The meaning of Christ’s resurrection

Sermon for the Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord

1 Corinthians 5:6-8  +  Mark 16:1-8

We were blessed to witness a Baptism today. And what better day could there be for it? As St. Paul wrote to the Colossians, You were buried with Christ in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. What we witnessed here with our eyes was the washing of a baby with a little water—water that was used by God’s command and connected to God’s word. Now, if Jesus is dead, then that Baptism was a sham, nothing but the observance of a worthless tradition. But if Jesus is alive, then God was doing something amazing behind the scenes—He was counting Jesus’ death for sins to that baby. He was counting Jesus’ righteousness to that baby. He was forgiving that baby’s sins, giving him a new birth, and making him alive together with Jesus. So, yes, an Easter Sunday Baptism is most fitting.

Equally fitting is for all the baptized to remember their Baptism when we remember Christ’s resurrection. Not long before he died, St. Paul wrote to Timothy, Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel. It was good for Paul to dwell on that fact before he died, because he, too, had been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and so Jesus’ resurrection gave him a sure hope for the day of his death. It would be good for Timothy also to dwell on the fact of Christ’s resurrection as he carried out his ministry in a world that was increasingly hostile to Christians. Today, on Easter Sunday, it’s good for us to dwell on it, too, and to consider not only the fact of it, but the meaning of it.

Jesus Christ was truly raised from the dead. He lives forever—not metaphorically, not in our hearts or in our imagination, but really and truly, with His real flesh and blood, born of the virgin Mary, He stepped out of His tomb on the third day after His crucifixion. The angel announced it to the faithful women, who found the stone already rolled away from His tomb when they arrived early in the morning. Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. They, in turn, told His disciples, who were all very surprised—and doubtful—when they heard it.

It really shouldn’t have surprised them as much as it did. Jesus had told His disciples how He would be killed and rise on the third day. He had never lied to them, and He had performed so many miracles, including raising people from the dead, that they should have known He would perform this one, too. And the women—they should have believed the women, although even the women didn’t believe until they saw Jesus with their own eyes. Not even the stone rolled away or the empty tomb or the angel could convince them.

What if you saw what the women saw? The stone rolled away, the empty tomb, the folded grave clothes, and the angel sitting where Jesus had been? Then what? Then you would have been just as alarmed, just as terrified as those women were. Because an empty tomb, all by itself, isn’t the Gospel.

The resurrection of Jesus is a fact. It happened. But what does it mean? Is it a fact that saves or is it a fact that damns? The only way to know what it means is to hear what God reveals about it in the preaching of the gospel. Again, as Paul wrote to Timothy, Remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead according to my gospel. What is that gospel?

Well, in the words of Psalm 2, which gives us a prophecy about the Christ, Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. So those who put their trust in the risen Son of God are blessed! But those who do not put their trust in Him will perish by His wrath.

According to the gospel, then, the empty tomb of Jesus means that His enemies and all who hate Him had better be very afraid. The resurrection of Jesus is terrible news for the devil and his demons. It’s terrible news for the one who wants to get to heaven by serving some other god, or by offering God his own good works as his ticket to heaven, or for the one who denies the existence of God or a life after death. It’s terrible news for all who refuse to repent of their sins. Because if Jesus is dead, then you get to decide what’s right and wrong for your life, and then when you’re dead, you’re dead. That’s it. But if Jesus was raised from the dead, then there will also be a resurrection of all the dead, as Jesus Himself declared, and a Judgment Day for all, where Jesus Himself is Judge. So for the impenitent and unbelieving, the empty tomb of Jesus should be cause for fear. No wonder so many people want to live in denial of the resurrection!

But for those who want a sure refuge from God’s wrath, for those who mourn over their sins, for all who want to be reconciled to God, the gospel reveals this truth: that Jesus was delivered up for our sins and raised to life for our justification. His death was sufficient payment for all sin, for every sin, for the worst sinner, for His most bitter enemy; and His resurrection means that all who hope in Him, all who trust in Him, all who look to Him for forgiveness of their sins are absolved before God’s courtroom in heaven. The empty tomb means the justification of all who believe in the risen One.

And with justification comes every gift and benefit of Christ: the adoption as God’s children, the full acceptance into eternal life, the daily forgiveness of sins in this Christian Church, the daily help, guidance and protection of a risen Savior, and the promise of your own empty tomb and the empty tomb of your faithful loved ones when Jesus returns, for judgment against all who refused to repent, and with eternal blessedness for His believing people.

No, Jesus’ empty tomb all by itself is still a scary thing, and those faithful women who visited Jesus’ tomb on Easter Sunday remained afraid until, later that day, they saw Jesus for themselves and, more importantly, heard His gospel, His word of peace. Then they rejoiced with a joy that even the bitterest persecution couldn’t take away.

That same joy is intended for all of you here today: for the newly baptized, for all the baptized, and for the unbaptized who are now being invited to be baptized. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel. Let His enemies remember and repent! Let His people remember and rejoice! Amen.