Mark 16:1-8; 1
Corinthians 5:6-8; Job 19:23-27
In the Name of the Father and of the
+ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The women “went out and fled from the
tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to
anyone, for they were afraid.” Kind of an anticlimactic Gospel for Easter
Sunday, don’tcha think? Imagine if this had been the response of everyone to
the resurrection of Jesus, that they were afraid and didn’t tell anyone
anything. How very few would actually believe. Truly, only a very few could be
saved. After all, Jesus’ body could have been stolen from the tomb. Then, where
would be the proof? All those sightings of Jesus raised from the dead, and
other believers raised from the dead too? Only the hopeful psychotic delusions
of the distraught, the naïve, and the superstitious.
And yet, here we are, two thousand years
later, gathered in this sanctuary at the same time millions of others are
gathered in their churches throughout this nation and, at one time or another
this day, throughout the world, to remember, and to celebrate, and to praise
and give thanks to God for the resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ, our Savior
and Redeemer, from the dead. Apparently someone believed. Obviously a whole lot
of someones believed. They believed and, afraid or not, they told everyone
everything. In fact, they most often did so to their great risk and peril,
which lends credence to the truth of Christ’s resurrection rather than doubt.
For, consider the zeal of the Apostles
and the early Christians in the years and decades following Jesus’ death. Each
of the Apostles, save John, were martyred because of their belief in Jesus’
resurrection and their refusal to be silent, but, rather, to proclaim the
Gospel of Jesus Christ to all without concern for their personal safety or
well-being. Tradition holds that Peter was crucified head downward, humbly considering
himself unworthy to die in the same manner as His Lord. Tradition also holds
that St. Paul was beheaded in Rome, that James the Lesser was thrown from the
temple wall, stoned, and had his brains beat out by a fuller’s club, that
James, the brother of John, was slain by the sword, that Thomas was run through
with spears, seared by heated plates, and finally burned alive, that Judas
Thaddeus was beaten to death with sticks, that Phillip and Andrew were both
crucified, that Matthew was beheaded, that Nathaniel (Bartholomew) was flayed
alive and was crucified, and that Matthias, who replaced Judas Iscariot, was
stoned to death while hanging upon a cross. While John, the beloved disciple,
remained alive and presumably died an old man, he was exiled by the Romans and
lived alone on the Island of Patmos. Truly, martyrdom takes many forms.
Further, subsequent generations of Christians until the early part of the
fourth century were met with similar persecution and death for their witness to
Jesus, His resurrection, and the Gospel. And, there are still Christians today
who are persecuted and martyred for their confession of the faith. There were
the Ethiopian Coptic Christians executed last year by ISIS. There is the Indian
Roman Catholic Priest Father Tom, right now, who was abducted in Yemen by ISIS,
who murdered four nuns that were with him, and will very likely be crucified
any day now. And, there are countless Christians in China, the Sudan, and throughout the world who daily risk their
lives and livelihoods for their Confession of Christ.
Why would any of them die for something they
were not certain of? Would anyone suffer such horrendous torture and evil
death, and subject their families to the same, if they were not absolutely
convinced of the truth and the Gospel meaning of what they believed about
Jesus, His death, and His resurrection? No, not likely. But, what made them
believe so strongly? What evidence was there that Jesus had been raised, just
as He had said? Undoubtedly, the greatest evidence was the empty tomb itself.
Only consider the facts of Jesus’ burial: The Jews and the Romans had no motive
to steal Jesus’ body. In fact, they were extremely concerned about that
possibility and so set a Roman guard at the tomb to prevent such a scheme.
Further, before His resurrection, Jesus’ disciples were too fearful and
cowardly to attempt such a feat. Some skeptics have suggested that the women
went to the wrong tomb. However, this does not pan out as the women knew where
the tomb was and the Sanhedrin could simply have produced Jesus’ body from the
correct tomb and effectively falsified the account of Jesus’ resurrection. And
then, there were the burial linens neatly folded and placed at the head and
feet of where Jesus had lain, hardly what one would expect in the case of a
hasty grave robbery.
Even the fact that the Gospels record
women being the first eyewitness of the empty tomb and the resurrected Lord
lends credence to the truth of the resurrection, for women were among the
lowest in society in terms of respect and honor. Their testimony would not even
be admissible in a court of law. Surely, if the writers of the Gospels wished
to convince people of the truth of the resurrection they would have recorded the
accounts men of renown and honor, whose testimony would have been received with
greater credulity. The fact that the Evangelists preserved the eyewitness
testimony of women and did not change the facts to something that would be more
socially acceptable lends to the veracity and trustworthiness of their report.
