Christ is Risen (He is Risen
indeed, Alleluia) – Amen
It was early – before dawn.
It was still dark outside when Mary Magdalene left her home. She headed to the tomb, to the hole in the
middle of some rocky wall, where just few hours before they had laid the body,
the remains of Jesus. And what a state
they had laid that body in. He had been
beaten, He had been whipped, He had been flayed – and then He had been
crucified. Even when dead, the
indignities to His body continued – a spear thrust into His side – just to make
sure He was good and dead.
There had been
no time for Mary to do what was right for Jesus’ Body. On Friday, the light was fading, it was
becoming dark. At sunset the Sabbath
would begin – the time of rest when no work was to be done – no work, not even
tending to Jesus’ body. Joseph and
Nicodemus had gotten the body from Pilate, and they had hurriedly wrapped it in
cloth, some spice – but it wasn’t done with the pains-taking care that Mary
wanted. And so there Mary was – wanting
to do things right – to show the body the respect and care it deserved. To clean the gore, to take care with the
linens, to take care with the spices.
After the abuse Jesus’ Body had taken Friday, Mary at least wanted to do
right by it for its stay in the tomb.
The Sabbath rest must have been hard for her – the fretting and anxiety
too much to bear. All that time to
fixate on what yet needed to be done.
And so Mary, in her anxious eagerness
comes to where the tomb is. She’s not
thinking clearly – for the stone should still be there. It is beyond her ability to move – even with
all her might she could not reach her Lord’s Body – but then, something
happens. The stone is already moved. The grave is open. And so Mary runs. She doesn’t walk, she doesn’t turn calmly,
but in the wee hours of the morning, over ground still covered with shadow and
gloom Mary runs to Peter and John. The
tomb is open. He’s not there. The Body is gone! Peter and John both run, again, sprinting in
the pre-dawn dimness to the tomb. John,
he was younger, faster. He gets there first – but he can’t bear to go in. He stands at the mouth staring. The burial linens are lying there. Those temporary, stopgap linens that would
have been carefully removed by women who love Him, those linens that would have
been so lovingly replaced by well spiced and scented cloths – just lying
there. Empty. John didn’t understand.
Neither did Peter when he
arrived. Peter, ever bold Peter barges
into the tomb – wants to see up close and personal what has happened to the
Body of the Lord he so recently and carelessly denied in the gloomy pre-dawn
dark of the day on which Jesus was put to death. And it’s gone. Not even a body to mourn over – not even any
remains to weep over with the women. And
dumbfounded Peter and John return home.
Jesus had been placed in the tomb on Friday – they had seen it. Yet where was He now?
I would submit, dear friends in Christ
– that Jesus entered the tomb long before Good Friday. Do you wish to know when Jesus first entered
the tomb? It was when the Angel Gabriel
said to Mary “And behold, you shall
conceive in your womb and bear a Son.”
There, when Christ Jesus, when God Almighty took on flesh, when He
became Man – that is when He entered the tomb.
Holy and perfect God became Man – took on one of our bodies. And what by nature are our bodies but walking
tombs. St. Paul says that we were dead in trespasses
– dead. Walking tombs? Since the fall in the garden our flesh was
flesh doomed to die – God had taken the dirt of the ground and breathed into it
life – and by sin we rejected that life, tossed it aside – and condemned our
bodies once again to be mere ash, mere dust.
Walking tombs, fit only for the grave.
Ashes on their way to being simple ashes once again – dust waiting to
return to dust after a few brief years.
This is the lot we humans had won by sin.
And then God intervenes. God Himself – the God who made Adam to be
perfect – the very one by Whom all things were made – comes down from heaven
and was made Man. Have you pondered that – that God becomes Man. What that means? What’s it like being a man in this fallen
world? How many of you ache with pain in
your joints right now – how many of you feel your body calling out to return to
dust once more this very instant! God
becomes Man and takes up that same pain – we just witnessed this past week how
intensely He took it up. How many of you
have seen relationships fall apart, people abandon you, their love and
friendship which seemed so promising fall apart, taste like ash in your
mouth. God becomes Man and takes that
up. Hear what Jesus says in John 6. He has just preached – and pretty much
everyone leaves, wants nothing more to do with Him. He even asks the disciples – Do you want to go away as well? Pain, suffering, abandonment by friends, Judas – friend, do what you must! – God
becomes Man, He enters the tomb of our flesh, the slow, walking death that our
lives are – He enters it – and He takes it all, He follows it all the way
through to it’s bitter end – Dying on a cross with nothing but sour, bitter
wine on a dirty sponge to refresh Him.
