Sermon for
Easter 3, Misericordia Domini, April 19, 2026
Grace, mercy, and peace be yours, forever, from God the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. Amen.
Romans 1:1-6 Paul,
a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of
God, 2which he promised in advance through his prophets in the Holy
Scriptures. 3This gospel is
about his Son-who in the flesh was born a descendant of David, 4who
in the spirit of holiness was declared to be God’s powerful Son by his
resurrection from the dead—Jesus
Christ, our Lord. 5Through
him we received grace and the call to be an apostle on behalf of his name, to
bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, 6including
you, who were called by Jesus Christ. (EHV)
Christ’s
resurrection proclaims Him God and Lord.
Dear redeemed in the Lord Jesus,
It
is not too difficult for most people to believe that Jesus was a man. There are plenty secular historical accounts
that even atheists will admit confirm there was a man named Jesus living and
teaching in Judea and Galilee around two thousand years ago, so this part of
the truth is not hard for most people to accept. It is the other part of Jesus’ nature that
becomes a stumbling block for so many.
Indeed, several major religions deny that Jesus is true God. Among others, Muslims, Jews, Mormons, and Jehovah
Witnesses all deny the true divinity of Christ.
There are even Christians in our world who question whether Jesus really
is God. Or at best, they act like it
doesn’t matter if He is.
For the faithful, however,
there is nothing more important than recognizing that Jesus is both true God as
well as true Man. The Athanasian Creed,
which we will use on Trinity Sunday in a month or so, testifies that those who
deny Jesus as both God and Man cannot be saved.
They are destined for destruction.
We testify every week our confidence in the two natures of Christ. In the explanation to the Second Article of
the Apostles’ Creed, we say:
I
believe that Jesus Christ is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity,
and also true man, born of the virgin Mary; and that He is my Lord, Who has
redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins,
from death and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with
His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death; in order
that I might be his own, live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in
everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness; even as He is risen from
the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.
This is most certainly true.
In our sermon text, Paul reminds
us that Jesus is both true God and true Man.
More than that, He is our Savior, Redeemer, and Lord, and it is Christ’s
resurrection from the dead, which the prophecies of both Jesus and the Old
Testament prophets had promised, that gives absolute certainty to our faith in
Jesus. Therefore, along with Paul we
testify that Christ’s resurrection proclaims Him God and Lord.
Absolute certainty—about
how many things can we say that we are absolutely certain? We can’t predict the weather with that kind
of perfection. We can’t predict how
people will behave with any degree of certainty. At best, we can only be sure that people will
always misbehave in some way, shape or form.
We don’t even know for sure whether tomorrow will come. Yet, one of the things that is made most
certainly true is that Jesus is the true Son of God and therefore, He is equal
to the Father in heaven in all ways.
This is the truth for which the Jews demanded that Jesus be
crucified. John testifies, “This is
why the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he was not merely breaking
the Sabbath, but was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with
God.” (John 5:18)
In truth, every part of
the Christian faith hinges on this truth and this resurrection. If Jesus rose from the dead, everything
promised and prophesied about Him has to be true. On the other hand, if Jesus didn’t rise from
the dead, then St. Paul says, “If
Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:17) This second part is what the devil wants you
to believe, and much of the world has bought into his lies. However, Paul went on to write with full
confidence, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the
firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:20)
Here in his letter to the
Romans, Paul is writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit what God wants
all people to know and believe. All
those hundreds of Old Testament prophecies about the Savior promised to come
into the world through descent from Abraham and King David are fulfilled in
Jesus. All those dreadful and fantastic
prophecies given through Isaiah and David that so describe the Christ’s
suffering and death for our sins are carried out exactly in Jesus, God’s own
Son. And we know Jesus is God’s own Son,
because God declared it in advance on several occasions before numerous
eyewitnesses. Yet, even if all that
could just be human imagination or some incredible coincidence, nothing and no
one can deny the answer proclaimed in the resurrection.
No prophet before or since
has ever been able to die on a cross after being tortured near to death and yet
come back to life after three days dead in a grave. No great teacher has ever been able to come
close to duplicating what Jesus did on Easter morning.
