Easter
The Resurrection of Our Lord ‑ April 16, 2006
Text: Mark 16:1‑8
WHO WILL ROLL THE STONE AWAY?
Your right hand, O LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy. This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it! CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! Dear Christians, the resurrection of the Crucified One is God's act, not man's. It is independent of human planning. It is unbound by man's opinion. God did not consult you in raising Christ! God did not confer with me in carrying out the event we rejoice in today. In both the sacrifice of Good Friday and the marvel of Easter morning, God acted contrary to human wisdom and beyond mortal logic. CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!
But no one thought He could or would rise from the dead. Not even the loyal women who loved Him believed His promise that He would rise on the third day. We like to pick on doubting Thomas, but these three women were also among the many doubters. When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early, on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"
The women were the last ones to leave Jesus' corpse on His death day. Now, on the first day of the week, our Sunday, they were on their way to the grave, the same road we all travel. They had hoped He was different. He had cared for the wreck of a woman, Mary Magdalene. He made her live again when she was all washed up. He had lightened the darkness and made these women precious with His love. He had walked with breathtaking freedom amid the demonic and earthly powers that push us around. He was constrained by no chains of pride or greed or style. He looked all of His accusers and detractors in the eye and was a minion to no one. But now, except for the manner of death, His end seemed the same as for all of us! Crucified, dead and buried!
On that early Sunday morning the women were on their way to the grave, the same road all of us are on. The numbed disciples were hidden away behind locked doors, their hopes shattered. But these women also walked along in hopeless unbelief. In love, they intended to anoint a decaying, and stinking corpse. But as they traveled the two miles from Bethany to the garden tomb they were tossing a question back and forth. They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?
Practically speaking, it was an excellent question that only St. Mark records. Rock‑hewn graves were for the wealthy. Closure stones were quite large. To bar grave robbers, there was generally a large groove cut for the stone to rest in. From a slight incline the heavy stone was rolled down over the mouth of the tomb, resting firmly in the channel cut for it. By design, it was much easier to close than to open. Practically speaking it was a very good question. Who will roll away the stone?
But, it was in fact a question which God had already answered! And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back ‑ it was very large. The dead man that the women came to honor was not to be honored as a dead man! He was living again just as He promised! The stone was rolled away not to let Him out, but to let others in to witness the empty tomb. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Fellow‑redeemed, the early morning light of this day shows that Jesus' cross changed everything for us sinners. The glorious resurrection of Christ means that God accepted the sacrifice of His son as our substitute under the law, carrying our sin. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
As Isaiah prophesied, He swallowed up death forever. He swallowed it up by first being swallowed up by death like Jonah was swallowed by the great fish. Like the fish vomited Jonah out again, so the grave had to release Jesus. It was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him (Acts 2:24).
Is it not a wondrous paradox? The women were worried about being locked out of a chamber of death ‑ Who will roll away the stone? Clearly they had no hope of the resurrection. There concern was to un‑wrap a dead body and rub aromatic ointment onto it before enfolding it in linen cloth. If their plans had been realized Jesus' cared for body would have remained in that garden tomb, sealed over again with the large stone.
But when they entered that chamber of death they heard a message of life. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one. He has risen; he is not here. Like there were heavenly preachers at Jesus' birth over the fields of Bethlehem, so the angels of Easter morning also bring a message of peace. Do not be alarmed, the women were told, JesusYthe crucified oneYhas risen.
Dear Christians, see how the description of His shame has become His crown of glory? The heavenly messenger describes Jesus of Nazareth as the crucified one. You see, it is not the resurrection of Christ that saved us. Jesus did not earn forgiveness of sins for us at His open tomb. The resurrection is rather His glorious, "I told you so"! The finished work of salvation that God gives us is in Christ's death. The bloodied, brutalized Jesus meant exactly what He said when He cried out from the tree of the cross, "It is finished!" "I told you so" is one of the unmistakable deductions of Easter morning. The simple fact of the morning of the third day is this, "He is risen". The crucified one is risen!
