His final steps were not final.

 

Sermon for Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023

This is the day the LORD has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Halleluiah!

John 20:11-18  ¹¹But Mary stood outside facing the tomb, weeping.  As she wept, she bent over, looking into the tomb.  ¹²She saw two angels in white clothes sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet.  ¹³They asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”  She told them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they have laid him.”  ¹⁴After she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not know it was Jesus.  ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?  Who are you looking for?”  Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you carried him off, tell me where you laid him, and I will get him.”  ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.”  She turned and replied in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means, “Teacher”).  ¹⁷Jesus told her, “Do not continue to cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.  But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father—to my God and your God.’”  ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!”  She also told them the things he said to her. (EHV)

His final steps were not final.

Dear beloved of the living Lord,

            By the time we get through our Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, I often find myself rather troubled in my soul, grieving for my share of the suffering that the Son of God who loved me so much endured.  For me, it is a little like grieving for some dear friend I have lost at various times in my life.  But the true, hard reality is that I know that Jesus loved me far better and far greater than I could ever love anyone else.  So, when I hear the slamming door that signifies the closing of Jesus’ tomb, it really does rattle my heart a bit too.

When I reach that point, I can’t honestly comprehend how hard it must have been for Jesus’ mother, Mary, who was there at the cross watching her dear, perfect, firstborn Son, who she had known as God’s promised Messiah, give His life for wretched sinners like me.  How hard it had to be for Mary and Martha, and Mary Magdalene, to see the Man they had trusted and who had rescued them from such dark times, cruelly beaten, His skin ripped to shreds, His brow pierced by torturous thorns, His bruised head hanging down in death, and finally the body buried without even the chance to provide a proper funeral or anointing according to their custom.  How hard it had to be for the eleven disciples who had such high hopes for their life with Jesus, yet not only losing their Friend and Teacher, they now feared for their own lives.

At this point, I feel terrible for anyone who doesn’t know the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey used to be famous for saying).  You see, for anyone who doesn’t know what we celebrate today, the end isn’t just sorrow over the loss of someone who died centuries ago, it truly is the loss of any real hope for life in heaven.  We cannot know salvation if we don’t know Jesus’ resurrection.  Without that Good News, the gullible see Jesus as just any other ancient mystic, teacher, or prophet.  Then, what St. Paul wrote would apply, “If our hope in Christ applies only to this life, we are the most pitiful people of all.” (1 Corinthians 15:19)

Through this Lenten season, we followed a theme of walking with Jesus as He took the final steps of His earthly life.  Yet, unlike every other ancient teacher, Jesus’ story doesn’t end at the tomb.  That is why we so celebrate the news that His final steps were not final.  Jesus lives!  Jesus rose from the grave triumphant over sin, the human condition, temptation, the devil, the Jewish leadership, the Roman governor and his soldiers, and finally even death.  Living for us, Jesus beat sin and temptation and the devil by living in human flesh exactly as God wants all of us to live.  For you and me, Jesus lived the perfect trust in His Father’s will, the faithful obedience to all that God had taught and commanded through the prophets.  In Jesus, there was never any doubt or worry, or questioning.

The events of that whole weekend were so unexpected by even those who knew and loved Jesus so well.  Thus, on that first Easter morning, “Mary stood outside facing the tomb, weeping.”  She didn’t know what else to do.  All she knew right then was that the tomb, in which she had seen Jesus’s body laid to rest, was empty.  The other women who had come to the grave with her, likewise, assumed that Jesus would still be dead.  The disciples back in their hiding place also were absolutely convinced that Jesus was permanently dead.  And even after they received the first reports that Jesus was alive, they couldn’t believe their ears.

However, Jesus’ final steps were not final.  “As she wept, [Mary] bent over, looking into the tomb.  She saw two angels in white clothes sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet.  They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’”  Ordinarily, this is not a good question to ask of someone grieving at their loved one’s grave.  Ordinarily, a question like that would simply devastate the sorrowing person.  However, this circumstance was unprecedented.  No one had ever raised himself from the dead.  Truth be told, no one else ever has. 

Now, the angel wasn’t being cruel.  That messenger from God was simply recognizing that there was no reason for sadness any longer.  Mary and the other women who went to the tomb went there expecting to carry out some last-minute care for a dead body.  But Jesus is no longer dead.  After Mary’s brief conversation with the angels, “she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not know it was Jesus.  Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?  Who are you looking for?’” 