Christ has entered the tomb of our bodies by becoming Man and suffering
and dying.
And there sits Mary before that hole
in some rocky wall – tears in her eyes.
Even Jesus’ body is gone. And she
looks in again – maybe just to check again, maybe to hope against hope that the
body is there – maybe it fell off and we just hadn’t seen it – and still, no
body there. But this time two angels who
ask her why she weeps. She says that she
is looking for a body. And then, a voice
from outside the tomb asks again, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” I’m seeking a dead body, I’m seeking a lump
of lifeless clay. If you’ve taken it, I
want it back. I’ll drag it away myself –
what a sad sight that would be – a weeping woman dragging a corpse through a
garden – but at that moment that is the most that Mary thinks she can hope for.
Jesus
said to her, “Mary.” And it
clicks – the Lord Jesus, now risen from the dead speaks to her, calls her by
her name – and it clicks. No Mary, you
will not get to see a dead body, you will never see Christ lying dead again for
He has risen. You will never see Him in
the tomb again for He has left it, never to be consigned there again. He is risen, He has life, He is life – and
that tomb, that hole in the wall is empty and shall always remain so.
Do you see what this means for you,
dear friends? Christ lives – that
walking tomb of flesh that He entered – it’s no longer a tomb. It is life itself. Christ took up our body, took up our own
flesh so that He could justify it – make it righteous and perfect again. He took up our body so that He could sanctify
it, make it holy again. He took up our
flesh and died so that He could remove death from our body by His own
life. Right now, this instant Jesus is a
living Man, is the Living Man – right now this instant He breathes, He draws
breath, He is alive in His Body – and death is done away with. And so, your Body is a mere tomb no longer –
for Jesus by His death and resurrection has won life again for His creation –
He has done away with Sin, He has destroyed death. This is the great wonder, the great mystery
of the faith – that even though we should die here we will live – Christ will
raise us – that just as He died and now lives again, we too will live again –
for He has swallowed death.
And here is the beauty of our Gospel lesson this morning –
the wonderful twist. There it is, all in
front of Mary. The tomb is empty, the
angels are there – and she doesn’t understand, she doesn’t understand until
Christ calls her by Name. Mary – and
then she gets it, she understands. You
too, dear friends, understand this because God has called you by name. How is this child to be named? That is what we ask at Baptism. And then, by name, you were called by God,
you were baptized. 36 years ago Pastor
Brunner said “Eric James Brown, I baptize you in the Name of the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit” and I saw.
Called by name, adopted as a son and granted the gift of faith. This is what happened at your baptism, God
called you by Name and by the power of Water and the Word He opened your eyes
and established faith within you – so that even now you see Christ – you see
the Living Lord and see in Him your own life.
And moreso – Just as Mary looked and
saw the Lord’s Body, alive – what does God present to us here in His
Church? Take and eat, this is My
Body. Take and drink, this is My Blood.
That’s not mere coincidence. Christ lives – He still has His Body. He has not decayed but He lives – and He
still shows us, still gives us His own Body.
I live – and here is the proof.
Take and eat. I live, and so you
shall too. Here is the proof – take and
drink, for this is My Blood which was shed for the forgiveness of your sin –
see, you are forgiven. This is done for
you. He gives His own Body to us – so
that He might save and redeem us – make these fallen bodies like to be His
own. By His Supper we receive His own
resurrected Body so that we might be ready and prepared for the day when He
raises us and all the dead to new life.
He gives us His Body so that we might have holy bodies like his.
This is what Christ Jesus has
done. This is what His resurrection
means. It means that He lives and gives
us His life. It means that He calls out
to us in the midst of this world of sin, calls to us by name and says, “I give
you life, life eternal. It is mine to
give and I give it to you. Death need no
longer alarm you, for I have defeated death.
As I live, so shall you. You will
not be abandoned to the grave, but you will stride forth from you tomb just as
I have – for you are mine, I have won you – I have gone to the Father and
secured your place at my side, with me for all eternity.” But in fact Christ has been
raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a Man has come
also the resurrection of the dead. For
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. This is our hope, this is our joy, this is
our salvation. This is what Christ has
done for you. Amen. Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia.
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