Rev. Daniel Mackey The Resurrection of Our Lord April 20, 2014 Mark 16:1-8 Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Muncie, Ind. He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. The women went to the tomb that first Easter morning, costly aromatics in hand for the anointing of their beloved rabbi. They left before dark because the delay of their love displayed in the care of His earthly remains had been much too long already. This preacher and teacher, whom they had followed for three years and whom they had watched die just three days earlier, needed a proper burial. Joseph and Nicodemus had done what they could, but this care required a woman s touch, a mother s love for a dear child. His own Mother Mary was still in her grief, so these mothers would be a mother to Jesus of Nazareth. They were at the grave to finish the job of burial and to cry out their grief. We do it too. When love is left with a broken heart and there are pieces to put back together, we try to look for ways to repair our sorrows and heal our souls. Sometimes death finds us in denial. Part of the reason we go to the funeral and the cemetery, why we go and look at the corpse, is to make death more real. Could he really, truly be gone? It was only last week we were parading into Jerusalem and the people were singing songs of Hosanna. Just as the turned up sod and temporary marker forces us, the caring of Jesus body would make this tragedy more real for the women. Life is gone; death is done; the grave has won. Before grief can heal, death must be real. We know it, have been there, and bear the scars. We still carry the pain of loss. So Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, Salome, and the other women came to the tomb, hoping that it wasn t real but expecting only a dead body of a dear friend. Even their memories could not console them now. They had 1
no laughter or hope. Death took everything from them. This Jesus, for whom they gave everything, had been taken from them. When they arrived, even their grief is taken from them, replaced with fear and trembling. The stone they were so concerned about getting moved from the tomb s entrance had been overturned as if something had burst forth from the grave. Only a stranger, a young man in a white robe, sitting on the right side of the tomb was there. The fear and confusion was more terrifying than death. Where did they take Jesus body? The young man, an angel, speaks: Do not be alarmed. Of course they were alarmed! Their whole world, their universe, their everything was taken from them. They couldn t think clearly, rationally, reasonably. When they thought things couldn t get any worse, it does. For this reason, the angel comforts them: Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He acknowledges their suffering, their pain, their grief. He doesn t allow denial to keep them. The betrayal by a friend even one of the Twelve the terrible but innocent sufferings, the nails pounded through hands and feet, the side pierced and the blood poured out, and Jesus death, oh the death, were very real. What they had beheld with their own eyes was indeed a nightmare but no deception. All is not lost, the angel declares. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. Your eyes which beheld the horror of the cross are now blessed to behold the absence of that death. The grave is empty. It has no victory; it s sting is gone. Jesus is risen! He is not here. But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you. Momentarily they were paralyzed with fear and confusion. Then they fled, much as the men had fled that night which seemed so long ago. At first they didn t say anything. Who would believe them? Would they just be dismissed as a group of hysterical women? Or maybe the news would be too much for the others. A sword was already raised a man lost his ear and Peter 2
was rebuked. Would this result in only more death, more horror, more pain? Mary the mother of James and John might have recalled Jesus telling her boys, The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, referring to the type of death our Lord would undergo. She wouldn t have been able to stand the idea of her sons going through such slaughter. The disciples shared these same fears. They were hiding in that Upper Room where Jesus had last eaten with them. But the women returned to them, heeding the angel s Word, with a story to tell. Most did indeed dismiss the story as idle speculation. Those poor women. But not Peter. Peter wanted to believe it. He needed to believe it. So desperately so, he ran to look for himself and to see how death could become life. Today we are Mary Magdalene and the other women. We have pasts filled with disappointments, sorrows, pain, demons, and dead ends. We need a future and Jesus has promised us this future. We are mortals facing our own death and as the sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers who have given over our parents and children to death. We need comfort. We need hope. Jesus promises a life stronger than death. We are the disciples. We wear the stink of death; we bear the sting of death; we are marked with sin. In our grief and sorrow, our eyes are heavy and swollen with tears. We know sin is real we have harmed ourselves and others we have been harmed by others. Looking into the mirror of our hearts, we don t like what stares back at us. Our disappointments have given way to despair, to cynicism, to skepticism, to bitterness, to self-destruction. We know the death of the body is real, but we also know the death that has killed our hope, killed our peace, killed our joy, and killed our spirits. You can t wish this death away. Our hearts have become hardened. Is this hope real? Is the promise of the empty tomb strong enough on which to hang our hopes, our dreams, and our lives? We want nay, we need to know where tears of sorrow can be met with honest and real joy. 3
But the dead are not raised, our intellects rail. It s contrary to all laws of nature. My dear friends, what s truly contrary to nature is not life, but death. Death is not natural. Death is the problem a problem that affects all people, all creatures, all things. Life, the virgin birth, the incarnation, the miraculous healings, and the resurrection are the true laws of the flesh and the physical. Death, decay, destruction are the suspension of those laws. Without the angel s Word of the resurrection, without the good news of life s great victory over death, it would never have occurred to any of us to look forward to a resurrection of the body, in which our flesh and spirit will be united in perfection, in the way they were in Jesus. This only is a hope stronger than death. It is a hope that defeats all sorrow, all pain, all hurt. The resurrection of our Lord is the highest point and the greatest cause for joy. That which may seem an idle tale and a promise too good to be true is real. He has risen; He is not here. Just as He is risen, You too shall rise; you shall not remain in death. Easter beckons to us, Do not be alarmed. Do not live as the dead among the living. Do not keep yourself distant from the present hope God has given you. Jesus has proven His love on the cross, and in the empty tomb He has proven His power. You are not on your own nor are you your own. You have been bought with a price. You belong not to death but to life in Christ. Sin, death, and the devil have all had their shot at you. But Jesus has won you and given you life. Jesus stands between you and death. Death cannot claim you without going through Him. Jesus has already died and risen and death has no more power over Him, so death has no more power over you. Sin can make no claims on you apart from Him. Jesus has already overcome sin, so sin has no more claim on you. Satan cannot accuse you without accusing Him. Jesus has faced all the charges of the evil one and stands acquitted of all guilt, so Satan s accusations cannot condemn you. Your life is hidden with Christ your life in Christ! This is most certainly good news. 4
This good news gives us joy. Easter is about the joy of sins forgiven, lives reborn, death overcome, and reunion in heaven. Jesus resurrection is confirmation of our redemption, the down payment and guarantee of our own joyful resurrection. In this hope, resting securely in the promises of His Word, we are given the means to live this holy joy amid a world still broken by death. We know it too is redeemed with Christ s life and will be made anew. We have come today like Mary Magdalene and the other women bearing the burden of death, but Jesus sends you home with His life in you. It is a Word, a Word made flesh, dwelling among us. He declares the dead made alive, the sinners forgiven, and those deserving only damnation being granted salvation. In Jesus, your hearts are released from death s captivity, liberated from disappointment and pain, and freed to possess joy. It is a joy that endures, for it is a fruit of Christ and His resurrection for you and in you. You are forgiven! You are set free from death! You can live this Easter joy! He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! 5