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The Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, 04/20/2014
Sermon on Matthew 28:1-10, by Samuel D. Zumwalt
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."
HE IS NOT HERE
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Lord Jesus had powerful enemies in the religious establishment. They were in charge at the religious headquarters in Jerusalem. They had control of both the worship life in the temple and of the official ruling council that met on the temple mount. As far as I know, they didn't own a publishing house or try to force unsuitable candidates for ministry upon the people of God. But they were powerful enough to get Jesus dead.
The religious leadership's ability to influence both the Roman governor over Judea and Herod, the Jewish king of Galilee, was largely a matter of psychological pressure. Just how much did Pilate or Herod Antipas want to live with an unhappy religious leadership? Just how much noise could the Lord Jesus' enemies generate?
As it turned out, the Lord Jesus' enemies were very successful at finding just the right amount of pressure to force Pilate to execute Jesus without going overboard and risking a Roman backlash. After all, the Romans held the fortress next to the temple on the sacred mount, and the Romans kept all the vestments and vessels needed by the religious leaders for the High Holy days under Roman lock and key.
The religious leadership feared Jesus, because they had begun to understand that Jesus was a threat to everything they held dear. If Jesus were left alone to continue on his present course, he could mean the end of their power. Who knows? The people of God might begin to realize they didn't need a religious headquarters, and they didn't need a religious council. Who knows? If the Lord Jesus were in charge, he might well get people to stop listening to Jerusalem, because they wouldn't need anyone else to tell them what to think. Who knows? If the people realized they didn't need a religious headquarters, they wouldn't pay the temple tax. And the religious leaders would suddenly not have the money they formerly had to do with whatever they felt like doing. [It's always a cautionary tale to those that rely on the money of those they try to intimidate with their brilliance, their charisma, their savvy, or even brute force.]
Is it any wonder that the religious leaders wanted to put the Lord Jesus to death? It wasn't just that their jobs were on the line or that the payments on the temple reconstruction were seriously large. Already in 29 A.D. (the likely date of Jesus' crucifixion), they rightly sensed that Jesus of Nazareth was a threat to their entire religious culture. He was! He always is!
In time, the whole once-powerful structure came tumbling down. The Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D., and the people were dispersed from Jerusalem. After that, there was no more need of a ruling religious council or for a huge cadre of priests to run headquarters. The very thing the religious leaders feared came true.
As psychiatrist Viktor Frankl wrote in his famous book Man's Search for Meaning, human anxiety can lead people to act in such a way that the very thing they fear the most they cause to happen.
The religious leaders in Jerusalem acted both anxiously and arrogantly, and they brought about their own downfall. To this day there is no temple in Jerusalem. But Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth! Billions of Christians bend the knee and bow their heads at the name of Jesus! No one does that for the high priest Caiaphas, or for Pilate, or for Herod Antipas. In fact, they are only remembered today, because Christians remind ourselves frequently of the frailty of human leaders and of the sovereignty of Christ!
When we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is an immensely political act. God raised His Son Jesus from the dead as a declaration to this dying world that God will be God and humanity will not. Any human leader that will not bend the knee and bow the head to the Lord Jesus Christ is already a has-been before he or she even knows it. Whoever claims power for him or herself will be just another dead phony when all is said and done. Whoever claims to speak for the Lord Jesus without listening to Him and acknowledging at all times His lordship is doomed to fail. Christ has put His enemies under His feet as if they were a worn and rickety footstool.
At the height of the apartheid system in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu was invited to speak in the United States. He said that the authorities in South Africa had no idea who they were up against. If only they would realize who they were trying to fight against, they would surrender immediately. God's forces were dwarfing all those on evil's side! [Tutu's address was in Columbus OH. I heard this story secondhand.]
Archbishop Tutu was speaking the political truth of the Lord Jesus' resurrection. No earthly power in government house or religious headquarters can expect to win if they align themselves against the Lord Jesus Christ. All those that cast their lot against Him make cause with the powers of darkness. They are doomed to fail. For Christ Jesus has already won the victory over sin, death, and evil. That is what we heard Him tell us from His lonely cross on Good Friday: "It is accomplished!" Christ has won!
