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Easter Sunday, 03/31/2013
Sermon on Luke 24:1-12, by Andrew Smith
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text for the sermon this Easter morning is the Gospel from Luke.
10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
Luke tells us the women are the first to hear and are the first witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The other evangelists tell us much the same thing but for Luke it seems extra important that it’s the women who are the first to hear the resurrection message. He began his gospel noting that he had “followed all things closely for some time past,” in order to write his orderly account. And he recorded the events just as the “eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us.” But it’s in Luke’s Gospel where the Lord promised to use the weak things to teach the strong. Back in chapter 1 out of the mouth of Elizabeth came the confession that the baby in Mary’s womb was the Lord. In Mary’s Song, the Magnificat those themes of the Great Reversal were introduced. “For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed.” “He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.” It wasn’t Herod or Pilate, or the chief priests. It wasn’t even Peter or James or John. It was Mary and the women, the people of humblest estate in Jesus’ day, who were given the first word of the resurrection and told to tell the others.
Luke gives us only a summary of the events on that morning long ago. John gives us a much more detailed account. What all of them do is help us to understand the complete surprise of the disciples on that first Easter morning and the confusion as people ran back and forth to the tomb where Jesus body had been laid.
The Swedish Bishop, Bo Giertz puts it this way, “Each of the first witnesses had their own version of events to tell. Mary Magdalene had her story. Peter and John saw things their own way. The other women at the tomb clearly had not seen everything all at once. Some of them could tell about a young man in white clothes inside the grace. Others spoke about two men who stood before them in shining clothes. That’s the way it always is when eyewitnesses recount surprising occurrences, where one thing happens after another. No one person sees everything. Afterward, you have to try to reconstruct the sequence of events, but it is precisely the variations in the accounts of what happened that prove you are dealing with eyewitnesses. If all the accounts were the same, we might suspect the accounts to be doctored and collaborated.” (To Live with Christ, 283)
Confusion. It’s all just too confusing. And I would bet that when asked, most people, even many of us, if we were hard pressed, would say trying to make sense of everything that happened on Easter morning is really confusing. What is not confusing is death. Death is death. As painful as it is, we can see it and we know what it is. But resurrection—that’s too much. It’s something preachers talk about and sometimes even they’re not quite sure anymore. The women who went to Jesus tomb were looking for the dead body of Jesus. Instead, they receive a word from the angels. “He is not here, but has risen.” That doesn’t really clear things up for them. But the angel continues “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Jesus had given the disciples this word twice before. Once in chapter 9 when he predicted his passion and again in chapter 18. In both those instances, the disciples do not understand what Jesus is saying. Luke even records the disciples misunderstanding. “But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.” But here, in the empty tomb, from the angel, comes the word of Jesus. And then something remarkable happened: the Word of God broke through. It finally penetrates into the hearts and minds of the women there and for the first time the word is “remembered,” that is, it is understood by faith and believed. The women go on then to report “all these things” and “these words” to the others. The confusion is no more. And at long last minds and eyes are opened to understand God’s Word.
I don’t know about you, but this Easter, I can’t help thinking about the funerals we’ve had over the past year. [I had actually named each of those who had died this past year and coincidently, they were all men.] Those losses are still very close, I think, to more than a few of us, close enough, that they are still confusing to us. That’s why the Easter message is so important both at the funeral and this morning. For those of us who have faced death this is the message of the angels to us. “He is not here. He has risen just as he said.” Our brothers and sisters died confessing this Easter faith. They are with Jesus and on the Last Day they will be raised from out of their graves just as Jesus was. This is the promise of Easter. It is the promise to [names] and to their women and to all of us. Death cannot hold them and death cannot hold you because death could not hold our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This year, Easter has a very personal message for me and I’m sure for many of you.
But we are not to be pitied. No. Paul writes to the Christians at Corinth on a number of issues but he was concerned that there were a number who doubted the resurrection of the dead. Just before our reading from 1 Corinthians this morning, Paul writes, “12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” In some church bodies not too distant from our own there are bishops who deny this very thing, that the dead are not raised. Oh, they shuffle on about some spiritual raising, but that’s not a real resurrection. Even in churches which bear the name Lutheran but not the teaching of the apostles, there is some doubt. Today all over this land, preachers hedge with something like, “The disciples believed that Jesus was raised from the dead.” Paul’s words to set up our reading this morning are a tight but simple logical argument, “If Christ is not raised, I need to get another job.” He says it differently of course, “13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” But we are not to be pitied because Christ was raised from the dead and so shall our loved ones and so shall we!
Men are often simple creatures. Typically we have simple needs and simple appetites. Just the other day we were shopping for Easter clothes for the kids. Kim took Erika and I took Daniel. It literally took me all of three minutes to find something for Daniel. Why? Because there are only two styles of shirts, collared or polo, and only 3 colors of pants, olive green, navy blue or khaki. That’s all there is in one tiny little corner of the store. The men’s department is only slight bigger than that, covering the perhaps an additional what maybe 10 percent of the floor space? That’s probably generous. The rest, by far is for the women all sizes and styles and fits and don’t forget the accessories. I wandered through the men’s department looking maybe for a new pair of pants, again there are only 4 colors for men, add black. I thought I might want a new shirt. I wandered through the winter sale items. I puttered and wandered for at least 10 minutes. I took forever! And when I went to find the women, they were just getting to the fitting room to try on two, just two! outfits. Now I tell you all of this, not make fun of women, because I don’t and I’m not. I say all of this because most men think church is a lot like shopping. It’s a lot of hot air about stuff you can’t really see and it takes too long and it seems like only women really enjoy it. Men, the message of the angels that first Easter morning is true. Peter saw it too. He saw the linen cloths and was astonished at what he saw. This experience and this word come to Peter changed a man who denied his dear friend and teacher just hours earlier and turned him into the boldest preacher of the resurrection there ever was. It’s Peter who preaches on Pentecost morning. It’s Peter who risked his life and went to his own death preaching the risen Christ. What was confusing on Easter morning became clearer in the light of the teaching of the risen Jesus to his disciples, then they understood “that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
This is the message of the angels to the women. It is the message of Easter for us all. Alleluia. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia