Easter Day [John 20:1-18] (5-Apr-2015)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 6.30am, 9am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, breathe out upon us all your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

Jesus says: I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

There is no other person who can save you except Jesus. So it is important that you meet him, and that you know who he is, and what he is done for you. Today we celebrate one fact that distinguishes him from every other human who has lived on this planet. He has died. Many people in the world have died. But how many have risen back to life? How many people have been dead in a tomb and then stood up of their own accord and walked out?

Now, in the Gospels we read about some people who were dead, and Jesus raised them to life. There was a daughter of a man called Jairus, and there was the son of a widow who lived in the town of Nain, and there was Jesus’ friend Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead after he was in a tomb for 4 days.

But these people were raised from the dead by Jesus. Jesus didn’t need someone else to come and raise him. He stood up himself. Jesus was raised by God the Father in such a way that He himself was able to simply stand up and walk up out of the tomb.

All of the people whom Jesus raised died again, otherwise even today we would still be able to go and meet them. But Jesus is not still dead. He has risen from the dead. He was a stone cold body in a grave, and he actually, physically, literally, truly rose from the dead. And he will never die again. St Paul says: We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.

And Jesus says about himself: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. He is the only one who has risen from the dead and will never die again.

Sometimes people come to a church and see a crucifix: which is a cross which an effigy of Jesus actually on it. And sometimes people say that an empty cross is better, because Jesus is no longer on the cross. But an empty cross doesn’t symbolise anything. The only thing the cross reminds us of, whether it has Jesus on it, or not, is that Jesus died on it. The symbol of the resurrection is not an empty cross, it’s an empty tomb. An empty cross proves nothing except that Jesus was taken off it and buried. But it’s something completely different if the tomb is empty. However, it’s also not enough that the tomb is empty—because Jesus body could have been stolen. If Jesus is risen from the dead, then he needs to show himself to the disciples and speak to them, so that they know that it’s the same Jesus who died on the cross who has now stood up and walked out of the tomb.

This is where Mary Magdalene finds herself in our reading today.

She knows that the cross is empty. It’s been empty for a couple of days. And so early on Sunday morning, she comes and finds something strange: an empty tomb. But she doesn’t understand that the empty tomb is a source of great comfort yet. She doesn’t know what to make of it.

We read: She ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not where they have laid him.”

The other disciple here is John. He often calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. What do you think? Who is going to comfort Mary Magdalene? Who’s going to wipe away her tears?

We read: Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stopping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.

What do we make of all this? Peter and John had a race to the tomb—John the writer of this gospel wants you to know that he got there first. Notice the detail. Peter saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.

Well, one thing so far: the tomb is empty. The body of Jesus might have been stolen still. And yet, whoever might have stolen Jesus body unwrapped his grave clothes first. This must have taken quite some time, and would have been a messy process. Who would have come and rolled the stone away, unravelled the grave cloths, and then stolen Jesus’ body? What do the disciples make of it? What explanation do they offer Mary? None.

We read: But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.

You see, Christian comfort is not human comfort. A mere man like Peter, or like John, can’t bring Christian comfort to anyone. They cannot stop Mary’s tears with their human opinions.

Now, of course, we know that they were sent out by Jesus to witness to his resurrection and to preach the forgiveness of sins in his name. When they gave this witness in public and when they wrote it down for us to read now and to preach, we receive this word not as a human word but as God’s word. St Paul says: We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accept it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

By themselves, Peter and John cannot offer Mary Magdalene an answer. They haven’t seen Jesus yet, and they haven’t spoken with him. The message of the resurrection is not a human, made-up message. The fact that Jesus is risen from the dead is not a myth that people invented. Any human ideas like this will comfort no one. Even still here, Peter and John have nothing to say yet, until they are sent by Jesus. Without Jesus, they are poor human comforters, with no comfort, and with no ability to wipe Mary’s tears away.

Only Jesus, who is not just a human being, not just a man like Peter and John, but who is at the same time also true God—only he can give true comfort to Mary. Only Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through him.

So Christianity is not about human philosophy. It’s about a fact. Easter isn’t celebrating something that happens in human minds. We are celebrating that actually happened. God knows how to raise a person from the dead. Humans don’t. And if God knows how to raise a person from the dead, then only God can give any comfort in the face of death. Any pathetic, made-up, human ideas are simply rubbish, and have no power whatsoever to wipe away Mary’s tears.

And so we read: Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.

But what about angels? Are they able to give Mary any comfort? These are amazing wonderful heavenly creatures.