Our celebration of Easter is intensely political. There outside the tomb we find guards that are there to make sure that Jesus stays dead and His voice remains silenced. They don't know who they are up against. If they had known, they would have never aligned themselves against the Lord Jesus.
If the earthquake that occurred at Jesus' death was not enough to make Jesus' enemies take notice, then surely God goes for overkill by sending another earthquake and an angel, whose appearance is like lightning, to open the tomb. Matthew says: "For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men." It's just one angel. For heaven's sake, what would they do if they saw Christ in His glory with all His angels?
Angels are God's messengers. They speak God's Word. That's what the angel has come to do. He doesn't need to open the tomb to let Jesus out. He opens the tomb to show the women and all the world that Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The angel says: "Don't be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, "He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you."
Of course, Matthew knows that is not yet enough. Our memory of Christ crucified is painfully clear. Our fear of death is so strong that we fear those that can kill the body - like Jesus' powerful enemies. One empty tomb isn't enough! One angel's voice - no matter how impressive that may be - isn't enough. The women need to see Jesus. They need to see that He is not in that tomb. They need to see his hands and his feet. They need to hear his voice. They need to see with their own eyes. And so Jesus appears!
The Risen Lord Jesus meets them on the road and says to them: "Greetings!" When they take hold of His feet and begin to worship Him, the Lord says: "Do not be afraid: go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
But Matthew doesn't even stop there. The Lord Jesus needs to speak clearly to religious leaders in Jerusalem and religious leaders in Chicago or St. Louis or Rome or Constantinople or Canterbury or even in Salisbury and Wilmington. The Lord Jesus' last words in Matthew's Gospel are spoken to disciples gathered on an unnamed mountain. Those that are Jesus' disciples listen to His voice and obey Him. On that mountain, the disciples worshiped the Lord Jesus when they saw Him, but some of them doubted.
To them He declared: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given me." Then He gave them the great commission to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and to teach the people to obey all that He commands. And, lest the religious leaders, clergy and lay, might still be missing the point, the very last word He spoke to them was: "I am with you always to the end of time" (Matthew 28:16-20).
The Lord Jesus is not in the empty tomb. He is not there as an object lesson for all those that would defy Jesus' enemies. They are a bunch of has-beens even if they kill your body. They cannot separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:28-29).
The Lord Jesus is in the midst of those that gather in His name. Where He is Lord, the people listen to His voice. We baptize as He tells us to baptize, and we teach what He has given us to teach. And He is right here watching and listening to see who is and is not heeding His voice! One day He will come to judge the living and the dead - separating the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25).
When I was a little boy in Sunday School, our teachers taught us to sing a song, "Who is on the Lord's side?" On this Easter Day, that question is still relevant. Who is on the Lord's side? Are you on the Lord's side? Have you been washed with water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Have you been taught to obey the Lord's teaching? Do you believe He has all authority in heaven and on earth? Do you proudly wear the sign of His victory - the Holy Cross?
The tomb is empty, and the Lord's enemies today are on notice: "Your time is short! You bunch of has-beens!" Do you want to line up against God's Son, Jesus, the Lord of heaven and earth? You're crazy if you do, because the history of the last 2,000 years has shown what happens to God's enemies. They always die. They always lose in the end.
If they couldn't keep the Lord Jesus in the tomb 2,000 years ago, they won't be able to keep his followers in the grave either. The Lord's enemies will all end up dead and forgotten. They are a bunch of losers! And you don't want to end up with them, do you?
When we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, it's a very political act. We're swearing allegiance to the Lord of heaven and earth. We're telling His enemies whoever they are and wherever they are - whether in they are in government or in church or anywhere else that evil rears its ugly head - we are telling His enemies that Jesus is Lord, and they will never ever win! For Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit! Amen.