Afraid Yet Filled with Joy

Texts: Ephesians 1:15-23; 2:1-10; Matthew 28:1-10

GRACE AND PEACE TO YOU in the name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ!

In Matthew 28, verse 8 we read:

"So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy . . . "

Joy on Easter Sunday we know about. Christ is risen! But fear? What does fear have to do with the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ?

As it turns out, a lot. In fact, the amount of joy we feel at Jesus risen is only as great as the holy fear it brings.

St. Matthew tells us Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary" went to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week after Jesus was crucified. They intended to look at the tomb, to do more to prepare Jesus’ body for proper burial. They weren’t prepared for what awaited them there. They had every right to be afraid.

First of all, there was the violent earthquake. That was frightening enough. But more terrible by far was the angel of the Lord who came down from heaven and rolled back the stone of Jesus’ tomb. Do you think this angel was like the little winged babies you see on Valentines? Or like the doe-eyed girlie angels you see in popular art, with their sweet simpering looks and their form-fitting robes? Think again! This was a mighty warrior of God, with a face like lightning and clothing white as purest snow! This was a being from heaven so terrifying that the soldiers guarding the tomb passed out in a dead faint!

I’m sure the women felt they were about to pass out likewise! But the angel strengthened them with his word: "Do not be afraid," he told them. For they were very afraid indeed. "I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay."

The women surely obeyed and looked; how can you disobey a fearsome angel of the Lord? And now they had something else to be afraid about. For they saw the tomb was empty! And obviously, it had been empty before the angel rolled the stone away! Where was Jesus? How could He not be there? How did He get out? There was no earthly reason His body could be gone! But His body was gone. He wasn’t there; as the angel said, He was risen!

This was indeed something to be afraid of, and something to be joyful about, too. The sight of the empty tomb laid the fear of God upon these disciples. Nothing other than the direct power and presence of Almighty God could have worked the great and awesome miracle those women were confronted with that first Easter morning.

And then-- and then-- as they hurried away, afraid yet filled with joy, they encountered Jesus Himself. Did they say, "Oh, Jesus, it’s only You. Hey, You’re alive again! Congratulations, that’s really great!"?

No! They fell at His feet in worship and holy awe! They recognised in Him the physical presence of Almighty God! Once more they have to be reassured. The risen Jesus comforts them, saying, "Do not be afraid." Why? Because it’s no big deal to stand in the presence of the God-Man who has defeated death? No, Jesus tells them not to be afraid because His defeat of death also defeats our sin and rebellion, all those things that made them-- and us-- unable to bear the presence of God. Because Christ is risen, heaven and earth are no longer split asunder; they’re brought together in joyfulness and love! The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ does not remove the fear of God that is the beginning of wisdom; rather, it catches us up into that awe and wonder, where our holy fear is as blissful as our joy, and our joy is as stupendous as our fear.

That’s how it was for Mary Magdalene and the other Mary that resurrection morning. But is that really how it is with us? This morning, are we experiencing the holy fear of the resurrection of our Lord? Are our souls truly leaping and dancing in His resurrection joy? Are we so overwhelmed by the news that we need Him to calm us and tell us, "Do not be afraid?"

If not, could it be that maybe for us Christ’s resurrection doesn’t seem all that real? Kind of remote from our personal experience?

Think of it this way: Maybe late at night you’ve tuned your radio to Coast-to-Coast AM. No, I won’t make you admit it. It’s a guilty pleasure--I know. Coast-to-Coast is driven by guests and callers who are always talking about frightful wonders. UFOs and space aliens who snatch helpless humans out of their cars and their beds! The Bigfoot monster skulking through the woods! Goat creatures with long fangs that devour cattle and sheep and even humans when they get the chance! Shadow people who lurk just beyond your range of vision and want to steal your soul! This is all scary stuff!

