In Jesus Holy Name April 4, 2021
Easter Sunday Redeemer
Text: Mark 16:6,7a
“Friday Tragedy? Easter Triumph!”
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
Philip Yancy wrote: “Christianity has two great symbols to offer the world, a cross and an empty tomb. An empty tomb without a cross would miss the central message of the gospel…” The Easter event is the ultimate test of faith. The one great watershed that ultimately divides believers from unbelievers is the resurrection of Jesus from death.
It is true you cannot separate the wood of the manger, in which the infant Jesus was placed, from the wood of the cross on which His arms were stretched.
On that “Good Friday” afternoon, the darkness of the midday was frightening. God was turning His back on His only Son, dying on the cross. On the cross Jesus had absorbed the sins of the entire world. The sun was trying to break through the glum that filled the air and hearts of those standing near the three crosses, but it could not. Most of the crowd started drifting away.
A soldier leans a ladder against the center tree, removes the stake that holds the beam to the upright part of the cross. The man in the middle is lowered to the ground.
You can hear the words of Joseph: “Careful now.” The 5-inch nails are wrenched from the hard wood, freeing the limp hands. Tears of grief touch the dust of the earth. The disciple John can barely hold the weeping mother of Jesus upright. The blood that came from the lashings and from the crown of thorns is dry now. But they must hurry. The Sabbath hour is near when no one can work nor bury the dead.
Nicodemus unrolls the linen cloth he brought. He places it on a rock beside the lifeless body of Jesus. The two Jewish leaders lift the lifeless body onto the linen shroud. The body is anointed with perfumed species. His own tear falls on the face of the crucified King. They carried the body to an unused tomb. It was a tragic end to the “One” who had worked miracles, raised the dead back to life and restored broken bodies.
Words failed the day Jesus died. Tears told the sadness in their hearts. On that Friday evening these two men and a few women did not know what you and I know. They had forgotten that Jesus promised that on the third day He would rise from death.
Friday evening, all is quiet. Saturday. The disciples wept. Their hopes dashed at the tragic death of the One, they had hope would be the Messiah. This is what the day of Good Friday and Holy Saturday was like for them. The death of Jesus on the cross WAS the plan of God since the beginning of time. God had accepted Jesus’ holy life as payment for the sins, the broken commandments of every person. Animal sacrifices would no longer be necessary.
Jesus had died. Three days later He was dead no longer. The once supposed tragedy became a triumph over death and the grave. Just as He promised, He had overcome death, the last enemy. His death and resurrection were no aberration in God’s plan. He is Risen! Now on Easter we celebrate the secure promise of eternal life. It is a gift for all who place their trust in the cross and empty tomb of Jesus. He is Risen!
On that first Easter Sunday, in the predawn hour, in the dark tomb of Joseph, the heart of Jesus began to beat. The Spirit of God breathed the breath of life into His body. His resurrected body passed through the linen shroud. It fell flat. Unwrinkled. Yet retaining the marks of the crucified, now risen Jesus.
You can not have it both ways: Either Jesus actually rose from the grave or He did not. There is no middle ground. (Paul Maier The Lutheran Witness April 2007) You can not say He rose in spirit but not body.
The physical resurrection of the body of Jesus from death shatters the grip of fear that confronts every human being. People want to know what happens when our heart stops beating. Is there hope? What is waiting on the other side? When people do not know Jesus they invent their own answer. It is Satan who holds people in this slavery to the “fear of death”. The resurrection of Jesus shatters Satan’s grip of fear. “Because He lives all fear is gone!” (Hebrews 2:14)
On the cross Jesus took upon Himself every broken commandment, every one of our failures and left them there. Philip Yancy was correct. You cannot separate the cross from the empty tomb, and glorified resurrected body of Jesus.
