is no place in Easter for any refusal to be reconciled to one another.  It simply won’t fit.  It won’t work.  For where there is life and salvation in Christ Jesus, there is also the forgiveness of sins.

Christ was crucified for the sins of the world.  They’ve already been put to death and buried with Him, and in His Resurrection all of those sins are forgiven.  Your neighbor’s trespasses, along with your own, have all been put to death and buried with Jesus, and all are forgiven by His holy and precious blood.  This Jesus is risen indeed, and He lives.  Therefore, sin is forgiven, both yours and your neighbor’s.  And that forgiveness is the safe place in which you now live by God’s grace.

Little children have their hidey-holes and treasure troves, their little boxes and special places, where they keep their precious possessions.  Grown-ups do the same thing, too, whether it be in a bank vault, or in lock boxes impervious to fire and flood.  But now consider that Christ Jesus — by His own Cross and Resurrection, in flesh and blood like yours, and by your Baptism into Him — He has hidden your life with Himself in God.  That is where He keeps you safe and sound, now and forever.  Death and the devil can’t touch you there.  They certainly can touch your body, harass your body and life in this world, and even bring you down to the grave — as we have had plenty of examples even in the past couple of weeks.  But they cannot touch your life with Christ in God, nor can they keep your body from rising with Him to the life everlasting in Paradise.

You and your life are safe with Jesus.  You are hidden with Christ in God.  Which means that you are free and clear to love and serve and to forgive your neighbor, no matter what he does to you.

And so shall your crucified and risen Lord Jesus keep you steadfast and secure in His Word and faith, in His Love and His forgiveness, until that day when He calls up your body from this mortal life, from this vale of tears, from the dust of the earth, to live with Him in His Kingdom, both body and soul, forever and ever.  And then your eyes will be able to see Him, your great Redeemer, who died for you and rose again and lives forever.  Your eyes can’t see Him now, but that yet more glorious Day will come when they do.  Then you shall see Him as He is, and you shall be like Him.

Already now you have your Jesus through your ears, in your heart, mind, and body, by His Word.  Hear then what He says to you, and know that His Word to you is true.  As true as He Himself is true — as true as His Cross and Resurrection are true — so are these Words true and for real:

“This Is My Body.  It is given for you.  This Is My Blood.  It is poured out for you.  Take and eat.  Drink.”  These gifts I freely give for the forgiveness of all your sins, so that you should not perish but be saved.  For as I live, so shall you also live, in body and soul, both now and forevermore.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Word of the Resurrection

The Resurrection should not come as any surprise, for it is the fulfillment of the Word of God, as the Holy Scriptures of the Prophets had foretold, and as the Lord Jesus Himself had also spoken.

But it does catch you by surprise and leave you reeling.  It seems amazing, and rather more like unbelievable nonsense than reliable fact.  Not just to the people way back when, but to you, right here and now on Easter Sunday morning.  For even though you fully expect to hear that Christ is risen (He is risen indeed!), you don’t actually expect it to make any difference or change anything in your life.  It makes for a nice greeting and it’s a good excuse for family gatherings and parties, but it doesn’t permeate your heart and mind, your body and soul, with the peace and hope that you long for all your days.  Instead of joy and confidence, you still tremble with anxiety and fear.

Although you would affirm at the drop of a hat that Jesus rose from the dead, you do not act like it, and you do not live as though it mattered, because you do not remember His Word.  Else you would not continue to curse or to covet, to boast of yourself, to spend so much on things that do not last and do not matter, to envy and resent your neighbor, or to harbor grudges and bitterness.

But to remember the Lord Jesus and His Word of the Resurrection, as the angel describes, is not a matter of recalling the story or keeping track of the details involved.  It is not a mental exercise, nor really any sort of activity or exercise on your part.  It is nothing you can dredge up for yourself.  It is rather to be engaged and acted upon by the Word itself; not as letters on the page, nor as a code for you to decipher, but the Word that is preached into your ears, into your heart and mind, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the working of His Holy Spirit through the Gospel.

It is not an easy thing.  To remember the Word of Jesus is a miracle as great as the Resurrection.  Or, better to say, it is the miracle of the Resurrection as it is accomplished in your fallen flesh by the powerful mercies of God, lest you remain dead in your trespasses and sin.  For by your sinful nature, you do not remember or believe the Word of Christ.  You refuse to believe it, and you do not take it seriously.  Although it is beyond your reason and strength, you think it is beneath you.