Or it would be, if you believed in any of it. But you don’t. Or at least, I don’t. In fact, the only thing that comes close to scaring me on Coast-to-Coast AM is the ghost stories. And that’s because I think ghosts just might possibly be real!

Does the story of Jesus’ resurrection shake up your world? Does it overpower you with holy awe? Or is it just something interesting to hear about in church from time to time, almost like something on Coast-to-Coast AM?

But there’s something else about hearing stories of UFOs and hauntings and weird creatures. When you hear that kind of tale, do you come right out and say, "He made that up," or "That’s got to be a lie"? Or do you find yourself thinking, "Well, I don’t believe in UFOs and ghosts and weird creatures, but if that other guy wants to believe in them, that’s fine with me! They don’t exist for me, but maybe they exist for him. And that’s ok."

Sometimes it scares me, that we-- even we who claim to be Christians-- are tempted to put Jesus’ resurrection in the same category as space aliens and hauntings. We say, "Well, that’s what I believe, but if you over there don’t want to believe it, that’s all right for you." If that’s you, be very afraid. From there it’s just a little, little step to denying the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a fearsome and joyous cosmic physical reality. What’s to prevent you from switching things around? You might as well say, "Well, yes, it was fine for Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to be afraid when they encountered the risen Christ. But I’ve got nothing to be afraid of-- because I don’t quite believe it!"

Christian friends, the fact of Jesus’ bodily resurrection isn’t something we or the Church made up in our heads that people can choose to believe in it or not! It’s the supreme act of God worked out in human history! Christ’s rising again is a fearsome and joyful thing, to be wholeheartedly accepted and believed-- by everyone, everywhere, and at every time. Not because we feel like it, not because it’s exciting, not because it’s convenient or helps us with our troubles-- but because it’s true.

If you don’t believe in the rising again of our Lord Jesus Christ, if you’re not trusting in His resurrection power to bring you-- yes, you-- defeat over death and life with God forever, you’ve got more to be afraid of than you can ever imagine. You’re in for fear that has nothing whatever to do with joy.

Look with me at our reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. It’s all about the awe-inspiring, knee-rattling strength God exercised when He raised Jesus Christ from the dead and seated Him at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. It’s about the power and riches and wisdom and eye-opening revelation that mighty act means for us who believe in Christ and His resurrection, who have been made alive with Him.

But what if you don’t believe in Christ’s resurrection or its power? What if the new life in Jesus holds no awe or fear or joy for you? What if you don’t care whether it does or not?

Well then, today brings you no good news. You’re still dead in your transgressions and sins. You’re still a slave to the devil, the ruler of the kingdom of the air. The spirit of Satan, not the Spirit of God, is working in you. If the resurrection of Jesus Christ means nothing to you, if it inspires in you neither fear nor joy, if it’s something that’s fine for other people but doesn’t affect you, you are still an object of wrath and God’s rightful anger still rests upon you.

Yes, God’s rightful anger. God has every right to be angry with us for our disobedience and rebellion and blasphemies against Him. One reason Jesus had to die was to pay the just penalty for our sins. His sacrifice absorbed the righteous wrath of God that was justly directed against our disobedience and turned it away from us. Jesus propitiated the wrath of God on the cross; otherwise, we would each have to stand before God in the judgement and make propitiation for ourselves. And that would mean everlasting death.

If the cross of Christ inspires in you no holy fear; if His resurrection offers you nothing of worshipful awe and terrible joy, it may be because you think you’re worthy and able to stand by yourself before God and turn away His wrath with your own pathetic goodness. But you can’t. None of us can! So I plead with you by the love and grace of Jesus Christ, repent in holy fear and accept His sacrifice for you. Joyfully accept the eternal life He offers you in His resurrection. Your own works cannot save you in the Day of Judgement; if you try it, you’ll learn what it is to experience naked fear in the presence of God-- and it will be too late to know the joy. It’ll be too late for Jesus to say to you, "Do not be afraid." You will have made your choice. If now you reject the holy fear and awesome joy of Christ died and risen for you, on that awful Day you’ll begin to know the unholy and unbearable fear of living without Him forever.

