Sermon for Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024
Mark 16:1-8 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene,
Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint
Jesus. 2Very early on the
first day of the week, at sunrise, they went to the tomb. 3They were saying to each other,
“Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb for us?” 4When they looked up, they saw
that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5As they entered the tomb, they
saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they
were alarmed. 6He said to
them, “Do not be alarmed. You are
looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen!
He is not here. See the place
where they laid him. 7But go,
tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told
you.’” 8They went out and
hurried away from the tomb, trembling and perplexed. They said nothing to anyone, because they
were afraid. (EHV)
Vindication.
They
called Him a traitor to Rome but demanded His crucifixion because they
considered Him a traitor to Israel. They
accused Him a blaspheming against God, but demanded His death for telling the
truth that He is the Son of God. They
couldn’t find even two witnesses against Jesus who could agree on an accusation
of any sin, but He was crucified because of the sins of the world. He gave no thought to His own wealth, safety,
or power, but Jesus was crucified because they were jealous.
Dear beloved ones in Christ Jesus,
Vindication
is the condition of being proven right or innocent. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, Jesus proves that He is the Son of God, that He was innocent of all sin,
that everything He promised is true, that God is faithful in everything He had
prophesied, that we are forgiven of all sin, and that those who believe in Him
will live and never die.
Far too often, the prophecies God had provided
through His prophets were either ignored or misunderstood. Even those who knew the prophecies pointed to
the promised Messiah refused to believe that Jesus was the fulfilment of God’s
promises. The people of Israel were
looking for a warrior-king, someone who could wrest them from the Roman
overlords and set up Israel as the major power on earth.
There are still some Jews who think that God’s
prophecy of a Savior applies to the people of Abraham’s descendants, but with
Jesus rising from the dead, all doubt is removed. Jesus is the only Man who foretold His dying
and rising again and made it come true.
To all the doubters of the world, God has been proven faithful to His
promises. The Savior of the world has
come, has lived, died, and risen from the tomb of death victorious over all
enemies. Therefore, in Jesus’
resurrection, we find vindication of the Father in heaven who promised a Seed
of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. (Genesis 3:14)
Jesus was sentenced to die by the Sanhedrin,
ostensibly because He was blaspheming against God when He claimed to be the Son
of God. The men who worked so hard to
see Him killed even mocked Jesus on the cross for that true statement. Now, there can be no doubt. No on else could ever endure what Jesus went
through for you and me, could be whipped, crucified, pierced with a spear to
the heart, and be pronounced certifiably dead, then buried, and still rise from
the dead.
The soldiers who were posted to guard His tomb,
so that no one could steal the body and make a false claim, confirmed the
reality of Jesus’ resurrection, for they went to Jesus’ enemies and recounted
the truth of what they had seen. They
thus vindicated their fellow soldier, the Roman centurion who observed Jesus’
death and with terror in his voice declared, “Truly He was the Son of God.”
(Matthew 27:54)
Numerous times in His three years of teaching
His disciples, Jesus told them how He would suffer and die at the hands of the
scribes and Pharisees, but He also told them that on the third day He would
rise from the grave. The disciples never
seemed to understand this promise. Jesus
also told Martha, after her brother Lazarus was dead in the grave for four days,
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even
if he dies. And whoever lives and
believes in me will never perish.” (John 11:25-26) Still, Martha was shocked when Jesus called
out Lazarus’ name and he came out of the tomb four days after he died and was
buried. Here again, in His own
resurrection, God the Son is vindicated in His claims, and just as important,
in His prophecies and His promises.
The members of the Jewish ruling council heard
about this miracle of raising Lazarus, and decided Jesus had to die lest He
continue to draw believers to Himself.
In their jealousy, those men refused to believe what Jesus promised, and
because they feared Him, they plotted His death. They feared that if Jesus gained the trust of
more people, the Romans might come and take away their positions of power. In spite of all evidence, they convinced
themselves that Jesus was a fraud. Yet,
here in the moment of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, His mission to save
sinners is vindicated. Jesus wasn’t
seeking an earthly kingdom but the salvation of many souls. Thus, when He had risen from the grave, Jesus
didn’t start a rebellion against Rome, but He initiated the spread of the Good
News of Christ crucified for sinners and faith in Him to give life everlasting.
For three years, a number of women had followed
Jesus with the sincere belief that He was God’s promised Redeemer and Savior
sent to reign over heaven and earth forever.
The disciples, likewise also, especially Peter, had devoted those years
to following Jesus as students, giving up careers to learn at Jesus’ feet,
convinced that He had “the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68) Peter’s own words testify to this trust. In the time of trial, however, even the most
faithful followers among them lost their hope.
Yet, what they had hoped for was not gone, for when Jesus gave up His
life, He was doing exactly what they had been promised so that all their
confidence in Him was vindicated.
Jesus was never defeated by the Sanhedrin, by
Pontius Pilate, by Herod, or even by sin, death, or the devil. Every part of Jesus’ life and death went
exactly as His Father in heaven had planned, from His birth through His
resurrection after dying, so that you and I and all who believe in Jesus are
forgiven of all sin, because Jesus paid for the sins of the world. The perfectly holy Lamb of God bearing the
sins for every fallen man, women, and child.
Thus, under the inspiration and authority of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul
wrote:
There is now no
condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For in Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the
law of sin and death. Indeed, what the law
was unable to do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did, when he sent
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to deal with sin. God condemned sin
in his flesh, so that the righteous decree of the law would be fully satisfied
in us who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)
Dear friends, you and I have perhaps faced some
of the mockery that was thrown against Jesus while He was nailed to that
cross. Many of our world still refuse to
believe that Jesus is God’s Son sent to save sinners. In fact, many refuse to believe they are
sinners, and often even celebrate their vile wickedness. Because Jesus no longer walks the earth,
those mockers question why anyone would believe in Him. They reject everything God has said, because
they don’t see it presently with their eyes.
Regardless of what the
evil world might claim, you and I can go forth boldly through our time here on
earth, vindicated in our faith, knowing without a doubt that because Jesus rose
from the dead, our sins are removed from us as far as east is from the west.
(Psalm 103:12) We can go about our days
confident that God has forgiven our sins and remembers them no more. (Hebrews
8:12) Though Jesus’ enemies accused Him
of a multitude of sins, we are vindicated for believing God’s proud
proclamation “This is my Son, whom I love.
I am well pleased with him.” (Matthew 3:17) In light of Jesus’ resurrection at the exact
time He promised to rise from the dead, we can boldly put our trust in all of
God’s Word, especially that which says, “God made him, who did not know sin,
to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”
(2 Corinthians 5:21)
With all believers in Christ Jesus, from Eve
who believed God’s promise of a Savior who would crush the serpent’s head, to
Job who looked forward in faith to seeing his Redeemer in the flesh, (Job
19:25-26) to Abraham who believed God and it was credited to him as
righteousness, (Genesis 15:6) to those women surprised by the angel at the tomb
until the last believer in Jesus draws breath upon the earth, we can walk
confidently and with great boldness of faithful joy singing,
I know that my Redeemer lives;
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, He lives, who once was dead;
He lives my ever-living Head. Amen.
Amen. Amen.
Now may the
God of peace—who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd
of the sheep, in connection with his blood, which established the eternal
testament—may he equip you with every good thing to do his will, as he works in
us what is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
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