Sermon

The Day of Resurrection is here, my friends. Today, Easter Sunday, is a day of joy and gladness. For six long weeks, in the season of Lent, we have prepared ourselves for this day, the greatest of all Christian festival days, the highest of high holy days. And by looking at our Scripture texts for today, we can easily see why this day is so special. For today we read of two women who went to mourn at the tomb of their friend, only to meet an angel, only to receive some amazing news: “He is not here; He has risen just as He said!’ (Matthew 28:7, NIV). And in light of this, all disciples everywhere, from the women who went to the tomb to us who sit here today, are urged to do three things.

First off, we are urged to believe. Matthew tells us that “The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that 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 He lay” (Matthew 28:5-6, NIV). The angel urged the women to accept and believe his message, even bringing them to see the empty tomb. And it’s easy to see why – this message did seem too good to be true. It seemed beyond the realm of possibility. I mean, resurrections just don’t happen every day. And these women had come to mourn their friend Jesus – and then they hear this news. I’m sure part of them didn’t even dare believe it. There are many today who feel the same, that Easter is just too good to be true, that it’s ludicrous. And yet, there was the angel, ushering the women to the empty tomb, reminding them of the promises that Jesus had made before He died. And then, as the women hurried away, “afraid yet filled with joy” (Matthew 28:8, NIV), there was Jesus Himself. There was Jesus, in the flesh. And you can bet that then, finally, the women truly believed!

But not everyone believed. Besides a passing, troubling reference that even as they met Jesus in Galilee, that even some of the disciples still doubted (Matthew 28:17), we have, of course, other characters in this story. Previously, we find the chief priests and teachers of the law visiting Pilate – on the Sabbath, no less! – to ask for extra troops to guard Jesus’ tomb (Matthew 27:63ff). They told Pilate of Jesus’ promise to rise again after three days, but assumed that the disciples would simply steal the body. So they requested troops to stop this from happening. “Go,” Pilate said, “make the tomb as secure as you know how” (Matthew 27:65, NIV). But all the preparation in the world, and all the guards in the world could not make that tomb secure!

And yet still, they didn’t believe. Even with all this evidence – for they knew about Jesus’ promises to rise again, they saw the empty tomb, they felt the earthquake, they saw the guards passed out – and yet still, they did not believe. Instead, we’re told, they bribed the guards to tell a phony story. “When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them ‘You are to say (that) His disciples came during the night and stole Him away while we were asleep’” (Matthew 28:12-13, NIV). And so, the question before each of us today is: Do we believe? Will we join with the women at the tomb, who put their faith in the Risen Christ, or do we cast our lot with the soldiers and the chief priests who did everything in their power to silence the Truth about Him?

Because, you see, the whole of Christianity rests on this one day. The whole of the Christian faith turns on whether or not Easter is true. The apostle Paul talks about this in his first letter to the Corinthian believers, saying “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith . . . If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins . . . If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 17, 19, NIV). So, if Easter is a lie, if Christ died and did not rise again, if the Tomb wasn’t really empty, then the whole of Christianity goes down the drain. But we know that Jesus is alive; we know that He rose again from the dead. We know that there were eyewitnesses, over five hundred who saw Him in the flesh (1 Corinthians 15:6). We know that these men and women were willing to die horrible deaths for this Truth. Friends, I don’t know many who would be willing to be tortured and to die for a lie! And we know that there were those in Jerusalem who tried to cover up this Truth. So, my friends, He lives! Up from the grave He arose! Christ is alive, in the flesh. As the choir sang for us today, “The strife is o’er, the battle done; the victory of life is won!”.[1]

And of course, this leads to the other two tasks we who believe are urged to undertake. The first is to go and tell; we find this all throughout our passages for today. The angel told the women “Go quickly and tell His disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him’” (Matthew 28:7, NIV). Jesus then told the women “Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me” (Matthew 28:10, NIV). And then, once everyone had gone to Galilee, Jesus told them all in the Great Commission: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV). Friends, those orders still stand! For we have a great story to tell. The Lord of the universe has come to earth as a human being – for us. He saw our need as fallen, sinful creatures, and He came to fulfill it – for us. He taught us His truth to save us from error. He died upon the cross, crucified as a criminal to save us from that fate. And when things seemed bleakest, when it seemed that sin, death and the devil had won, on the third day He rose again. And He continues to be with us always, even to the end of time. How can we keep that to ourselves, friends? How can we not go and tell? This is a story that we all need to hear, a story we all need to believe. So – whom will you go and tell? To whom is God sending you? Whom do you know that needs to hear the Gospel? Go and tell! This Good News should not be kept a secret!

And lastly, my friends, we are urged to rejoice. The women went away “afraid, yet filled with joy” (Matthew 28:8, NIV). When the eleven disciples saw Jesus “they worshipped Him” (Matthew 28:17, NIV). And we, too, should worship our Risen Lord. For indeed, the strife is o’er! The battle is done! The victory of life is won![2] Before this, we were dead in our sins, with no hope of a relationship with our Creator. Before this, our lives were shackled in darkness. Before this, we were held captive to lies, pain, violence, mistrust, jealousy, greed and brokenness, with no hope of escape. We were trapped in our own sins.

But Jesus Christ died to set us free from all of that. And by rising from the dead, sin and death have been defeated. By rising from the dead, we now can face tomorrow – for Christ has opened paradise! And if we believe – and all we need do is believe, my friends – we shall then be given eternal life, a life of communion and relationship with the One who created us the One who loves us, the One who wants the best for us, the One who cared enough to live and to die for us. Because of Easter, we can now live as God originally intended for us to live – with meaning, purpose and dignity, with joy and hope for the future, with the peace that passes all understanding, even in the midst of trials, and with the comfort that we are not alone. Easter secures all these things – it secures us victory over sin and death; it secures us abundant life and freedom from our old, diminished life; it secures us a place in the Kingdom of God, which will have no end. And friends, that is Good News! That merits some rejoicing! That merits a few “hallelujahs”! For this is the Day of Resurrection, a day of joy, a day of praise and glory – the day of victory for all who believe.

So let us rejoice, my friends. Let us give to God our profound thanks and praise. Let us rise up and live out the Easter victory that is ours by faith. And let us go and spread this Good News – that there is hope for full and abundant life, that there is forgiveness for sins, that there is eternal joy and peace for each of us in the Risen Christ. For He lives! Our Savior lives! The strife is o’er, the battle done! Christ has opened paradise for all who believe – for us! Hallelujah! To Him alone be the glory!

[1] Latin hymn, “The Strife is O’er, the Battle Done”. Translated by Rev. Francis Pott. Tune PALESTRINA by Giovanni P. de Palestrina.

[2] Ibid.