Likewise, our Easter Gospel’s rather
abrupt and disconcerting ending, “they went out and fled from the tomb, for
trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone,
for they were afraid.” The earliest manuscripts and fragments we have of St.
Mark’s Gospel all end in this way, with those words. And, St. Mark’s account of
Jesus’ resurrection has been read and heard in Christ’s Church on Easter Sunday
since at least the seventh century. Truly, the Gospel reads and ends like a
historical record of factual events rather than as a story intentionally
constructed to lead the hearer or reader to a particular conclusion and belief.
You have to acknowledge that the St. Mark could easily have ended his Gospel on
a more upbeat note with an actual siting and even a conversation with our
resurrected Lord instead of the women fleeing the tomb confused and afraid and
saying nothing to anyone. However, St. Mark has recorded what actually
happened. The preservation of these uncomfortable and often embarrassing facts
lend credibility to the Gospels and the testimonies of both Jesus’ disciples
and those who had no interest in lending credence to them at all.
Still, as interesting as all these
signifiers to the veracity of the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection may
be, that is not why we are gathered here this morning, is it? No, it is not. We
are here this morning because Jesus is risen from the dead, just as He said. He
is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Regardless of their response to the
angel’s announcement, the women found the tomb empty and they were astonished
and filled with amazement and fear. As they approached the tomb they fretted
about the very large stone sealing its entrance. However, when they arrived at
the tomb they found that the stone had already been rolled back. You must
understand that this was not for Jesus’ benefit, but your theirs and yours. Lutheran
dogmatician Franz Pieper writes in his Christian Dogmatics, “Just as Christ
came to His disciples clausa ianua
(through closed doors), so He also arose clauso
sepulchro (through closed tomb). The only purpose of rolling the stone from
the door of the sepulcher was, according to Scripture, to exhibit the empty
tomb to the women and to convince them by this very fact that Christ had truly
risen.”
The stone was rolled away for you, that
you might believe and trust and be confident in your faith that Jesus Christ
has risen from the dead just as He said. Our Lord Jesus had already been raised
from death, had visited the spirits in prison in hell to proclaim His
resurrection victory, and was on His way to Galilee just as He told His
disciples on the night in which He was betrayed. The stone rolled away was a
sign for you. “Do not be alarmed. You
seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See
the place where they laid Him.” Jesus had predicted His death, even by
crucifixion, His rest in the tomb, and His resurrection on the third day.
Everything He had predicted has been fulfilled. The stone rolled away and the
empty tomb were the indisputable proof. Now, all there was left to do was to
believe. If all that Jesus predicted had come to pass, then He must also be in
Galilee just as He said.
What does this mean? Well, apart from
Jesus and those whom He raised, who later died again, no one has ever been
raised from the dead. That is because of the curse of our First Parent’s sin,
which is truly our sin as well, the wages of which is only and always death.
But, Jesus’ resurrection means that our sin is atoned for and we are free.
Jesus’ death was our death – the death of the sinless Son of God as a man in
our place – and, therefore, His resurrection is our resurrection. The stone
that sealed Jesus’ tomb can be understood metaphorically as our sin which keeps
us in death and in our tombs. But, it has been rolled away; our sin has been
taken away and can no longer hold us in death and the grave. In fact, even if
the stone were still in place it could not hold Jesus, and it cannot hold you
who believe and are baptized into Jesus. But, as I said before, the stone was
rolled away for you, that you may believe and be strengthened and be confident
in the truth that your sins are forgiven and that, even though you die, you
will live. As the Lutheran dogmatician Johann Gerhard wrote in his Postilla,
“True believers cannot be damned on account of their debt of sin – it has been
adequately demonstrated by the resurrection of Christ that God the LORD has
been paid a complete settlement.”
Yet, still, how often are we silent
about this Good News, our faith, our forgiveness, our justification, and our
hope of resurrection to never-ending life? How often are we like the women at
the tomb – afraid? We have this incredible Good News of forgiveness, life, and
salvation, and yet, we tell no one, we say nothing, and, too often, we live as
though nothing has happened, nothing has changed. Fear keeps us from sharing
the Good News. Fear of judgment from our peers, fear of judgment from our
family, fear that we don’t really believe what we think we believe, or fear
that we are not strong enough in faith to tell anyone else. Well, my brothers
and sisters in Christ, fear died this morning. The tomb is empty. He is not
here. He is risen, just as He said! He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Cleanse out the old leaven of sin and death and fear. You are a new, unleavened
lump! For, Christ our Passover Lamb ahs been sacrificed! Therefore, let us
celebrate this festival, not with the old leaven of malice, evil, and fear, but
with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth! This is the Feast of Victory
for our God! Alleluia! Alleluia!
In
the + Name of Jesus. Amen.
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