Dan Herold | Luke 24:1-8 | 4/16/2017
(Sermon begins at 22:23)
You expect highways in San Antonio and Austin to be jammed with bumper to bumper traffic during rush hour. You expect to find hamburgers at Whataburger. You expect bluebonnets to be blooming this time of year. You came to church this morning expecting to hear a preacher preach, and here I am. You expect all these things. No surprises here.
But there are also those times when things aren’t what you would expect. The time when you hit every green light and didn’t have to hit your brakes for anyone in the crosswalks the whole way down Main St. The time when you were fishing for perch and landed that huge bass instead. You expected that it would be just another church service, but a single sentence from a sermon or a line from a hymn verse hit you out of nowhere and your eyes began to tear up and you didn’t even know why.
Easter is one of those things we just weren’t expecting, but it is exactly what we need! So, let’s do something unexpected right now—something you don’t do every day. For a just a few moments, let’s turn away from the business of everyday life. For a moment forget what you’re making for dinner, who is coming over to your house or whose house you’re going to—forget about all of it and turn toward the ancient message of Easter. Together, Let’s Turn to Jesus for Resurrection and Life!
St. Luke’s account of Easter morning begins, what you would expect:
“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.”
It all seems so very normal, so unexceptional. All we read about here are dear friends, a dreadful grave, and basic human dignity.
These women had been friends and supporters of Jesus and his ministry. It is possible that they were even mothers of some of Jesus’ disciples. They supplied food and clothes for Jesus with their own money. They stood by Jesus at the foot of the cross when so many others had deserted him. They were loyal and loving—they showed that on Easter morning.
These women were going to that dreadful grave. No one likes cemeteries. We’ll do anything we can to “nice-ify” them while we’re there. We talk about how pretty the flowers are, how nicely mown the grass is, and how beautiful the memorial stones are. But deep down we know that we are there because death is real. Jesus’ tomb was a brand-new one—loaned to him by a rich man named Joseph of Arimathea. But even a high dollar tomb could not compensate for the fact that Jesus’ battered, lifeless body lay inside on a cold stone slab. Every grave is a terrible one.
These faithful women were making the best of it. They were going to that dreadful tomb to supply Jesus with some basic human dignity. Jesus had received a quick burial on Good Friday. On Saturday evening, after the Sabbath day rest was over, the women went shopping for burial spices—myrrh and aloes. They would lovingly clean Jesus’ bloody body, gently sprinkle his body with the spices, snugly wrap his body with clean linen, tenderly place a burial cloth on his face, and let Jesus rest in peace. Then they planned to return to a life that was going to be dreadfully different—a life without their friend and teacher, Jesus.
All of this is completely what we would expect. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. A dead man, a grave, and a group of friends wanting to say a final farewell. If the story ended here, we would have no reason to celebrate today. This morning there would be no flowers, bright colors, or happy songs. If the story ended there we would have no hope in heaven; we wouldn’t even have a reason to be here in a church. In fact there wouldn’t be any reason for any of us to ever be in a church or for a church to even exist!
But then something happened that the women didn’t expect:
“They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.”
They returned to the tomb at the crack of dawn. When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away. They began to wonder who could possibly have beaten them out here this early? And besides, who would have opened the grave? What about the Roman guards? Where were they? They wouldn’t run away from their post, even if it meant death for them.
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When they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” (vv. 3-7)
Instead of a cold corpse, they saw angels. The stone slab where Jesus’ lifeless body lay became the first Easter pulpit where the angels proclaimed the Good News. Instead of the silence of a tomb and the stillness of death, they listened to a sermon—short, sweet, and to the point. This sermon has literally changed the history of the world:
“He is not here; he has risen!”
The One who was beaten, battered, and crucified lives again!
“Remember how he told you!” the angels said. Whether you believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead doesn’t change the fact that it truly happened. Turn away from doubt and disbelief and turn in joy to Jesus who is the resurrection and the life!
Jesus has been raised from the dead—really, physically, truly raised from the dead! The thing you’d never expect is the very thing that has happened. God stakes his entire reputation upon these historical, unshakable Easter facts! St. Luke is no liar. The women weren’t delusional. The angels are not a myth.
God proclaims his Easter truth to us so that we can have a rock-solid foundation to build our life upon: that sin, through Christ, is forgiven; that death, in Christ, has been made powerless; that the devil, by Christ, has been defeated; that eternal life, in Christ, is yours! Easter is exactly what we wouldn’t expect, but it is exactly what we need!
What do you need? You need help with death! The funeral home is a dismal place. Standing at a graveside brings no joy. But looks and feelings can be deceiving. Death and the grave is not the end for us. Because Jesus lives again, we can be absolutely sure that we will also. Just like your alarm clock wakes you in the morning so our living Lord will one day wake us up from our graves. In Christ we will live even though we die.
You also need hope. Wars drag on. The economy isn’t exactly the most reliable or encouraging thing. We pray about our problems when we go to sleep. When we wake up, they are often still there. What hope would you have if your hope was in a dead body in a grave. None! But Christ is alive, which means that we have all kinds of hope to bring us through this life.
So what are you expecting to receive from your celebration of Easter? That depends on what you personally believe about the reality of Jesus’ resurrection. If the forgiveness of sins and victory over death aren’t really that big of a deal to you, then the best you can hope for today is candy, a good dinner, and maybe a picture with a giant sized bunny.
But if Christ truly did walk out of his tomb then you can hope for full forgiveness for all of your sins, complete removal of all your guilt, God’s truth to drive out your doubts, joy as you live for Jesus, hope of eternal life in heaven, and the assurance of your own resurrection when the last trumpet sounds.
Until that last trumpet sounds, may our Lord Jesus keep you in the one true faith; a faith that continually turns to Jesus for resurrection and life and a faith that recognizes Jesus as the solution to the problem of death and the only source of hope we have.
Turn to Jesus. He is risen! He has risen, indeed!
Amen.