Easter Sunrise
2019 “Christ is Risen! That’s it!”
Alleluia! Christ is risen! [He
is risen indeed! Alleluia!]
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Christ is risen. That seems like such a small thing to say in the midst of a
world and life that can be most difficult.
Christ is risen seems so small when we think back 20 years ago this week to
the Columbine massacre.
Christ is risen seems so small when we hear of the resurgence of the Taliban.
Christ is risen seems so small when we watch the body of a loved one being
lowered into a grave and covered with dirt.
Christ is risen seems so small against all the evil we see in our world, all
the hatred, all the bad news that never seems to stop.
Christ is risen seems so small as we watch our own bodies and
their inevitable march to death, whether than comes for you in old age, by
accident or violence, or from disease.
Christ is risen. Is that all the church has to say?
Well, yes! And
that is enough. Because those are no mere words, but words that express the
truth that on this day, in Christ, everything has changed. That though sin and
evil oppress us, that though the devil roar and bear his teeth at us, and
though the grave opens wide its mouth to swallow us up - these have all been
defeated! Sin, Satan, death, and hell all did their worst to Christ, and
lost. And because Christ won, so do we.
This is the message the angel was given to
proclaim to the women. This is the message the women were given to proclaim to
the disciples. This is the message the apostles were given to proclaim. And
this is the message we are given to proclaim - in every time, in every place,
in every circumstance of life. Christ is risen! For
it is the message no one else has. It is the hope no one else has.
The world, without Christ, cannot handle death.
It has no words to say. Therefore, many try to ignore death, or wish it away.
Many turn to medicine to look for a cure, others try to turn it into a friend.
And when all else fails, we try to dress it up with fancy caskets, make-up,
loads of flowers, and pious sounding clichés. But the 800 pound elephant is
still in the room! And it is monstrous and threatening.
The church does none of these things. Instead,
we look death and hell straight in the face and say: Christ
is risen! And you, O death, are defeated. Christ
is risen! And you, O Satan, are a toothless foe. Christ
is risen! And you, O grave, are just our resting place. For
as with Jesus, so for us. On the last day, your jaws will be forced to
open and release our bodies. He is raised, and so we will be raised.
So rest well, we say to those who die in Christ.
Rest well, until our Lord comes again and finishes His victory, and we
appear with Him in glory. For Christ is risen.
As St. Paul said (1 Cor 15:14-19), this is
the truth on which the Christian faith depends. If Christ did not rise, if His
body is still in some tomb somewhere, our faith is dead. Oh, we could still
piece together some interesting ideas about God and men, about man’s being and
his obligation, and create some kind of religious worldview - like all the
other religions of the world. But the Christian faith would be dead. Jesus
would be a failed religious leader; a Savior of no one.
For only if Jesus is risen is there something
that has changed the world and the situation of mankind. Only then is He a
Savior on which we can rely. For though He was not the first to rise from the
dead, His resurrection was different. Others, we are told in the Scriptures,
were resuscitated from death - the widow of Zeraphath’s son (1 Kings
17:17-24), the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), the daughter of
Jairus (Mark 5:22-24, 35-43), and Lazarus (John 11:1-44), to name a
few. These people all returned to their normal lives and then died again.
But Jesus was not merely resuscitated, but resurrected,
and now no longer subject to death. He did not just come back from death, but
defeated death. The Spirit that gave life to all things in the beginning now
gives life to His body - and thus begins a new reality, a new creation, a new
dimension of human existence, and a new future for us. Not the same old life
dressed up in a new way, but a new life that will never end. A new life
where the grave will provide a temporary resting place for our bodies, but no
more than that. Christ in His death and resurrection has transformed it
from a place of horror to a bed, from which He will call us from the sleep of
death to eternal life. For Christ is risen! And we too
will rise.
This is what we confess in the baptismal Creed,
when we say: I believe in the resurrection of the body. Whose
body? Christ’s? Yours? Yes! For Christ’s resurrection is your
resurrection. For He took your humanity to redeem it, to raise
it. When He rose from the dead, it wasn’t for Himself - it was for you.
And in Holy Baptism you were joined with Him in His death and
resurrection. Therefore, today is not just a remembrance of the past,
but a glimpse of the future. Your future and mine. A future that
has, in fact, already begun.
For Jesus didn’t just come to save your soul, as
so many want to say these days. As if whether Jesus actually rose
physically or not really doesn’t matter! That is a satanic lie; nothing could
be further from the truth. If Jesus’ body did not rise from the dead then
death won, and we lost. A mere spiritual resurrection means nothing, for you
are not a mere spirit. You are a person, made up of a body and a spirit. You
cannot be you if you’re not both. A body without a spirit is an animal. A
spirit without a body is an angel. You are neither. You are a man or a woman, a
special creation of God, the crown of His creation. And He came to save not
part of you, but all of you! That you live with Him forever.
And you will! For Christ is risen! Yes,
He is risen indeed. And so, too, will you rise.
But as I said, it is a resurrection already
begun in you, in your Baptism, in the forgiveness of your sin. You are already
being made new. How new? How so? Listen to what we heard from Paul
earlier: Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death,
where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is
sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, death has no victory or sting through the
death and resurrection of Jesus. Or as Jeremiah says: “For I will
forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
That’s a remarkable statement! And it is a
promise for you. That you live a new life even now. A life restored
in the forgiveness of your sins. No matter how many, no matter how
great. You are restored as a pure and holy! You heard it again today, in
fact, as you hear it every Sunday: I forgive you all your sins.
That’s not me, but the voice of your Savior. The same voice that will call
your body from the grave on the last day. What He speaks now, He will
speak then. What He promises now, He will do then. For Christ
is risen! And so will you be.
That’s one of the reasons why, in our Communion
liturgy, I say: Lift up your hearts! and you
respond: We lift them to the Lord. Whatever is dragging us
down in this world and life, whatever sins oppress us from without or weigh
heavily upon us from within, whatever doubts and fears are robbing us of this
life - not here! Not here at this altar, where Christ now comes in His
resurrected Body and Blood, with His forgiveness, life, and salvation. Here, we
set our minds on things above, that we may live here below. That we may
live in our callings. That we may live as new creations. For truly we
are! How could we not be? For when we eat the Body and drink the Blood of
Christ, we do not make this food into what we are - this food
makes us into what it is. We are transformed into the image of
Christ. Transformed even here and now to live a new life. Until when
Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in
glory.
And so an old pastor, as he lay dying,
said: If Christ is risen, then nothing else matters; and if he is
not risen, then nothing else matters.
And so as we proclaim today Christ
is risen, we are saying no small thing. We are proclaiming, in fact,
the event that changed everything. And from this small proclamation, first
spoken by an angel, then by the women, then by the apostles, then by the church
for some 2,000 years now - from this small, easily overlooked proclamation, has
come a new beginning. The new beginning for which the world was silently
waiting. A reality so powerful that not even the gates of hell can stand
against these words: Christ is risen!
Yes, that is all the church has
to say! The sum and substance of our proclamation. That is our good
news today and everyday, and that makes a difference today and everyday. Come
what may, Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]
Alleluia! Amen.