He may not have looked like God in Gethsemane. The right hand of God may not have looked like He was shattering the enemy when He hung stripped and beaten and mocked on the cross. But appearances are so often deceiving. The great deed of God is now done and cannot be undone. He was sacrificed once for all, the just for the unjust. As surely as Adam once set a fatal deathward cadence for mankind, so surely has Christ reversed that cadence with music that surges upward to eternal life! He is risen! The crucified one is risen!
This message is our life! Jesus is our life! Flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones He is risen! That's why St. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one timeYlast of allYhe appeared to meYunworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
It will always be true that men trust their own brains more than they trust God. Such was the case in the church at Corinth. Brilliant and witty opponents of the Gospel were intoxicated with their own ideas. Puffed up with knowledge and concerned for the growth of the church, they were willing to sacrifice the bodily resurrection of the dead to placate Greek sensibilities. Paul confronts them with a rock hard fact. The law required two or three witnesses. Paul points to dozens of witnesses, even five hundred at one time. Then Paul points to himself. The risen Christ has appeared to us all, He said. And think of the change that meant for Paul the Pharisee.
As the former persecutor of the church he hounded Christians to death. He hated the Gospel of a crucified Messiah. He did all within his considerable power to stamp it out. Let no one ever say to you that there is a person who is unreachable by the Gospel. Perhaps it is someone who has renounced the faith. Perhaps it is someone living in materialistic greed or immorality. Perhaps it is someone puffed up with knowledge that is really ignorance who finds pleasure in demeaning the faith.
Beloved it was solely by God's grace that methodical, murderous, Paul was turned from whole‑hearted opposition to preaching the Gospel. It was solely by God's grace that He then delivered as of first importance that Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
Yes, like the women in the early morning hours, we are also walking toward the grave. Yes, we must still face the question of a burial place for ourselves and our loved ones. Yes, the fear of death is a reality, or at least it should be, for death itself is unnatural: a penalty, a curse because of sin. But no, death does not have the last word. Death has been swallowed up in victory (I Cor. 15:54). O death where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Who will roll away the stone on our graves? He will, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of the trumpet.
Who can roll away the stone on our fear of death? He can! He tasted death for us and He has swallowed it up forever!
Who can roll away the stone of worry that ties us up in knots and wearies our hearts and minds? Who can roll away those heavy stones that tempt us to despair? He can. He invites, "come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."
Who can roll away the stone on empty, misdirected lives? Who can roll away the stone of thankless bitter wobbling from one disappointment to another? He can! Jesus' mission was to bring life to this world of dying sinners. From the winter of despair He transfers us to the spring of hope. He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Baptized at His command in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit your future is full of hope and promise.
Who can roll away the stone of doubt about God's love for you and His complete forgiveness of all your sins? You know the bad choices of the past, and the tempting deceits of the present. The risen Christ can roll away those doubts! That's why He comes into your midst today. That's why He comes into the midst of His gathered people each week to feed you and to forgive you. On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of rich food, a feast of well‑aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. The feast He prepares for you is so rich that with the bread he gives you to eat His very body sacrificed on the cross. The wine He gives you to drink is so well refined that with it He gives you to drink His very blood shed on the cross.
Beloved, you are so precious to Him! To deny His resurrection is simply to be out of touch with reality. This world is passing away. We all are walking toward the grave. But He has swallowed up death forever. We do not live for a dead man! We do not give our gifts to a dead man! We do not pray to a dead man! He once was dead, but now He lives! There is no stone that He cannot roll away!
Today let the beauty of that first Easter morning sink down deep. It was early, just after sunrise! Entering a chamber of death the women were greeted with a message of life, He is risen, He is not here. The message for you today is just a bit different, He is risen, He is here, in your midst. "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save usYlet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." To Him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is one God be honor and glory now and forever, AMEN.