If you are here in church regularly, you are tempted to presume that you already “know” it all.  Adults are as bad as children at playing that game.  But you don’t know as much as you think you do; there’s always more to learn.  Nor do you understand what you do know, not as you should.  And again, more to the point at hand, to “know” is not yet to remember what Jesus is speaking, for that requires not your intellect but your ears; not what you think, but what you hear and receive.

And if you are not in church regularly or often, assuming that your health is not preventing you from coming, your absence demonstrates well enough what you think of Jesus and His Word.  As though you had no need of Him.  As though you could live without the preaching of His Word.

Repent of your arrogance, and of your real ignorance.  If those faithful women who had followed and supported Jesus in His Ministry were still caught by surprise when they came to His empty tomb; and if His chosen disciples and holy Apostles did not believe the Word of His Resurrection at first, because of their hardness of heart; and if none of them were able to remember, to believe, or to rejoice in this Gospel, except by the hearing of the Word of Jesus — then do not kid yourself or flatter yourself that you can manage on your own.  That is both prideful and utterly naïve.

Why do you look for the Lord Jesus among the dead?  He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity.  He is the Living One!  You will not find Him in your dead and dying flesh.  Nor in the cares and occupations of this perishing world.  Not in business ventures.  Not in your lavish vacations.  Not in your hobbies and diversions.  Not even in your family and close friends.  All of these things, no matter how precious, are subject to death and the grave as surely as you are.  They are all together withering grass, fading memories, and dust and ashes blowing in the wind.

You won’t find Jesus there among the dead, in what amounts to the graveyards and tombstones of this mortal life.  Memorials and monuments of death, that is all this world is able to remember.  But that is not where Jesus is.  And without Him there is no life or health or happiness or peace.

To have the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, and thus to have Life with God in Him, you must remember His Word.  Which means that you must hear Him speak and listen to what He says.  Not simply information, far less “do-it-yourself” instructions, but the Word of the Resurrection, that is, the Word of the Gospel, which does and gives what it says.

So, what does it mean that the Crucified One has risen from the dead — that He is risen indeed! — and that He is the Living One?  What difference does it make?

It means that your sin has been dealt with, atoned for, and removed, once and forever, and that you are now reconciled to God in Christ.  Although you were His mortal enemy, He has made peace between you and Him.  Be at peace with Him, therefore, and live in peace with your neighbors.

You need not be afraid, nor tremble with anxiety at whatever might be coming down the pike.  For the Resurrection of Christ Jesus means that your death has been undone, and that your damnation has been taken away.  Baptized into Him, into His Cross and Resurrection, you have already died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  So there is nothing at all that can you hurt you forever.

His Resurrection means that neither Satan, the Accuser, nor even God’s own righteous Law may condemn you any longer, because the One who died in your place has been vindicated, justified, and exalted to the Right Hand of the Father.  As He is your Righteousness, you live by faith in Him, and there is no charge that can be sustained or stand against you.  You are innocent in Him.

That is what is true for you in Christ Jesus.  In His Resurrection from the dead, you are also raised and made alive.  Although your mortal flesh and blood are still perishing and returning to the dust, you live unto God in the Body of Christ, and so shall your body also be glorified on the last day.

Are you weak and weary and downhearted?  Christ has risen.  In Him, you too shall rise.

Are you guilty and fearful and teetering on the edge?  Christ has risen.  Your sins are forgiven.

Are you skeptical, incredulous, and doubting?  Christ has risen.  Your faith is not in vain.

His Resurrection and His Life are not far away and out of reach.  They are given to you here in the preaching of His Word and in the Sacrament of His Altar.  In fact, His Word of the Resurrection is always directing you and bringing you to the Table of His Holy Communion, to the gift of His crucified and risen Body, and to the New Testament in His holy and precious Blood.

It is in the celebration of this Feast, in the giving and receiving of this Bread and this Cup, in the proclamation of His death until His comes, and in the blessing of His Name, that you are given to remember the Lord Jesus Christ, as He remembers you with His love and mercy and forgiveness.

Here is what is missing from all the dead and deadly monuments of this dying world.  Here is the Body of the Lord Jesus, by which He has conquered death, atoned for sin, and reconciled you and all the world to His God and Father in heaven.

Here is the Body that was crucified for your transgressions and raised for your justification.  It is given into your hands, into your mouth, and into your body, that you should die no more but rise and live with Him forever.  That is amazing, to be sure, but it comes as no surprise.  Remember the Word that He speaks even now: It is for you, and for the many, for the forgiveness of all your sins.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.