Easter Sunday

Text: Luke 24:1-12
Rev. Kenneth W. Wieting

Alleluia, Christ is risen! HE IS RISEN INDEED, ALLELUIA! Dear friends in Christ:

When Jesus hung in naked, shameful death on Good Friday, there was no panic in heaven. When Jesus breathed His last and gave up the Spirit, the eternal joy of heaven was not diminished! Amid the blood and brutality of Calvary there was a hidden beauty and bounty that all heaven still sings about – Worthy is the Lamb who was slain (Rev. 5:12). Remember the topic of conversation on the Mount of Transfiguration. What Moses and Elijah, residents of heaven, spoke with Jesus about is what all heaven anticipated. They spoke about His Exodus at Jerusalem, that is, His crucifixion.

In other words, there was no surprise in heaven on Easter morning. Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia! Angels had announced the birth of Jesus as Savior. Angels had also brought to earth His name. “You shall call his name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). The angels of God, His messengers in a realm of creation you cannot see just yet, knew why Jesus was on this earth. With that work finished on Good Friday, with the sacrifice complete, with peace restored, with man reconciled to God by the blood of the cross, the angels now announce His mighty resurrection. It was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him. There was no surprise in heaven on Easter morning, only delightful announcement of life from death for us dying sinners. Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

But on earth, there was nothing but surprise! On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. The women were expecting to find a corpse on Easter morning. They planned to rub his dead body with strong-smelling spices and wrap it more carefully. Despite what Jesus had predicted, they had no thought that He might be living again. The women had watched His agonized death struggle. They had observed the burial of His dead body. When you’re dead, you’re dead - right?

Surprise – you dying sinners! God’s messengers at the garden tomb asked, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” O, GLAD SURPRISE, GLAD SURPRISE OF LIFE FROM DEATH! Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

The women weren’t the only ones surprised. When they told these things to the eleven and to all the rest we heard, these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. The Greek word means that they thought the women were delirious, out of their minds. And when Peter ran to the empty tomb and observed the grave clothes, he went home marveling at what had happened. Surprise, surprise, surprise! No one on earth expected that God would fulfill His word. O, THE GLAD SURPRISE OF LIFE FROM DEATH!

Dear Christians, What God says will happen, will happen! The soul that sins, it will die. It is appointed for men once to die and then the judgment. Mankind is continually trying to redefine death to make it more comfortable and at that same time mankind is continually surprised by death. Death is said to be natural and expected since life is said to be an accident. Yet it is so unexpected when it comes, as if we can control it or keep it away indefinitely.

But there is no escape hatch from death. Science is not. Outer space is not. Meditation or oneness with nature is not – for nature is dying. There is no reincarnation. There is no second chance based on pagan superstition or personal speculation. In Adam all die. And when you’re dead, you’re dead – right? That is right! – apart from Christ. Dead, not just in the sense of being cut off from earthly life, but dead also, in being cut off from God in the second death of eternal punishment. It is appointed for men once to die and then the judgment.

But then came the judgment of Good Friday! God the Son was judged in our stead! The Word made flesh suffered the punishment of hell and physical death as our substitute. Indeed, worthy is the Lamb who was slain. As God’s messengers proclaimed, it was divinely necessary for the Son of Man to be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise. Their only surprise is that the women hadn’t believed what Jesus had promised, including His victory over death. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” “Remember how he told you?” Surprise, surprise, surprise! What God says will happen, will happen!

Perhaps nowhere was the surprise of Christ’s victory over death greater than in Satan’s domain. When Jesus breathed His last on the cross it appeared he had been swallowed up by death. The first president of our synod, C. F. W. Walther expressed it well in the hymn we just sang. The foe was triumphant when on Calvary – The Lord of creation was nailed to the tree. In Satan’s domain did the hosts shout and jeer, for Jesus was slain whom the evil ones fear. How could that weakness, that humiliation, that gruesome death be anything but total defeat.

