Christ has risen! He has risen, indeed. Alleluia!
The sermon text for this Easter Sunday is from Luke 24:1-12 previously read.
We all remember the January 12 earthquake in Haiti that killed an estimated 230,000 people. One of those assumed dead was a 28 year old, rice vendor named Evan Muncie. His family gave up all hope when on January 23 the Haitian authorities declared an end to search and rescue efforts. Evan was among many for whom funerals were held.
February 9, 27 days after the quake, delirious and malnourished, Evan was discovered in the ruins of a collapsed marketplace. Doctors suggested he must have had access to water but may not have had food. His mom, through an interpreter, said, “I thought he was dead, but God kept him from dying.” Evan reportedly told doctors that someone in a white coat brought him water while he was pinned down. An angel, perhaps? Only God knows. What we do know is – Evan was the last survivor.
Jesus didn’t survive the cross. Jesus on at least 3 occasions told His followers He would die and rise from the dead, yet none of the women on Easter morning expected to find Jesus alive. That grief-stricken procession to Jesus’ tomb carried spices to finish the burial so hastily-completed in the Good Friday twilight. Some of those women had stood beneath the cross and heard the Lord of Life cry out: “It is finished.” They heard Christ commit His spirit into the hands of God the Father. They saw the rush of blood and water when the soldier beneath the cross shoved his spear into Jesus’ side, confirming Christ the Savior was dead. Their only thought as they traveled to the tomb: “Who will roll the stone away for us?”
God be praised! What they found at the tomb was not what they expected. The massive stone had been rolled away. Two angels had the privilege of preaching the Easter Gospel to the startled women: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you… the Son of Man must be… crucified and on the third day be raised again.”
Our sermon theme is “The Vindicating Word.” A vindicating word is a word that proves something is true. Jesus predicted His death and resurrection before it happened, but that wouldn’t mean much if Easter morning the ladies found Jesus’ dead body. St. Paul in our Epistle (15:17f) wrote: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.”
It’s a sad reality that some who claim to be Christians reject the truth of Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the dead. They suggest the ultimate power of the Christian hope is in living Jesus’ message of love for your neighbor. For them, whether the grave was empty or occupied isn’t the point, but imitating Christ in a life of good works.
It may be that even among us there are some for whom the Christian faith is nothing more than a code of ethical ideals, a set of laws that we follow, and if we’re good enough, good will come our way. Even some who intellectually accept the reality of Easter’s resurrection live their daily lives as though the Christian faith is something that makes me feel good – a good luck charm of sorts – and not a daily relationship with a living Lord and Savior. But St. Paul wrote: “If Christ has not been raised our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain.”
If your life has become something of a dreary procession through each day’s tedious tasks… If your hope is rooted and grounded in this world and its empty accomplishments… If your relationship with Christ is little more than something you learned that never made the journey from your head to your heart… Then, today, in the message of the angels “Christ has risen!” rejoice that God has vindicated the words of Jesus by raising Him bodily from the dead.
Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. No one takes My life from Me, I lay it down of My own accord. I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly.”
The rich and abundant life Jesus promised was vindicated when He burst the bondage of death and rose triumphantly from the grave. Christ Jesus struck the mortal blow to defeat the devil, emptying death and the grave of its power over God’s blood-bought children. We who are baptized into Christ through faith have a joyous certainty about our future. No child of God needs to live in misery and fear as though the grave is the end. The Living Christ promised, “I am the resurrection and the life; He who believes in Me will live even though He dies, and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”
Jesus came as true God in human flesh to offer His life as the final and perfect sacrifice for all sin and every sinner. Nothing remains undone. It is finished. 2 Corinthians says, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our sins against us… God made [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us that in [Christ] we might become the righteousness of God.”
When God the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead on Easter morning, God the Father vindicated Jesus’ work. Jesus’ resurrection was God the Father’s stamp of approval. Job well done! All that Jesus came to do He did perfectly. God the Father accepts Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. At the cross, God regarded our sins as though they were Jesus’ sins, and through faith God regards Christ’s righteousness as our own. Romans 4 says, “Righteousness will be counted to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
God vindicated Jesus’ work when in the darkness of Calvary a huge earthquake shook Jerusalem and the temple curtain was in two. For centuries only the High Priest entered behind that temple curtain to sacrifice for the sins of God’s people. When God tore that curtain, He vindicated the truth that in Jesus the final and perfect sacrifice for sins has been made. Easter’s resurrection is God’s vindication of Jesus’ promise: “Because I live, you will live also.”
Beloved in our Risen Christ! May this word of vindication from your Gracious God fill your hearts with a special joy that follows you each day until you breathe your last and go to the heavenly home God has prepared for you.
Last week I got this report: Through our Lutheran Church Missions Board we support Vicar Gui Kasongo Kabeo, a French speaking African immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He described what this joy in Christ looked like for his congregation. “When I was in Africa, I had friends who called themselves evangelical Christians who literally starved themselves to death by fasting, attempting to please God.” When Vicar Kabeo learned the free gift of grace from Jesus our Savior, he described one Sunday preaching to his congregation of immigrants in Wisconsin: “When I finally understood justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone fully enough to preach it clearly, my entire congregation stood up and sang and danced for one hour in thanksgiving to God. It went on so long I called my mentor pastor and held the cell phone up so he could hear the rejoicing.”
May God grant us that joy in Jesus! His work of dying for our sins has been vindicated. Our debt is paid. “There is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We may not be dialing our cell phones, but what a joy for us to share with the world this Good News! Christ has risen! He has risen, indeed. Alleluia!
And now may the peace of God which surpasses human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.