The Resurrection of our Lord April 12, 2020
The Resurrection of our Lord
Matthew 28:1-10
April 12, 2020
“Yeah, Right”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Just over two months ago, on February 2nd, we had Transfiguration Sunday where we put away the Alleluias until Easter. Now if I had told you on that Sunday, two months ago, that this year we wouldn’t have any of our regular Easter services, nor our Easter breakfast, that schools and business would be closed for weeks, and we also wouldn’t have church services in our sanctuary for at least six Sundays—would you have believed me? Of course not. You would’ve said, “Yeah, right! That’s ridiculous!” I know you would. Because I said that very thing not long ago. Just over a month ago someone told me we’d be cancelling church services and I said, “Yeah, right!” In fact I remember thinking in my head very stubbornly, “I’ll never cancel church for some virus!” But here we are. Right or wrong, here we are. Who could’ve predicted it, right?
Who can predict the future? One of my favorite things to do every New Year is to read the blog of Gene Veith, a great Lutheran guy. Every new year he has his readers submit their predictions for what will happen that year. Maybe who will win the Super Bowl. Or what country will invade another country. What the stock market will do. Then at the end of the year he gives prizes to the top winners. But if you’re hoping to win that contest you’ve got to be good. He has some crazy intelligent readers who have predicted some very specific happenings. It blows my mind what some of them have predicted and gotten right.
It’s fun when someone predicts the future correctly. (Especially if it’s your financial guy, right?) But of course, that’s pretty rare, isn’t it? That’s what makes it so exciting. The truth is that most of the time we have no idea what’s coming tomorrow. If I tell you that I know what’s going to happen two weeks from now—your immediate reaction will be, “Yeah, right!” And that’s the right reaction. No matter how many talking heads scream at us on CNN and Fox News and ABC and CBS telling us this and this and this is going to happen—the right reaction is to say, “Yeah, right!” and turn them off. No one can predict tomorrow.
So we can sympathize with all the disciples of Jesus (and in this case I’m talking all of them, men and women, and not just the 12) that said, “Yeah, right!” when Jesus kept predicting that He would die and on the third day rise again. Three different times Jesus told them that He would be put to death and then on the third day He would rise. But none of them believed. They all said, ‘Yeah, right!” And these guys had seen Jesus do some pretty incredible things. They saw Him raise the dead. They saw Him make blind people see. Make lame people walk. Yet they didn’t really believe that He could predict His own future.
How do we know? Because look at the women Easter morning. They’re going to Jesus’ tomb and the only thing on their mind is anointing His dead body. They’re not thinking, “Hey, maybe Jesus was right! Maybe the stone is rolled away and Jesus isn’t there! He said He might do that, you know!” No, their only thought is, “How are we gonna move that huge stone to get to His dead body?!”
But they get there and find the most fun and exciting prediction in the history of the world that has come true! The stone is rolled away and there’s an angel of the Lord looking like lightning and his clothes white as snow! And the women are thinking to themselves, “Could this really possibly be true? That Jesus really did rise from the dead as He predicted He would?” And the angels says, “YEAH! RIGHT!” “He did!” “He isn’t here! He’s risen! Just as He said!” Now those are awesome words. True words. Just as Jesus said! Those are words to take home today. Just as Jesus said! That’s how the world goes. That’s how you go. Just as Jesus says!
One time some scribes and Pharisees told Jesus, “Yeah, right! We want a sign from you.” In other words, “How can we know that anything you’re saying is true? You need to give us some kind of sign so we can see that you actually know what you’re talking about.” And Jesus says to them, “No sign will be given except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Here Jesus holds us this one event of Easter morning as THEE sign. How do you know Jesus is true? This is your sign! This is it! The empty tomb. Jesus says that He is eternal life and that whoever believes in Him will never die. We say, “yeah, right.” And Easter morning Jesus says, “YEAH! RIGHT!”
Do you know why we use that word indeed every Easter season? We say, “He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” Why do we use that word? For one thing it’s right out of the Bible in Luke 24:34. But actually look at that English word. It’s two words put together—“in” and “deed”. So what was said was shown to be true in actual deed. Like the old saying, “Actions speak louder than words.” Or “he’s all talk and no action.” Jesus is risen indeed means his actions spoke true just as His words. It means He’s action and talk! It means all this stuff Jesus said is absolutely true indeed! He proved it!