Walther’s hymn continues the story. But short was their triumph, the Savior arose, and death, hell, and Satan he vanquished, his foes. The conquering lord lifts his banner on high; he lives, yes, he lives, and will nevermore die. While in the very grasp of death, the Messiah overcomes death. Snatching the keys of death and hell from the devil Jesus burst forth from the dark abyss. In the face of seeming defeat, the victim pulls off the victory of the ages! Instead of being swallowed up by death, Jesus swallowed up death forever (Is. 25: 8). Surprise, surprise, surprise!

And that’s not all, for this day is the beating heart of all our hope! The greatest surprise of all is that God’s victory in Christ is your victory too. As Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though He die, yet shall he live. (John 11:25) But you say, “I can’t believe it for just recently they found “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”. It was on TV and in the magazines. Good heavens, by now you must expect this kind of stuff every Christmas and Easter season.

The Lost Tomb of Jesus will not go down as the greatest archeological find, the greatest story ever told as its producers hope. It will go down like the Titanic – as one of the greatest fabricated interpretations ever imagined. No serious scholars or archaeologists are getting on board. The original excavator that discovered these ossuaries in 1980 finds these claims laughable and disgusting. There is no certainty about the names, even the one said to be “Jesus”. There is no evidence that Mary Magdalene was ever called Mary amna (the elitist ossuary name assigned to her). A recent Issues, etc. broadcast that your mission dollars support detailed the distortions and fabrications concerning this unremarkable find a quarter century ago. It is not credible news. It is more junk on Jesus as the current Lutheran Witness details. Please take a copy along with you as you leave this morning.

So why even speak about it on Easter? Because Satan does and is! You see, the resurrection of the crucified Christ is the beating heart of all our hope! As St. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, “If Christ has not been raised our faith is futile and we are still in our sins.” “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. The sacrificial death and bodily resurrection of Jesus is not a religious idea shaped by human imagination. It is a rock-hard fact. It the 15^th chapter of His letter to Corinth, Paul calls out three sets of two witnesses and numbers more than 500 who saw the risen Lord at one time. The great deed of God is done and cannot be undone!

But you say, “I can’t believe it – it’s too marvelous and far beyond the realities of my daily life. Welcome to the Church of Jesus Christ. We are all constantly tempted to trust our own brains and our own feelings more than we trust God. The truth is, no one can believe based on their strength or intellect or will. God’s Word alone works the miracle of faith and gives new life. O, THE GLAD SURPRISE OF THE LIFE OF FAITH FROM THE DEATH OF UNBELIEF. Surprise, surprise, surprise! The angel’s exhortation identifies our life-line. The risen Christ has not stopped speaking to us dying sinners in this dying world. Remember what He said and what he continues to say to you today.

Risen from the grave He said, “Peace be with you” to disciples who had not believed His promise to rise from the dead. He comes into your midst speaking exactly the same today, “Peace be with you”. Risen from the grave He said, “Make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Beloved, as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (Gal 3:27) Surprise, surprise, surprise, in God’s mind He looks at you and sees you as He sees His beloved and righteous Son.

Through His gift of faith, you have a present and a future full of surprises.

Doubting your worth to God?

Surprise – God’s wants you with Him (He desires none to perish)

Uncertain how He views you today?

Surprise – there was no panic in heaven on Good Friday but there is such joy in heaven today over your repentance

Troubled by disappointment and suffering in your life?

Surprise – God disciplines those He loves and His strength is made perfect in your weakness

Feeling alone?

Surprise – when you pray “Our Father” Jesus prays with you. He will never leave you or forsake you.

Fearful of death?

Surprise – to depart and be with Christ is better by far – when God calls you from this life such eternal joy awaits you that no eye has seen and no ear has heard

As Walther continues in his hymn: O, where is your sting death? We fear you no more; Christ rose, and now open is fair Eden’s door. For all our transgressions his blood does atone; Redeemed and forgiven, we now are His own. Sing your hosanna and raise your glad voice; Proclaim the blest tidings that all may rejoice. God help us to share this glad surprise with all whom we know. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.