But you whom the Holy Spirit has enlightened, you who live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you who yearn for the hope to which He has called you--today is the day of boundless good news! You know the fear and the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. And your fear is as blissful as your joy, and your joy is as earthshattering as your fear.

You trust that Jesus died for your sins. You feel the fear of how great your sins are, and you know the joy that they are paid for in full.

You confess that you deserved God’s wrath against you. You shudder to think of the terror of it-- and you rejoice to know that because of Christ, God’s love shines upon you instead.

You believe that Christ the Son of God has defeated death. You tremble in awe at how much mightier the life of God is than the death wielded by Satan, and you exult in blessing, because in Christ, you share that divine life to the full.

You affirm that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, was a true man and also the eternal Son of God. You are overcome with the fearful wonder that God Himself, the Lord of the Universe, supreme over every rule and authority, power and dominion, high in heaven and earth over every title that can be given-- that He, even He would come near to you on this earth to save you-- and you are jubilant, because He has declared you worthy to come close to Him in heaven.

And you believe, even if you can’t quite grasp it, that Jesus in His resurrected, physical, glorified human body even now is seated at the right hand of God in the heavenly realms. You are filled with humble awe that He would do such a thing for humanity-- for you; and you look forward in joy to your own bodily resurrection and perfect union with Him.

But what if-- what if you want to feel all the emotions you should about Jesus’ resurrection, but somehow you can’t? What if you do believe in Him; what if you are trusting Him to take away your sins; what if you do look forward to the day when you will be raised with a body like His; what if you do confess that Jesus’ death and resurrection are real events that make all the difference in the world to everyone who has ever lived in the world and ever will-- but your emotions aren’t equal to it all? What if Easter comes, and Easter goes, and you just can’t seem to feel all the fear and the joy you know the day should bring?

If that’s how it is, Jesus says to you, "Do not be afraid!" Trust in Him, not in your own emotions. Trust in His cross, not in the sensations of your heart. Trust in His empty tomb, not in the ups and downs of your feelings. Believe in the sure and faithful testimony given to you by His prophets, apostles, and evangelists, recorded for you in the Holy Scriptures and written in your heart by His Holy Spirit. Receive the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ extended to you in His Holy Sacraments. Even when you can’t sense His presence in this dark world, claim His salvation, rely on His kindness, and obediently do the good works God has prepared in advance for you to do. For your salvation will never depend on the power of your own feelings. It was won and assured to you by the grace and power of your risen Lord Jesus Christ.

In His good time God your heavenly Father will fill you with the holy fear and eternal joy of the resurrection of His Son. That day will not come perfectly for any of us until we ourselves are transformed into His image and our own bodies share in His glorious resurrection. On that day, our fear will be as blissful as our joy and our joy will be as terrible as our fear. On that day, Jesus Himself will say to us, "Do not be afraid!", all earthly fears will be over and past, and we will live with Him in joyful awe and awe-ful joy forever.

__________________________________

Feast of the Resurrection, 2008

Why It Matters What Happened

Texts: 1 Corinthians 1-8, 12-20; Luke 19:28-44

IT NEVER FAILS. It just never fails. We just CAN’T get to Easter without some so-called expert coming up with some amazing new so-called evidence that Jesus really wasn’t who the Bible says He is and that He didn’t really rise from the dead.

This year it came early. This year, we got the TV program alleging that archaeologists had actually found the dusty bones of our Savior-- and the bones of His family as well. That’s the truth, according to film makers Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron: Jesus’ bones are going down to dust in a rock-cut tomb outside Jerusalem, along with the bones of His wife (Mary Magdalene, of course!) and His mother and His brothers and His cousins and His aunts.

Yeah, right. And I’m the Easter Bunny.

