Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Text: (John 20:1-18)
Prayer: Sanctify us with the truth, Lord. Your word is truth. Amen.
If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
This is what St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. Listen to these words, and hear them well. These are words that separate wheat from chaff and sheep from goats.
St Paul continues to say:
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
So what do you think? Is Christ raised from the dead or isn’t he? Are we of all people most to be pitied? Is Christianity a joke?
St Paul continues to say:
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
There was once a prominent preacher that I once knew personally who said in his church on Easter Sunday: “Well, obviously Jesus didn’t actually rise from the dead.”
What do think of that, folks? What’s more shocking: the fact that he said this, or the fact that the whole congregation didn’t walk out in disgust?
If Christ is had not been raised, says St Paul, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
Easter Sunday is not a day when we say, “Jesus lives on”.
Easter Sunday is not a day when we say, “Never mind that Jesus died – he lives on in our hearts.”
Easter Sunday is not a day when we say, “Jesus died, but his “spirit” somehow lives on.”
Easter Sunday is not a day when we plaster a cheap plastic bandaid happy ending onto a tragic story about a man who got killed.
Easter Sunday is the day when Christians throughout the world say, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!”
He died. And he came back.
He died. And he got up on his feet.
He laid down his life, and he took it back up again.
Easter Sunday is the day when Christians say, “Christ is risen!” We say “Christ is risen from the dead”, and we say nothing less than that “Christ is risen from the dead.” If we say anything less than that, we have stopped being a church, and we have become a social club that says prayers. If we say anything less than “Christ is risen”, we have failed our God, we have failed the Scripture, we have failed Jesus himself. If we say anything less than “Christ is risen”, we have turned around, seen the man we thought was the gardener, and we still don’t recognise him. If we say anything less than “Christ is risen”, we have not recognised that that gardener is in fact our Lord Jesus Christ, and he has not yet called us by name.
If Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
Bad luck, if he hasn’t been raised.
But listen to the words that we reply: “He is risen indeed!”
In the Nicene Creed, we say that Jesus Christ is “God of God, light of light, true God of true God.”
Why do you think we need to say the words “true God”? Has this ever occurred to you? Because at the particular time when the Nicene Creed was written, there were plenty of people, and plenty of people who called themselves Christians, who believed that Jesus was something less than God. They thought that he wasn’t actually equal in his majesty to the Father. They believed that there was something holy about him, spiritual about him, godly about him, but he wasn’t actually God.
So when they wrote the Nicene Creed they said, “true God of true God”. This means, we believe that he is true God and nothing less that God. If we say he is God, and we don’t actually mean that he is God, but something less, then we are liars, wordsmiths, we’re playing games with words. God means God. Jesus is God. He is 100% man and 100% God. And just to make sure you really know what we’re talking about, we also say, “True God from true God.” Nothing less than God.
In the Small Catechism, there is a question that says, “What is the Sacrament of the Altar?” What is the Lord’s Supper? What is Holy Communion?
Luther says: “It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.”
Did you notice what it says? It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now why say the word true? Is it the body and blood of Christ, or isn’t it? Why do we need to say “true”?
Well, the reason why it says “true” is because there are plenty of people that believe bread and wine are on the altar, and Jesus is somewhere else. And that’s not what he said. He said, “This is my body”. So we say it is the true body and blood of Christ. It is nothing less than his body and blood. If we say that it is something less, then we’re playing with words again, we’re not giving straight answers, we’re liars. In the Lord’s Supper, we eat the body of Christ, and we drink his blood. It is his true body and his true blood. Nothing less than his body and blood.
And then here we are at Easter and we say, “Christ is risen!” And you reply, “He is risen indeed!”
So why do we need to say indeed? Because there are plenty of people who do not believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead, and so we need to say, “Christ is risen! And yes, it is true!” Truly he is risen! Christ is risen, and yes, I believe it. Christ is risen, and it actually happened in history, and a certain time in history, and it never happened before like this, and it will never happen again like this. Christ won’t die again, and he won’t rise again. It happened once, and it happened for sure. It happened indeed.