Text: Mark 16:1‑8
WHO WILL ROLL THE STONE AWAY?
Your right hand, O LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy. This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it! CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! Dear Christians, the resurrection of the Crucified One is God's act, not man's. It is independent of human planning. It is unbound by man's opinion. God did not consult you in raising Christ! God did not confer with me in carrying out the event we rejoice in today. In both the sacrifice of Good Friday and the marvel of Easter morning, God acted contrary to human wisdom and beyond mortal logic. CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!
But no one thought He could or would rise from the dead. Not even the loyal women who loved Him believed His promise that He would rise on the third day. We like to pick on doubting Thomas, but these three women were also among the many doubters. When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early, on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"
The women were the last ones to leave Jesus' corpse on His death day. Now, on the first day of the week, our Sunday, they were on their way to the grave, the same road we all travel. They had hoped He was different. He had cared for the wreck of a woman, Mary Magdalene. He made her live again when she was all washed up. He had lightened the darkness and made these women precious with His love. He had walked with breathtaking freedom amid the demonic and earthly powers that push us around. He was constrained by no chains of pride or greed or style. He looked all of His accusers and detractors in the eye and was a minion to no one. But now, except for the manner of death, His end seemed the same as for all of us! Crucified, dead and buried!
On that early Sunday morning the women were on their way to the grave, the same road all of us are on. The numbed disciples were hidden away behind locked doors, their hopes shattered. But these women also walked along in hopeless unbelief. In love, they intended to anoint a decaying, and stinking corpse. But as they traveled the two miles from Bethany to the garden tomb they were tossing a question back and forth. They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?
Practically speaking, it was an excellent question that only St. Mark records. Rock‑hewn graves were for the wealthy. Closure stones were quite large. To bar grave robbers, there was generally a large groove cut for the stone to rest in. From a slight incline the heavy stone was rolled down over the mouth of the tomb, resting firmly in the channel cut for it. By design, it was much easier to close than to open. Practically speaking it was a very good question. Who will roll away the stone?
But, it was in fact a question which God had already answered! And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back ‑ it was very large. The dead man that the women came to honor was not to be honored as a dead man! He was living again just as He promised! The stone was rolled away not to let Him out, but to let others in to witness the empty tomb. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Fellow‑redeemed, the early morning light of this day shows that Jesus' cross changed everything for us sinners. The glorious resurrection of Christ means that God accepted the sacrifice of His son as our substitute under the law, carrying our sin. The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.
As Isaiah prophesied, He swallowed up death forever. He swallowed it up by first being swallowed up by death like Jonah was swallowed by the great fish. Like the fish vomited Jonah out again, so the grave had to release Jesus. It was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him (Acts 2:24).
Is it not a wondrous paradox? The women were worried about being locked out of a chamber of death ‑ Who will roll away the stone? Clearly they had no hope of the resurrection. There concern was to un‑wrap a dead body and rub aromatic ointment onto it before enfolding it in linen cloth. If their plans had been realized Jesus' cared for body would have remained in that garden tomb, sealed over again with the large stone.
But when they entered that chamber of death they heard a message of life. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, the crucified one. He has risen; he is not here. Like there were heavenly preachers at Jesus' birth over the fields of Bethlehem, so the angels of Easter morning also bring a message of peace. Do not be alarmed, the women were told, JesusYthe crucified oneYhas risen.
Dear Christians, see how the description of His shame has become His crown of glory? The heavenly messenger describes Jesus of Nazareth as the crucified one. You see, it is not the resurrection of Christ that saved us. Jesus did not earn forgiveness of sins for us at His open tomb. The resurrection is rather His glorious, "I told you so"! The finished work of salvation that God gives us is in Christ's death. The bloodied, brutalized Jesus meant exactly what He said when He cried out from the tree of the cross, "It is finished!" "I told you so" is one of the unmistakable deductions of Easter morning. The simple fact of the morning of the third day is this, "He is risen". The crucified one is risen!