True, legitimate scholars wasted no time proving Cameron and Jacobovici wrong. It’s true there’s a tomb they found back in 1980 with common names like "Yeshua" and "Mariam" and "Yose" on them. But the evidence doesn’t fit what archaeologists know about how burials were done with various classes of people back in Jesus’ day. And it contradicts what we know about Jesus and His earthly family from the Gospels. And the Gospels are the earliest eye-witness accounts. They’re what scholars call "primary sources," and if an historian or other scholar won’t pay attention to primary sources, he’s no historian or true scholar at all.

James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici aren’t historians or scholars. They don’t even claim to be. They’re film makers. But they still wanted people around the world to believe their story about Jesus never being raised from the dead, about Jesus’ body still being in the tomb.
Does that shock you? It shouldn’t. It’s just unbelievers acting like unbelievers.

We could have a real good time this morning going over all the reasons why Cameron and Jacobovici are wrong. If you want to know about that, I can put you in touch with some resources that prove their conclusions are in error. But today, on this glorious Feast of the Resurrection, let’s look instead at why anyone would want to prove Jesus never rose from the dead, and then why it matters so much to us that He really did.

In our reading from 1 Corinthians 15, St. Paul tells us that Christ’s death and resurrection are of first importance to us and our Christian faith. If Jesus is not risen from the dead, we’re telling lies about God to say He was, and God’s wrath will be upon us. If Jesus is not risen, our faith is futile and we are still in our sins.

. . . . Oh, yes. There it is. That annoying four-letter word: "Sins." Jesus didn’t die and rise to prove He could, He died to pay the terrible price for our sins and He rose to give us changed, new, godly lives. His death was a thunderous judgement upon the selfishness, the greed, the lust, the unrighteous anger, the idolatry of every last one of us. And His resurrection life given to us is proof that we all need to change. The lives we got when our mothers birthed us aren’t good enough for God. We have to have the risen life of Jesus Christ in us, or be forever condemned.

But it’s not just obvious unbelievers like Cameron and Jacobovici. Before the Holy Spirit brings us to Christ, we all resent being told we’re sinners. We all reject the idea that we have to be given a new life, or else die. It’s of first importance to all the unbelieving world to reject the truth and power of the resurrection and try to prove the New Testament wrong. It would allow them to go on thinking they’re okay just the way they are. It allows them to hang onto their self-image as wonderful people.

But wishing won’t make it so. As St. Paul says, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." Our sins could only be covered by the blood of God’s own innocent Son. And, "He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." Eternal life for us could only come from Him. The world may not choose to believe it, but, as the Holy Spirit says, "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

In St. Luke’s account of that first Resurrection morning, we read that Peter and the rest of the disciples didn’t believe the Good News the women brought. Peter went to the tomb anyway, just in case. But when he saw it was empty, he still didn’t believe. He just went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

It hits me that if that’s all the Gospels had to record, it would make sense for us to try to find the tomb of Jesus Christ-- though if Christ is not risen, nobody today would even care or know about Him any more. Why believe the women? In Jesus’ day, their testimony women would have counted for nothing in a court of law. Maybe they were just deluded! And an empty tomb and folded graveclothes are not conclusive proof that a very dead Man has been raised bodily from the grave.

But we know the story does not end there. When we read this history in St. Luke, we have that delicious sensation of knowing more than the people in that long-ago garden did. We want to say, "Peter! Peter! We can tell you what happened! Jesus really is risen! Just wait! In a few minutes you’ll meet Him face to face, yourself! In a few hours, He’ll come and greet you and all the disciples in person! Rejoice in what has happened, Peter! Christ is risen indeed!"

An empty tomb that morning can be argued against. But Jesus appeared alive among them, time after time. He appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve, then later at one time to over five hundred reliable witnesses, most of whom were still alive when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians in AD 55. You can believe them and the accounts they left behind. If you don’t believe them, you may as well not believe anything that history tells us.