I believe that Jesus Christ was crucified, dead and buried. He descended into hell. On the third day, he rose again from the dead.
The truth of Christianity is not something that can be judged from your experience. We can’t say Christianity is true because it “works”. You might think that Christianity “works” for you at the moment. It seems to do the job. It keeps me happy. It presses my buttons. It makes me feel good. As Maria sings in the Sound of Music: “Then I remember my favourite things, and then I don’t feel so bad!”
But have you ever experienced a resurrection before? Have you ever seen a person rise up from the coffin, shake off the dirt and walk out the room?
No, you haven’t. So if you judge Christianity according to your experience, what do you judge Easter on?
Do you think something’s true because it’s true for you? Do you believe that something is true for you, but not for someone else? Do you think that nothing’s really true unless you experience it to be true?
So what about Easter then? How can Jesus rise from the dead for you but not for everyone in the world? Is he risen or isn’t he? Is he risen indeed, or is he risen with my fingers crossed behind my back?
He’s either risen or he’s not. And if Christ had not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and so is your faith. In other words, if Christ had not actually, physically, bodily been raised from the dead, then stop paying me a salary, stop putting money in the plate, go home, stop praying, and stop wasting your time.
Now, if Jesus’ resurrection can’t be judged by your own experience, what do we judge it on? Well, we’re left with a collection of writings called the New Testament, which the people who wrote them professed to be eyewitnesses. Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John said that they saw these things with their own eyes. St John writes: “These things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
St Paul says: “He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to [Peter] then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”
Christianity is a religion that says, “Go and test it.” Go and judge what is written. Judge it according to history’s own rules. Look at what the history books say about Julius Caesar. Look at what the history books say about Cleopatra. Look at what the say about the Chinese Emperors. Then look at where the history books got their facts from. Then look and see how much clearer and how much more detailed the New Testament is. Look at the witness that is given in these books. Test it and see for yourself. “Come and see”, as Philip said to Nathanael.
Do your research. Check it out.
Look at the detail. The Jewish leaders knew that Jesus had said in advance that he would rise from the dead, and they were worried that the disciples might come and steal him away, and pretend that he was risen from the dead. So Pilate set guards to watch the tomb. But we read that when the women came to the tomb, the guards were no longer there. Jesus was no longer there. Four different writers wrote down these details, with their own perspective. They obviously didn’t copy each other’s versions. And the fact that the tomb was empty was not just because of Mary Magdalene saw, but also, Peter and John. John in fact saw that the tomb was empty first because he ran faster than Peter. The grave cloths were folded in a certain way. Everything is described. The other women who came early to the tomb with spices to anoint Jesus body all saw that the tomb was empty. And not only that, but Jesus made himself known to his disciples, to over 500 people. And he said to his apostles, “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
And the apostles went out, and they said, “Christ is risen!” And the church replied, “He is risen indeed!”
Even today, I am saying from this pulpit, “Christ is risen!” And the church replies, “He is risen indeed!”
Yes, says St Paul, indeed, says St Paul, truly, says St Paul, really, says St Paul. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
Christ is risen! And when we say “He is risen indeed” we say, Yes, he is risen for us. He is risen for me! When we say “He is risen indeed”, we say, Yes, he is risen, and he we draw me after him, he will raise me too. Romans 4:25 says: He was delivered up for our trespasses, and raised for our justification.
Because in baptism, you are already dead and awaiting that final day when Christ will open your graves, he will call the winds from the north, the south, the east, the west, and your bodies will be raised incorruptible, immortal, glorious, like his glorious body. That’s why we say, “The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ keep you in body and soul until life eternal.” That’s why Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day.”
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
The gardener is Jesus Christ after all. We recognise him. And he looks at you and he calls you by name. He will never let you go.
And Mary turned and she said to Jesus in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” which means Teacher. You are risen from the dead, my teacher, my master, my Lord, my God, my friend, my Jesus. You are risen for me! You are risen indeed!
Amen.
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