He may not have looked like God in Gethsemane. The right hand of God may not have looked like He was shattering the enemy when He hung stripped and beaten and mocked on the cross. But appearances are so often deceiving. The great deed of God is now done and cannot be undone. He was sacrificed once for all, the just for the unjust. As surely as Adam once set a fatal deathward cadence for mankind, so surely has Christ reversed that cadence with music that surges upward to eternal life! He is risen! The crucified one is risen!
This message is our life! Jesus is our life! Flesh of our flesh and bone of our bones He is risen! That's why St. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one timeYlast of allYhe appeared to meYunworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
It will always be true that men trust their own brains more than they trust God. Such was the case in the church at Corinth. Brilliant and witty opponents of the Gospel were intoxicated with their own ideas. Puffed up with knowledge and concerned for the growth of the church, they were willing to sacrifice the bodily resurrection of the dead to placate Greek sensibilities. Paul confronts them with a rock hard fact. The law required two or three witnesses. Paul points to dozens of witnesses, even five hundred at one time. Then Paul points to himself. The risen Christ has appeared to us all, He said. And think of the change that meant for Paul the Pharisee.
As the former persecutor of the church he hounded Christians to death. He hated the Gospel of a crucified Messiah. He did all within his considerable power to stamp it out. Let no one ever say to you that there is a person who is unreachable by the Gospel. Perhaps it is someone who has renounced the faith. Perhaps it is someone living in materialistic greed or immorality. Perhaps it is someone puffed up with knowledge that is really ignorance who finds pleasure in demeaning the faith.
Beloved it was solely by God's grace that methodical, murderous, Paul was turned from whole‑hearted opposition to preaching the Gospel. It was solely by God's grace that He then delivered as of first importance that Christ died for our sins and was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.
Yes, like the women in the early morning hours, we are also walking toward the grave. Yes, we must still face the question of a burial place for ourselves and our loved ones. Yes, the fear of death is a reality, or at least it should be, for death itself is unnatural: a penalty, a curse because of sin. But no, death does not have the last word. Death has been swallowed up in victory (I Cor. 15:54). O death where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
Who will roll away the stone on our graves? He will, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sounding of the trumpet.
Who can roll away the stone on our fear of death? He can! He tasted death for us and He has swallowed it up forever!
Who can roll away the stone of worry that ties us up in knots and wearies our hearts and minds? Who can roll away those heavy stones that tempt us to despair? He can. He invites, "come unto me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest."
Who can roll away the stone on empty, misdirected lives? Who can roll away the stone of thankless bitter wobbling from one disappointment to another? He can! Jesus' mission was to bring life to this world of dying sinners. From the winter of despair He transfers us to the spring of hope. He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Baptized at His command in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit your future is full of hope and promise.
Who can roll away the stone of doubt about God's love for you and His complete forgiveness of all your sins? You know the bad choices of the past, and the tempting deceits of the present. The risen Christ can roll away those doubts! That's why He comes into your midst today. That's why He comes into the midst of His gathered people each week to feed you and to forgive you. On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of rich food, a feast of well‑aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. The feast He prepares for you is so rich that with the bread he gives you to eat His very body sacrificed on the cross. The wine He gives you to drink is so well refined that with it He gives you to drink His very blood shed on the cross.
Beloved, you are so precious to Him! To deny His resurrection is simply to be out of touch with reality. This world is passing away. We all are walking toward the grave. But He has swallowed up death forever. We do not live for a dead man! We do not give our gifts to a dead man! We do not pray to a dead man! He once was dead, but now He lives! There is no stone that He cannot roll away!
Today let the beauty of that first Easter morning sink down deep. It was early, just after sunrise! Entering a chamber of death the women were greeted with a message of life, He is risen, He is not here. The message for you today is just a bit different, He is risen, He is here, in your midst. "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save usYlet us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." To Him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is one God be honor and glory now and forever, AMEN.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
5/14/2006