I know there are people cannot yet believe that Jesus has been raised. They don’t want to be cheated or fall for something that might not be true. They want reliable proof, and they’re willing to be shown it.

But if you positively will not believe the word of Scripture, very likely it matters to you that what happened that day was not the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Your self-esteem; your whole sense of self depend on it not being true.

But even more it matters to us Christians that He rose that day.

If Christ were not raised, what are we doing here? You want to do nice things for your fellow humans? Go join the Kiwanas Club! You want to embark on a campaign of personal moral improvement or strengthen your marriage? Read any book by Dr. Laura Schlesinger! The Church-- all of us gathered here today and all of us gathered in the Spirit throughout the world-- the Church isn’t about making us nice, helpful, prosperous, fulfilled people! It’s about proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ risen from the dead. It’s about bringing new birth to others and together living lives that will prepare us to live with Him forever in Eternity. If the Christ you worship is not risen, He can’t help you after you die. For as Paul says, "If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied beyond all men." If Jesus is not risen, give it up! Quit the church! Why knock yourself out to be helpful and good? You’ll just moulder in the grave anyway!

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Jesus’ physical resurrection gives us a free sample of what we’re going to get when we rise from the dead and get our new bodies, too. More than that, Christ’s physical resurrection is the first portion of a glorious offering He’s going to make to His God and our God, His Father and our Father. He offered those firstfruits going on two thousand years ago. The rest of the offering will be lifted up to God when we-- all we who believe in His name-- are raised up bodily at the Last Day, when we will be just like Him and God will accept us as worthy in His sight.

Our hope is not just for this world, it is also for the world to come. It matters deeply that we can trust with our minds as well as with our hearts that Jesus Christ is risen, indeed.

And if it matters to us, it matters more to Almighty God. For that is really why it matters what happened that April morning around 30 AD. The resurrection of Christ glorifies His Father in heaven. Our resurrection with Christ displays God’s love, honor, and grace. It brings Him eternal praise. It vindicates His righteousness and utterly defeats Death and the Devil, our enemy and His.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is for us. But ultimately, it’s about God. And so we give our Father glory, honor, and praise for what He has done for us in our Savior Jesus Christ. We renounce all sinful ways that contradict the new life He has given us through His Son. We pray diligently for lost souls like James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici, and especially for unbelievers who may be our co-workers, our neighbors, or members of our own families, that Christ’s resurrection light will dawn upon them, and they, too, will be saved. And we look forward to the great Day when our own bodies will be transformed to be like the resurrection body of Jesus Christ; to whom with the Holy Spirit and God the Father be all power, riches, wisdom, and strength, glory, honor, and blessing. Alleluia, amen!

[Preached at the main service, the Feast of the Resurrection, A.D. 2007]

"Remember What He Told You"

Text: Luke 19:28-44

AT MY WEEKDAY JOB AT THE architecture firm, there’s a guy named Steve who’s the computer drawing expert. He’s considered to be the best CAD (that stands for "computer aided drafting) operator in the firm, and he holds classes from time to time for the rest of us.

Last fall, it was my turn, along with a couple of guys who like me only draw by hand. We had maybe three sessions, then I went back to doing my usual hand drafting the next few months.

Until late February, that is. That’s when I got pulled onto a job that was all being done on the computer. I got thrown into computer drafting headfirst, and didn’t do too badly for what I had to get done. But I kept running up against difficulties where I couldn’t make the program do what I needed it to. And I’d go round to Steve’s desk and say, "Steve, how do I get all my lines to show up when I print?" Or, "Steve, how do I make my drawing the right scale?"

And more often than not, Steve the CAD expert would say, "Don’t you remember what I told you? It’s in your notes!"

When he says that, there’s no point arguing that he’s lived with computer drafting programs every day for the past ten-fifteen years, but this is the first time I’ve had to use one. No, I didn’t remember what he told me! How was I supposed to remember? Last October it didn’t mean anything to me!