We read: [Mary] saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

But these angels are not able to comfort Mary either. These angels are in the service of Jesus, and without being with Jesus, angels are no use to us at all. In fact, an angel that is not in the service of Jesus is a demon. I walked into a bookshop in Mt Barker during this last week, and there was a whole shelf about religion. Not one Christian book and not one bible was to be found. But there were books about angels, and about meditation, about “spirituality”, and all kinds of things. Angels, meditation, spirituality are no use if there’s no Jesus risen from the dead. St Paul says in Galatians: Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. Angels are a curse if they don’t serve the living Jesus. Meditation is a curse if it is not meditation on Jesus—many meditation books teach people to empty their minds. But Jesus wants you to fill your mind with his words. All spirituality is demonic if it’s not the Holy Spirit breathed out from Jesus’ own mouth that we’re talking about.

Only Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. And he says: No one comes to the Father except through me. And so, these angels who Mary sees do not draw any attention to themselves, because it is not the angels who bring the comfort of Easter. It would be no comfort to us, if Jesus body were taken away and simply replaced by some angels. It was be no use at all as well if we believed that when Jesus died he turned into an angel. That would be rubbish. Then he would have no flesh and blood to present to God the Father to cover over your sins.

So—Easter is not about human opinions, and it is not about angels. Mary has met with Peter and John, and yet she still weeps. She has seen the angels from heaven, and yet she still weeps.

But let’s read what happens next in our reading: Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary”. She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

And now, it is Jesus who comforts her. Jesus himself is the only wiper away of tears, the only comforter, the only one who has actually physically risen from the dead. And only he gives the explanation for the empty tomb and the folded grave clothes. The answer is that the reason why Jesus is not in the tomb and the reason why the grave clothes are folded up, is because he has taken the grave clothes off himself and he has walked out of the tomb. Nobody has ever done this before, and only by Jesus showing himself to Mary and speaking to her can he comfort her with the wonderful fact that he is risen from the dead. He is risen from the dead, truly risen from the dead, risen in deed and risen in truth. And so Christians for the rest of history will say: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Indeed. He is risen from the dead, and he is nothing less than risen from the dead. If we say he is risen, and he is not really risen indeed, then we are not Christians. If he is not risen, then our faith is just a human made up faith, with second rate human explanations. And human ideas lead to human rubbish. If Jesus is not risen from the dead, then either we will worship human stuff, and or we will worship angelic stuff. We will either worship our own achievements, our own intellect, our own reason, our own feelings, or we will join some fallen angels, and end up speculating our way into the sunset. We will either seek salvation by human works, or by offering sacrifices to fallen angels. That’s what the other religions of the world are.

Only Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. Only Christ is risen! Only Christ is risen indeed! Only he can comfort Mary, and only he can wipe away her tears.

But notice, first, that she doesn’t recognise Jesus. She mistakes him for the gardener. Jesus rules the world—he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, and through his word and his sacraments in the church, he rules the world. Do you realise that? We Christians today are seated in the throne-room of Jesus himself.

But many people don’t recognise him. They don’t see him. They don’t notice him. But when he speaks his word, and we realise that through his word, he calls each of us by name, then we recognise Jesus. Then we know that this man, our God, who is risen from the dead, is with us always until the very end of the age.

Here Jesus is visibly in front of Mary and calls her name. When we are baptised, Jesus also speaks our own name and baptises us in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Of course, baptisms are performed by pastors. And most people won’t recognise Jesus standing there—they think this is just a pastor doing this. But when we realise that this is Jesus himself calling us by name, then we know that we have not learnt something from human beings or from angels. We have learnt this from Jesus Christ himself, who has breathed out on us the Holy Spirit. Jesus calls Mary by name. And she calls him her Teacher! Rabboni!

And so, Jesus is truly risen from the dead. And only He can teach us this, and only He can convince us of this. Only He can bring true comfort, and only He can wipe away Mary’s tears. He is not a mere human being like Peter and John. He made Peter and John. He is also true God. And Jesus is not some angelic creature, like the angel Gabriel. He is a real man, with real flesh and blood, with a real body that was nailed to the cross and with real blood that was poured out for you.

Only Jesus, true God and true man, can be your Saviour. Only He can save you. Only He can build his church. Only He can call you by name. Only He can comfort you.  Only He can forgive each and every single one of your sins. Only He can wipe away your tears. Because only He has risen from the dead and will never die again. Only Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through him.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Amen.

Dear Jesus, we thank you for suffering and dying on the cross. But all that would be of no use to us if your body was still buried, and your bones could still be found buried somewhere. We thank you for your wonderful resurrection from the dead, and we ask that you would strengthen our faith and lead us to everlasting life with you. Amen.