The people who surrounded
that cross on the first Good Friday knew exactly what happened to Jesus of
Nazareth. He was whipped, scourged,
beaten, and pierced with nails driven through His hands and feet. The men crucified with Jesus didn’t survive
the afternoon either, though it was necessary to break their legs to kill them
by suffocation. Yet, everyone there saw
Jesus truly dead. The Roman soldiers
were terrified when the sun refused to give its light. They were shocked at how even the ground
shook as God’s Son drew His last breath. “When the centurion and those who were
guarding Jesus with him saw the earthquake and the things that had happened,
they were terrified and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.” (Matthew
27:54) Still, when Pilate questioned whether Jesus could already be dead, they
confirmed it by driving a spear into His side, and the blood and water that
poured out testified that the end had come.
Still, Christ’s death
didn’t answer the doubts. We remember
the despair of the disciples those days of Jesus’ trial, crucifixion, and time
in the tomb. They went into hiding with uncontrolled
terror of perhaps having to face the same gruesome fate—until Easter—when Christ’s
rising from the dead to live again and forever took away all the doubt and all
the fear.
The same should be said
for you and me. Because Jesus lives, you
and I will live and never die. Jesus
promised that to Martha when she was mourning the loss of her brother, and
Jesus’ ability to raise Lazarus should have been proof enough. But, then, to raise Himself from the dead,
that is proof beyond any doubt or argument that Jesus is Lord of both the
living and the dead. Indeed, Christ’s
resurrection proclaims Him God and Lord.
Paul was called as an
apostle of our Lord Jesus to preach the Good News of Christ to people of all
nations. Here, he writes, “This
gospel is about his Son-who in the flesh was born a descendant of David, who in
the spirit of holiness was declared to be God’s powerful Son by his
resurrection from the dead—Jesus
Christ, our Lord.” Jesus’ resurrection didn’t make Him a Son of
God; rather, Jesus was God’s Son from all eternity. However, Jesus’ resurrection on Easter
morning is God trumpeting to the world with unprecedented powerful action what
He had previously declared in voice, “This is my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with him.” (Matthew
3:17)
The world may foolishly doubt
whether Jesus really did rise from the dead, but the proof is certainly there
that Jesus rose exactly when He was prophesied to rise from the dead. This confirms every Good News part of the
Bible for us. The resurrection proves
that God is satisfied with Christ’s payment of death for our sins. No other payment is required to reconcile us
with God. No other sacrifice will ever
again be necessary. By His resurrection,
Jesus confirms that everything His Word promises is true.
As Paul testifies here, “Through
him we received grace and the call to be an apostle on behalf of his name, to
bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, including you, who
were called by Jesus Christ.” Paul
was called to be an apostle to the nations.
You and I are also called to serve Jesus on behalf of His name. Our calls to serve will be different than
Paul’s, yet the goal is the same, to bring salvation to people all over the
world.
Now, there is one more
thing I should note with this text.
Right before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told His disciples, the ones
He would send out to the world with His message of grace, “Therefore go and
gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the
instructions I have given you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) It is by baptizing and teaching the truth
about Jesus that people are saved, but sometimes people take the command to
obey, or to keep Jesus’ instruction, as some sort of rules or laws we must obey
to be saved. Paul corrects that
misunderstanding here when he explains that our task is “to bring about the
obedience of faith among all the Gentiles.”
This assures us that there
aren’t any new commands or laws that need to be obeyed before one can be saved. Rather, it is the faith that God’s Word works
in our hearts that brings about the faith in Christ that is the true obedience
we all need. Christ is our Savior. He is our Redeemer. Jesus gave His life into making our lives
reconciled to God. By His holy life,
Jesus fulfilled all law for us. By His
death, Jesus paid the penalty our guilt deserved. By His resurrection, Jesus showed the world
that the Father in heaven is reconciled to all people, and all who believe in
Jesus will be saved. Therefore, rejoice
and give thanks, dear friends, Christ’s resurrection proclaims Him God and
Lord. Amen.
Now to the King eternal, to the immortal, invisible, only God, be honor
and glory forever and ever. Amen.
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