That’s how our hearts and minds work. If you enjoy a certain body of knowledge or skill, it’s constantly real to you and you keep it in mind. But if an idea confronts you that’s disconnected to your everyday reality, you won’t remember it or grasp it, no matter how many times it’s repeated to you.

That’s what it was like for the two Marys, Joanna, and the other holy women and for Peter and the other disciples that first Resurrection Sunday morning. During His ministry Jesus had kept on telling His disciples that after He was put to death, He would assuredly rise again. But that statement meant nothing to the disciples. It didn’t compute. Jesus might as well have been banging a pot, for all the sense His words had made to them.

So it’s daybreak, and the women approach the tomb. They fully expect Jesus’ dead body to be there. And when it isn’t, it makes no sense! Then two young men in dazzling white appear-- One more thing they couldn’t take in!

But as the women hide their faces in terror, the angel voices penetrate their confusion. The angels say, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, he is risen! Remember how He told you, while He was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again."

St. Luke records that now, the women did remember. By the power of the Holy Spirit the truth of the resurrection broke into their reality and made itself at home. Now they remembered what Jesus had said about rising again! Now Jesus’ words about rising again were rich and full of meaning. They were exactly what those grief-stricken, downcast women could use.

Thank God, the angels at the empty tomb were not like my colleague Steve. When Steve says, "Don’t you remember how I told you?" he’s exasperated, because I’m wasting his time. But the angels say, "Remember how He told you?" and the phrase holds out comfort, compassion, and new hope.

Of course the women hurry and tell the rest of the disciples. Jesus has risen again, just like He said He would! But the good news of Christ’s resurrection is still gibberish to the others. Luke says, "They did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense."

We’d be the same in their place. Think how shocked and frightened they were. What a pall of despair must’ve oppressed them in that room! Think-- no, feel the misery those men and women had! Their Lord had been crucified. Their hope and the hope of Israel and all the world had been lacerated and hung on a Tree! If you’d felt like that, the Good News that first Resurrection Day wouldn’t have been good news, it would’ve been meaningless noise.

And I’d say Peter felt most desperate and miserable of them all. Not only was Jesus dead, but the last time Peter saw Him, he’d sworn up and down that Jesus wasn’t even somebody he knew!

Peter’s very desperation drives him to the tomb to see for himself. But he comes, he looks, and he goes away. All Peter can do is wonder to himself what has happened.

And there our reading ends.

But we know what had happened! Jesus was raised from the dead, and we give testimony to that this Easter Sunday and every Sunday of the week! The very fact that we are gathered here to worship Him is proof of the fact that the tomb of Jesus was empty and stays that way to all eternity.

But you and I, like the women, like the other disciples, like Peter, we all go through times when the resurrection of Christ seems to have no meaning for us. Times of trouble and grief, when our feelings overwhelm us and the words of preachers like me seem like empty sounds.

That’s why it’s dangerous to try to prove Christ is risen by what we feel in our hearts. Our hearts are fickle and tell us all sorts of lies. No, believe His word, for it is constant and true.

Believe His Holy Spirit, who helps you understand what the Bible says. Read it, hear it, and, remember how He said-- He would be raised again. We know Jesus lives because the Holy Spirit speaking through the Scriptures tell us so, and from start to finish the Scriptures give glory to Him.

Jesus is risen, whether we feel He is or not. Jesus is risen, despite the claims of false religion and false science. Jesus’ word is faithful and true, He is alive even now, and we never need to give in to confusion and despair again.

So rejoice on this morning and every morning! Remember always what Jesus your Lord told you: He died for you, He is risen for you, and that is the plain, meaningful, and wonderful truth.
All praise to you, Lord Christ! Alleluia, amen!

[Preached at the sunrise service, the Feast of the Resurrection, A. D. 2007]