| Easter, 2001
John 20:1-18; Colossians 3:1-4 Resurrection Life
Those of you old enough may remember the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. The Arab terrorist attack on the Israeli team was truly horrific, but in spite of that tragedy there were some outstanding athletic performances. The one that will forever stick out in my mind was that of David Wottle. The tall, lanky runner always trained and competed in a golf cap. His running so inspired me, that I took up jogging and have been doing it ever since.
David Wottle stunned a worldwide audience with his 800-meter race. What made Wottle's feat so memorable was the distance he fell behind, and then made up. When the gun went off the butterflies in his stomach wouldn't stop. By 200 meters he was a good 10 yards behind the pack. He says, "I remember looking up at the stands and thinking what a poor showing I was giving. I decided that I had to at least make it look respectable; I had to catch up to the others.
By the 400-meter point, or the half-way mark, he had finally reached the back of the pack. At 500 meters, the overwhelming favorite from the Soviet Union, Yevgeny Arzhanov, charged to the lead. With 180 meters to the finish Wattle was in sixth place and he began his kick. Arzhanov had a seemingly insurmountable seven-yard lead at that juncture. Wottle simply wanted a bronze medal. But those long legs started burning up the track. He passed the third guy, then the second, and with five meters from the finish line an amazing thought crossed Wottle's mind: he had a chance to catch Arzhanhov. Arzhanhov realized that Wottle was next to him, so he dived over the line. It was not enough. David Wattle arrived three hundredths of a second before the Soviet runner. Wottle was so caught up in the excitement that he forgot to take off his golf cap on the victory stand. It was a wonderful sports moment.
What does track and field have to do with Easter? Not much, except there was a lot of running and racing going on that first Easter day. When we examine the Easter passages, we find John and Peter and Magdalene running back and forth from the tomb.
On this Easter Day it is fitting that we rehearse some of the details surrounding Christ's resurrection. After that we will attempt to bring to light a few of the implications of Easter for the Church.
Let us begin by reading John 20:1-2 (Reads it.) Just before dawn of that first Easter Day, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb. Throughout the narrative the tomb is the theater of action and we shouldn't neglect it. The burial of Jesus in a tomb establishes the truth of His death. He really and truly suffered that awful separation of soul and body that we call death. Death, burial and tomb are historical facts. The centurion delivered the certificate of death. The deep spear thrust to the heart settled the question that Jesus was definitely dead. The women saw the soldiers close the tomb of Joseph with a massive stone, leaving Jesus' body within. The Romans sealed the stone at the entrance with wax in order to guard it from a fraud. We can be thankful for the emphasis of the New Testament upon the tomb of Christ.
But if we were to leave Christ in the grave, all would be darkness and despair. No, it "was on that Easter Sunday morning that the angels rolled the stone away." That is what Matthew 28 says, and that is what the choir sang earlier. It must have been an astounding sight to witness a herculean angel fly down in blinding light, rip out the rock, and sit down on it. What happened to the soldiers guarding the cave? They panicked. That is why Mary Magdalene found the place deserted and the stone removed. Magdalene runs to give Peter the news. Out of breath, she tells Peter and John, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him" (v. 2).
Peter and John run to the tomb. John, being the better long distance runner, arrives first. The tomb is empty except for the wrappings. The head covering is neatly folded. Either Jesus or the angel could have tidied up the linens and shroud. At any rate, the body is gone. Magdalene returns to the tomb and somehow misses Peter and John who must have departed on a different path. Entering the cavern she weeps. Through her tears she notices two angels in white, and the gardener. But she is mistaken. The man is not the cemetery caretaker, He is Jesus Himself. She moves swiftly to hug Him, and doesn't want to let go, lest, she lose Him again. Jesus responds, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father" (v. 17). So she dashes off again to tell the disciples. Maybe it was at this juncture that the other women went to Jesus' tomb to anoint His body with oil and spices. They too found the tomb empty. Jesus Christ had risen from the grave. This is a sketch of what happened on that Easter morning 2,000 years ago. Now, what are the implications of the resurrection for the Church? For ourselves? There are a multitude. Let us examine just a few.
First, we must say that these appearances of Christ brought about a moral and spiritual transformation in those who saw him. When it finally settled in on all the disciples that, "the Lord is risen indeed;" the power of the risen Christ was soon displayed in their utter transformation. Now they were absolutely certain that their Master was the divine Son of God. This was no longer a fearful band of cowards huddled together in dimly lit rooms fretting and moping. Courage is an admirable quality; a much needed trait in our age of the herd mentality, and the resurrection of Jesus had turned to steel the backbone of that happy corps of Christians. It was a people on fire, filled with power, bold, even reckless, bursting with energy, and on a mission. Their faith was boundless because it was bolstered by resurrection courage.
And because of their resurrection faith they spread out across the world proclaiming the Gospel. And they did it in the face of tremendous persecution. They were martyred by the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions; yet they conquered the Roman Empire. The emergence of Christianity in the world is totally inexplicable without the resurrection. What we need to recognize today is this: the transforming power of the resurrection is not a dynamic confined to the early Church; it is still the source of the church's faith and hope. We do not serve and worship a man of the past. "He is risen." We serve a living, risen Savior. His power and presence are with us now, in the reading and preaching of the Word, in the celebration of the sacraments, in the beauty of Christian fellowship, yea, even in our sorrow and suffering. The power and presence of the risen Christ are with us, transforming unto holiness and righteousness!
