P: "Christ is risen!
C: He is risen indeed! Alleluia!"
P: In the path of righteousness is life,
C: and in its pathway there is no death. (Proverbs 12:28)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who here is righteous?
What does righteous mean to you?
If you take the word “right”
you get your answer.
To be righteous
is to be in the right
and not in the wrong.
Anyone here never been wrong before?
I didn’t think so.
So then we have a problem.
We have a problem because
only those who are perfect can come before the presence of the Lord.
As God’s Word says,
be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
Romans 3:10-11
For by works of the law no human being will be justified in [God’s] sight
Romans 3:20
The wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Now, people have tried to overcome death by others ways than seeking Jesus Christ.
… People have tried to outsmart God.
But they too have died.
No amount of studying by their own strength can outsmart death.
not information or wisdom.
No amount of physical work or exercise will have a person overcome death.
There isn’t a special gene that will keep you alive forever.
But 2000 years ago
God came into the world
through Jesus Christ
to blow the minds of all people
--Greeks and Jews
the scholarly and the simple.
God did something that no one would expect.
… And for the people in Israel
the Jews and Greeks were pretty much the two main people groups.
The Greeks in Jesus’ time sought after knowledge and wisdom.
They had hoped that through philosophy and excellence,
they would receive a lasting hope.
And with their approach
Rome became one of the most powerful empires of all time.
But all of their scholarly work
couldn’t save them from death.
And for the Jews,
they struggled to see how salvation was going to come through Jesus’ passion event.
There were some Jews who looked to God for help
but their hope was in some sort of messiah
that was more of a top military official
… not a humble and caring teacher.
And there were Jews that liked all the life and miracles Jesus had brought to the people.
With all greatness he has shown
they couldn’t imagine Jesus dying.
They couldn’t imagine anything good coming out of Jesus’ death.
On one Easter Sunday morning,
there were some women who went to the tomb of Jesus Christ.
They were close followers of Jesus Christ.
They were sad to see such a wonderful man
a man who brought so much life into their community
into their own lives
… to see him receive
one of the most terrible deaths
--death by execution on the cross
hanging in the air for several hours
for the world to see.
So out of respect and honor
they go to where their Lord was buried
to finish giving him a proper burial.
But when they get to the tomb
they don’t find Jesus.
They’re perplexed and confused.
Where did he go?
He died just the other day.
It’s not like he could have just walked off.
Did someone take him and move him?
Then two angels stand before the women
in their dazzling appearance.
The women are frightened by this second surprise.
In their humility, and in their powerlessness,
they bow their faces to the ground.
… But the angles have words to give them strength.
They say,
“Why do you seek the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen.
Remember how he told you,
while he was still in Galilee,
that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men
and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
And the women remembered.
Then they go find the others who were also close followers of Jesus
to tell them the wonderful news.
They even told this to the apostles,
or the remaining eleven disciples of Jesus Christ.
But they too
were in disbelief
when they first heard it.
They thought the women were out of their minds.
They thought their story couldn’t have been more than an idle tale.
But Peter,
he wanted to see the evidence for himself.
He went to go into the tomb
to see if Jesus was there.
And he saw what the women had told him.
Jesus is no longer in the tomb.
The discernment of the discerning was thwart.
Those what were close to Jesus didn’t think anything good could have come out of Jesus’ death on the cross
--not when Jesus had told them a number of times in person
--not when they saw Jesus dying as he said he would.
But as the angels had affirmed Jesus’ words,
Jesus bodily death was only temporary.
Jesus was planning to overcome death
even though no person had ever conquered death before.
Even though sinners
used their knowledge and wisdom to try to outsmart and overpower Jesus
Jesus overcame their wickedness
and is alive and giving life to his people
--life to the once grieving women who found the empty tomb
--life to the disbelieving disciples who are being reminded of God’s gracious will,
and life to us
-- us who are hearing this Good News of Jesus Christ
in our worship service today.
As people meditate on the Good News of Jesus Christ
God is pleased.
He is pleased that peoples’ hearts are taking root
on what God has done to save them
rather than focusing on ways or wisdom of living without God
--the ways that bring death.
Jesus came to us
to be the wisdom from God.
God in the flesh
teaching us all that is good, right, and true.
Jesus came to be our righteousness.
Jesus came to live the right and perfect life for us
where no other human
in all their wisdom and knowledge
could do.
Jesus was fair and just.
He did not withhold the Good News
but gave it to all people
to those who were ready and willing to listen.
Jesus came to be holy and set apart for us.
He came to live by the ways of God
and not by the ways of broken and sinful man.
No one else has been able to do all these things before
and no one else can do these things again.
It is Jesus who saves us.
Because Jesus was perfect and complete for us
death couldn’t hold him down.
There was nothing to give him the punishment of death for eternity.
Jesus rose from the grave
to not only show his strength and power
but also to give this saving hope
to all who believe in him
--the hope that
as we and all who believe Jesus
the one who was crucified for us
the one who has overcome sin and death for us
… we too shall rise from death
when Jesus comes again for us.
And when we die
Jesus tells us that
we will be with him in paradise.
Because we believe these things
we deny ourselves and belong to him.
And because we belong to him
what then shall we fear?
It doesn’t matter what family we grew up in.
Because faith is in our hearts,
we will belong to God’s family forever.
It doesn’t matter how much we know or how smart and wise we are.
Because we belong to Jesus
we will forever live with him
No matter how much or little we accomplish in life
Jesus has overcome our greatest enemies
including sin and death
for you
and me.
So who cares what others around us think of us.
While the world judges you and says you are not enough
God says you are complete in Jesus Christ.
While the world says to lie, cheat, and steal
God says to live with honestly, integrity, and love
--the ways that bring life
P: In the path of righteousness is life,
C: and in its pathway there is no death.
While the world says you only have 100 years to live
God says we will live forever in his eternal and loving kingdom.
P: For Christ is Risen!
C: He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