No wonder Paul wrote to the Philippians and told them that he wanted to know the power of Christ’s resurrection. This morning is powerful! It speaks truth into our hearts. It tells us Jesus is true indeed! Our Baptism is true indeed! The Holy Communion is true indeed! Everything in Jesus’ word is true indeed! We want to know the power of Easter morning!
Or it’s like what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15 that everything hinges on this one fact—that Jesus rose from the dead. Your entire faith rests on this one sign. Anyone who looks at your faith and says, “yeah, right,” you show them the empty tomb and you say, “YEAH! RIGHT!” It all rests on this.
And most importantly—for the everlasting comfort and peace of your soul—this Easter morning tells you that you really are forgiven all your sins and that you really will live forever with Jesus. These aren’t just empty words when Jesus says to you, “I forgive you all your sins.” You are forgiven indeed! The empty tomb says so! Trust His Word! It’s just as He says. You are forgiven! No matter how great your sins! You are forgiven!
Now, friends in Christ, we’ve got to be passionate about this truth. This isn’t something to whisper in the corner. Look at Job in the first reading today. He can’t contain himself. “Oh, that my words were written! Somebody write this down!” Remember, that’s what you do when you’ve got something really, really good to say. Somebody write this down!
That’s what Job is like and it’s what we need to be like. “Somebody write this down! Oh, that my words were engraved in a rock, with an iron pen and lead forever! For I know that My Redeemer lives!” “YEAH! RIGHT!” Somebody write this down! We know our Redeemer lives! Jesus lives! And we’ll shout it to the world. Because it’s true indeed. The tomb is empty.
You go out to the cemetery and that’s where we write things in stone. Cold, hard stone. We right in stone, Born such and such date. Died such and such date. It’s written in stone, right?! Ha! That’s what Jesus says to those stones. He’s going to rewrite those stones of every one of us Christians. He’s going to write a new date on there. Born such and such date. Died such and such date. Raised on such and such date. We don’t know the date. But we know it’s coming.
The stone on Jesus’ own grave tells us it’s true. Born Christmas Day. Died Good Friday. Raised Easter Sunday! Just as He said! And so will you—just as He says!
Friends, we’ve got to be passionate. We have a whole world of people who still look at Jesus and say, “yeah, right.” They don’t believe any of it. And we can sympathize. Because we wouldn’t believe it either if the Holy Spirit hadn’t revealed it to us through the word of the apostles who were there and witnessed Easter morning. But we’ve got to tell them. Where they say, “yeah, right,” we’ve got to be there to say confidently, “YEAH! RIGHT! Our Redeemer Lives!” We’ve got to push them to really consider Jesus and to really consider the sign of Easter morning. If Jesus truly did rise from the dead—then He’s God indeed!
Easter morning is the “Yeah! Right!” of Christians. And I want you to picture this scene right now. Remember I started by talking about how fun it is when predictions come true, right? Well picture the day when everything you have believed of Jesus is shown to you face to face. Picture our final Easter day! It’s coming. Picture the day when your body will be raised perfect like the body of Jesus. Picture the day when you are restored to perfect health—perfect! Picture the day when you see all your family and friends in perfect health again—your Moms, Dads, Grandparents, Husbands, Wives, children, grandchildren. Picture your Easter morning when you rise from the dead and everything is just as Jesus has said. Perfect. No crying nor sorrow nor pain anymore. No scorching heat or blistering cold. Friends, picture the day. When you stand before Jesus and He says, “I told you,” and you say, “Yeah, right!”
In the next few weeks we’re going to continue to hear all kinds of predictions about coronavirus and what’s going to happen and when shutdowns are going to be lifted and on and on and on. And we’ll continue to have no idea if anyone really knows what they’re talking about and if we can hardly believe anything that we’re hearing. So be it. No one knows tomorrow. But this is what we can bank on—the word of Jesus is as solid as stone. It’s written in stone. We know that our Redeemer lives! Write this down! You know that your Redeemer lives. Trust His Word. It’s just as He said. Praise God. Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!