There is that question again, “Why are you weeping?”  I could almost picture Mary screaming in frustration as she replies to Jesus.  However, Jesus had spoken to Mary with the tenderest care.  He knew she was beyond herself in sorrow.  So in her despair and “Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, ‘Sir, if you carried him off, tell me where you laid him, and I will get him.’”  Through the pain and the tears, Mary didn’t recognize her Lord.  Maybe we get that way sometimes too.  Through the pain of loss when someone we love dies, we can feel so overwhelmed we don’t recognize the life that remains.  Yet, here at Jesus’ tomb, we have certain confirmation that because Jesus’ final steps were not final, we who believe in Jesus will not die but live.

Jesus told His disciples, “Because I live, you also will live.  In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” (John 14:19-20)  We are made one with Jesus through faith in Him.  Jesus and the Father are One God from eternity.  Because Jesus has conquered everything that separated us from God, we too are now brought into connection with the living God.

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”  She turned and replied in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means, “Teacher”).  If there has ever been a tearjerker reunion, this one is certainly right up there.  The Savior Mary had seen die and be buried, now lives.  The Lord in whom she had put all her trust didn’t let her down.  The God in whom her ancestors had trusted had delivered on every promise and prophecy.  She should have known.  All the disciples should have been crowding around that tomb just eager to see the moment when the angels rolled away the stone, but that isn’t our human nature. 

We by nature are weak in faith, but Jesus is not.  Therefore, when Jesus carried our sins to the cross and traded His holy, precious life for the dregs of society, Jesus knew He would live and never die again.  Jesus had told His disciples, “This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own.  I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again.  This is the commission I received from my Father.” (John 10:17-18)  Herein lies our eternal hope.  Though there is nothing in us for which God should love us, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)  By His holy sacrifice, Jesus removed the shame of our sin.

Does God hate sin?  Absolutely, and He will have no part with anyone who remains in sin.  Does God hate the sinner?  This question is often used to mislead us, but yes, God hates the sinner.  He told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no human may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)  When God said that word translated, “human,” He used the term “The Adam.”  In other words, no one remaining in the sin of Adam can see God and live, so if Jesus had stayed dead, we would be hopeless.  “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since death came by a man, the resurrection of the dead also is going to come by a Man.  For as in Adam they all die, so also in Christ they all will be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)

This is why it is so important for us to see that Jesus’ final steps were not final.  Because He lives, we too will live and never die, just as Jesus promised Mary and Martha before He raised Lazarus from the dead.  Outside His own now empty tomb, Jesus told her, “Do not continue to cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.  But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father—to my God and your God.’”  Jesus’ Father and God, the One He had trusted perfectly as He walked this life for you and me, the God to whom Jesus boldly exclaimed from the cross, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit! (Luke 23:46) now claims us as His dear children.  The Lord, our God, now welcomes us into His presence to worship Him forever in glory.

Mary had the greatest roller coaster ride of emotion anyone has ever had.  She had come to that tomb in abject sorrow but clinging to the poor hope of one last glimpse of her Beloved’s broken body.  She was further heart-broken to find the grave empty and frantic to recover a last, tiny bit of comfort in doing what she could to cover the stench of decay, but Jesus turned her sorrow into joy.  His final steps were not final.  Because Jesus was no longer dead, and no longer missing, there was no decay and never would be.  Instead, Mary could experience the exhilaration of telling her friends and neighbors that Jesus lives.

Dear friends, you and I will often stand at the mouth of graves mourning the loss of those near and dear to us.  Right along with those we love, we too will be laid down to rest in the dirt.  Yet, for all of us who believe in Jesus, and for all those moments we say goodbye to someone who has walked in the Christian faith, we have sure and certain confidence that our final steps are not final. 

Through faith in Christ Jesus, we have forgiveness and peace with God which means that we have God’s invitation to live with Him forever in heaven.  St. Paul wrote, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him by this baptism into his death, so that just as he was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too would also walk in a new life.” (Romans 6:3-4

Through faith in Christ Jesus as our Redeemer, Savior, and Lord, we have complete forgiveness and life everlasting.  This is why we shout “Alleluia!”  It is why we exclaim “Christ is risen!”  Jesus lives!  The victory is won!  And because His final steps were not final, we too will live and walk in glory.  A blessed Easter to you all.  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  Amen.

The God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, both soul and body, be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.  Amen.