There is a further consequence of Easter. It has to do with the atonement. The physical resurrection is the proof of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, proof that the work is really accomplished, that nothing more is needed for His glorious substitutionary work. A cross without resurrection would have been lacking. Death would still sting. We would be eternally defeated. On the cross Jesus stood in our stead, He shed His blood on our behalf, He bore our iniquities in His body. That is why the Son of God came down from Heaven to became incarnate. His entire life He obeyed His Father flawlessly. At the end He voluntarily went to Calvary. For those who put their faith in the Cross of Christ, they receive Christ's perfect obedience, they partake of Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, God the Father sees them in a different light.
Are you one of those who have been born from above by water and the Holy Spirit? (John 3:7) Then the filthy rags of your sinful selfishness have been put off. God sees you dressed in the robes of his Son's perfect righteousness. The blood of Jesus has washed away your sin; your justification is accomplished. You have new life, you enjoy the hope of heaven. This is the Gospel, and we would not have the Gospel if it were not for Christ's resurrection. Those who believe the gospel are saved from Hell. Death is vanquished. Death is swallowed up by the victory of the Cross.
Next, we must say that our bodies depend totally upon the resurrection. In Christ's resurrection we see the promise, the first fruits, of our own coming physical resurrection. What we see Him to be after His resurrection, we shall be. And what happened to the body of Christ? It was raised from the dead to a glorified existence. Christ did not simply arise in the spirit, He rose a flesh and bones being. Therefore, we also shall arise in recreated, glorified bodies of flesh and bones. His death on the cross is of such a nature that the whole man will be redeemed.
Christ's Second Coming will trigger the resurrection, and the Great White Throne Judgment will immediately follow. On that Day the body of each and every person will be raised from death. The sea will give up her dead, death and Hades will deliver up their dead, the books will be opened, and one and all will receive their physical bodies, and with that body, stand before the awful Judge and King, Jesus Christ. He will execute Judgment from His throne. Those who have been redeemed by God's grace, their bodies will be glorified just like Christ's risen, glorified body. Those who have rejected the Judge will keep their bodies, but they will be doomed to eternal punishment. The resurrection therefore guarantees the physicality of Heaven and Hell, the material reality of the New Heavens and New Earth for all eternity.
There is another implication to the resurrection. It should lead us to otherworldliness. Our epistle lesson from Colossians 3:1 tells us, "If then you were raised with Christ seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." In other words, St. Paul links the resurrection with heavenly mindedness, or otherworldliness, or unearthliness, as the older writers used to call it, or whatever term you like. The resurrection of Jesus urges us to think of heaven, yearn for heaven, and hope for heaven, for that is where the risen Savior is. There are nowadays a hundred things that distract us from otherworldliness, yet the lesson of Easter exhorts us to set our minds on things above, not on things on the earth. What are some of those celestial elements on which we are to set our mind? We do not have a complete picture of Heaven, but God's Word does give us glimpses. Once landed in paradise, the saints of God shall go out no more; no one will ever be forced to leave. Heaven is an inheritance that "does not fade away."
Some people have erroneous ideas of heaven. One of our military generals -- General Robert E. Lee, or General George Patton, I don't remember who -- insisted that heaven was war. For him heaven was ongoing warfare. It would be sublime to fight in combat as a soldier until you were killed on the battlefield. Then come back and join the army to fight again and die. And come back to fight over and over again. With due respect to the general, his view of heaven is false. Soldiers love the camaraderie of war but the killing is hell. In heaven, the warfare of Christ's soldiers and servants is accomplished; their fight is over; their work is done. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. In this world we are pilgrims; pilgrims travelling on the road towards an "eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17). We are on a journey home, to dwell in mansions which shall never crumble, to feast at ongoing banquets, to enjoy festivities without end, to celebrate a family gathering without a separation. And best of all, to see our Lord face to face, and worship Him with angels and archangels and all the heavenly host. At the final, bodily resurrection, faith shall be swallowed up in sight, and hope in certainty. We shall "be forever with the Lord." No wonder that the apostle Paul advises us, "Comfort one another with these words" (I Thes. 4:17, 18). These are great and hopeful truths. The Easter message thus orients us towards heaven and the redeemed life to come.
And let us not think that such upward orientation makes us irresponsible servants on earth. It is precisely the people who are most focused on heaven who do the most earthly good. Dozens of examples could be given. The Christian sociologist Craig Gay has effectively countered the charge that otherworldliness is useless in this world. (I borrow his insight here.) If we buy the modern assertion that the end and purpose of human life is constricted by this world, and this life, and nothing else has meaning, then, religion pointing to a world beyond is obscurantist; it is ignorant and worthless. Secular atheists have tried their best to get people to stop thinking about heaven so we can get on with the job of improving conditions on earth. They come up with exalted humanist ideals to achieve utopia, ideals that leave God and heaven out of the equation. Yet historically, it is easy to show that it has been precisely this otherworldly dynamic that has proven to be socially redemptive in this world. For instance, otherworldliness means that the significance of persons can ultimately never be known now. You can look at someone who is apparently useless from the point of view of this world -- an unborn baby, a quadriplegic, an elderly woman in a rest home, a boy suffering Down's syndrome -- and yet they may well end up being great in the Kingdom of God. That means that when we design political structures and decide social matters we have to care for every single person. We must not consign anyone to the ash bin because they do not have a quality life or useful purpose. We have compassion for every life, knowing that they possibly will be quite great in the Kingdom of God. It is for good reason that Scripture calls us to heavenly mindedness.
The resurrection of Christ is a source of transforming power. It completes Christ's atoning work on the cross. The Resurrection furthermore highlights the physicality of our future redemption, and lastly it exhorts us to otherworldliness. This is the Easter message; it is Christ's resurrection and it is the Christian's resurrection; it is vast and sweeping, dealing with body and soul, heaven and earth, time and eternity. This is the Easter message; for those in Christ it is a message bursting with peace and joy, power and hope. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Return to Sermons |