Between the once thought tragedy of Good Friday and Easter Sunrise the greatest battle in human history was fought. It was the battle between Satan, who “holds the power of death” and God who shattered the iron bars of death with the resurrection of Jesus. On that day the earth shook. Death could not hold the Son of God. That is why the angel told the women: “I know you are looking for Jesus He is not here He has risen from the dead. Go and tell His disciples.”
The world has tried to cancel Easter and shutter church doors. Easter cannot be canceled… 2000 years ago all the forces of hell tried that and failed. The forces of evil tried to kill the infant Jesus. Their plan failed. The same forces of evil used the political power of Rome to crucify Jesus… The forces of evil did not know they were foils in the mighty hand of God. God’s plan was to erase forever our broken commandments under the nailed hands of Jesus. Then destroy death forever by raising “Himself” from death and the grave. (Acts 20:28) A sealed tomb could not contain glorious light of the resurrection of Jesus.
You see…. Satan knew who Jesus was. When Jesus commanded the demons to come out of those possessed. (Mark 1:21; Luke 8) The demons shouted….”Jesus of Nazareth… we know who you are… you are the holy One of God… have you come to destroy us?” The answer is yes!
Since the Garden of Eden the battle for our souls has raged. It raged in the wilderness temptations. (Luke 4:13) It raged when Jesus raised the widow’s son from death in the village of Nain, and the daughter of Jairus, and again at the tomb of Lazarus. At the cross of Jesus, “It is not hard to recognize the voice of Satan through the Pharisees who begged. Who pleaded. Who taunted Jesus. “If you are the Son of God…come down from the cross and we will believe”. No it could not be. “For without the shedding of the perfect blood of the Lamb of God there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22,27,28)
On that first Easter morning, after the Friday execution, the sky was dark as the women journeyed to the tomb. “There was a violent earthquake. An angel of the Lord came down from heaven. He rolled back the stone. His appearance was like lightning. His clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said: “Do not be afraid, for 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 His body had been placed.” If the body of Jesus had decayed into dust within the borrowed tomb, you and I would not be singing the songs of Easter.
Jesus appeared to the women near the tomb and to the disciples in the Upper Room. He appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus and to His friends on the shore of Galilee. He spoke with them. He ate with them. They touched His resurrected body. They heard His words. They knew He had risen from the dead.
You know that we live in a politically correct age. The result is that people often try to find common ground between opposing positions. There is a desire to let opposing opinions live and let live. Still there comes a time where compromise and acceptance of two differing positions is simple not possible.
Whenever a loved one goes into a lengthy and dangerous surgery, the family waits impatiently for some official person to give them updates on the patients condition. Now tell me, what should a family believer if one surgeon comes out and says, “It was a tough operation, but the patient is doing fine.” And then five minutes later, a second physician comes out and says: “After a long and hard surgery, I am sorry to tell you, your loved one has died.”
A family can believer a number of things. They can believe one doctor spoke prematurely. They can believe at least one of the doctors got the wrong family. But there is one thing the family can not believe. They cannot think their loved one is both dead and alive. The same thing can be said in regards to the central doctrine of Christianity. Either Jesus did die on that Roman cross, or He did not. Either Jesus physically rose from the dead, or He did not. You cannot have it both ways. (Illustration from an Easter Sermon by Rev. Klaus)
The Apostle John, the disciple who stood at the cross of Jesus with the women. The same Apostle John, who on Easter morning, ran with Peter, only to find the tomb of Jesus empty. This same Apostle John saw the linen shroud that Joseph and Nicodemus had wrapped around the body of Jesus. He saw the blood-stained marks of the Savior on the linen now deflated. This same Apostle John writes in his gospel:
“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presences of his disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may believer that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that by believing you may have the promise of life in His name.” (John 20:30-31) You must choose. It is my prayer that the Holy Spirit press the truth of the resurrection on your heart this Easter Day.
You matter to God. He loves you so much that Jesus came to die and rise from the grave so that you and I can be assured of peace, forgiveness, harmony and eternal life with God. The last enemy of humanity has been defeated in the resurrection of Jesus. He is risen!
