Resurrection Sunday 3/31/13

Resurrection Sunday 3/31/13 Text: Luke 24:1-12 Title: What Do You See - An Empty Tomb or the Living Jesus? I love this painting (“Why Weepest Thou?” by artist Liz Swindle), for it captures the human condition: worry, actually, unbelief in God’s promises, the same problem that plagues us today. I have no doubt that when Mary Magdalene saw the empty tomb, she never thought that Jesus might be alive, even though he had told the disciples that he would rise from the dead three days after his death. She was not prepared for an empty tomb, for they had come to the grave to find the dead Jesus among the dead. Before you get too hard on her or the other women, for that matter, we need to remember that the men, Jesus’ chosen disciples, did not even see the need to go to the grave that morning. Jesus is dead and there are more pressing issues, like staying alive. The crowd got Pilate to kill Jesus. What if they got him to give the okay for Jesus’ followers to be imprisoned or, for that matter, killed? Everything that they thought about Jesus, all their dreams of riches, power, and glory had died on that cross on Friday. An uncertain, sorrowful future lay ahead of them. So, it was time to do as most people today do, at least try to do, make a plan, get everything under control, and make the best of a bad situation. Uncertainty, sorrow, the desire to control others, and creation itself are all a big part of our human experience. That is why the pagans offer sacrifices to their God, for a happy god means a happy people. At least that is the way it is supposed to work. Today, while most of us, at least in the educated parts of the world, don’t offer and pray to idols, we do have a strong belief that given enough time, science and human knowledge will finally solve our problems, giving us a wonderful life, free of suffering and maybe, just maybe, even free us from death. We believe that, but deep down we know the truth, that as advanced as science and human reasoning are, they still have not done, nor will they do, what we want them to do. We know that, but if we let go of that belief, that idol, with what are we left? Nothing but our own strength and will, and even the strongest of us know from experience that sometime or other our strength and will, will fail us. The problem is the same today as it was on that first Sunday morning, Resurrection Sunday. Too many Christians put their hope for success, health, and the good life on a Jesus that really never existed, just as the disciples had done before Jesus rose from the dead. For they, just like so many today, made a Jesus from their imaginations instead of the Jesus that God described for us through the prophecies spoken and written down centuries before. Jesus then and now has been made into a false Jesus. I am pretty sure by now you are probably thinking this is the strangest Easter sermon you have ever heard, for today is about Jesus’ resurrection and the joy that gives us, and not about our human condition of sin and doubt, and the making of Jesus into something he is not. But I would put forth that is exactly what Resurrection Sunday is about, for Jesus, God himself, came to this earth for one reason, and it was not to give us the good life as we think of the good life, that is, money, health, and perfect relationships, but to ransom us from Satan and our sinful self, to make peace between us and God. Jesus did that in his death when he took all the sin that troubles us directly and indirectly, our sin of unbelief, onto himself and put it to death in his death. Thus he fulfilled the prophecy that the angels had proclaimed at his birth, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" Peace was made between us and God when Jesus cried out in his agony, (AY-lo-ee, AY-lo-ee _LAH-mah_sah-BAHK-tah-nee) "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" In his agony, he felt the wrath of God in its fullest, for what could be worse than knowing God has turned his back on you? Then, as it is recorded in John’s Gospel, Jesus said, "It is finished." and died. It was done, once and for all. The prophecy of the angels was fulfilled; peace was made between you and God. Peace was made, a peace desperately needed, for ever since Adam and Eve sinned by not believing, that is, not remembering his promise to them that he alone would supply all they needed to live, humans have been under the curse of God’s just wrath. What to do? God out of love for his human creation, gave them free will toward him so that they could love him, for what kind of love is it when you have no choice to love or hate? They chose to not love him as they should, and life, as we all are painfully aware, went downhill from there. God wanted his human creation restored. Who could do it? An angel could not take our place because angels cannot sin. The best of the prophets of old could not do it, for even Elijah and Moses sinned. They, too, deserved to be punished by God for their sin. No one could be one of us except God, so he came to us in a virgin’s womb, God Incarnate, Jesus, fully human, to live and die in our place so God’s just wrath toward us could be satisfied. How do we know this? God tells us about our sinfulness and his plan to redeem us in God’s Word, but in the end it can only be truly believed by faith, for faith is believing in something you cannot see or fully understand. And who can understand, truly understand, how God can be one of us, to live and die for all of God’s human creation? No one can. But you can verify Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection by reading in the inspired, inerrant Word of God what the prophets said about him centuries before he came to be one of us. You can read what the angels said to Mary and Joseph about his upcoming birth. You can read what Simeon said as he held the baby Jesus. You can read what John the Baptist said about him when he proclaimed Jesus as the Lamb of God, and you can read what God said about him and what Jesus said about himself. You can read what the apostles, the eyewitnesses to his life, death and resurrection said. You can read their words, the words of God to you, and believe. And then you will know through the faith God has given you that Jesus did not come back to life to die at a later date, as did the widow’s son Elijah brought back to life, or the centurion’s daughter, or Lazarus did. He continues to live seated at the right hand of the Father, a visible sign to God that he took what we still deserve, God’s wrath. God has intervened so wonderfully, so overwhelmingly, so far beyond everything that had happened early upon this earth, that our entire life and our entire existence has been fundamentally changed. A new era was begun. An entirely new opportunity was offered to the human race. God’s wonderful plan concerning the cross and everything that had happened before this wonderful day was revealed in his resurrection. That is the importance, the reason we celebrate Resurrection Sunday, for it is the proof for all to see. Now the disciples and we can fully understand the real meaning behind the words that God’s faithful people have sung for centuries, particularly at each Passover celebration, words that many times seemed so out of tune with reality of life. “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us be glad in it.” So, today we rejoice in Jesus’ resurrection, for in him, humans encountered God, and in the process were declared righteous, not in any thing we have done or will do, but declared righteous because of Jesus’ righteousness, righteousness that continues today, tomorrow, and forever. The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed. Amen