The Resurrection of Our Lord

¹When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.  ²And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  ³And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”  ⁴And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.  ⁵And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.  ⁶And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed.  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has risen; he is not here.  See the place where they laid him.  ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.  There you will see him, just as he told you.”  ⁸And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. Mark 16:1–8 (ESV)

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Isaiah 25:6–9 (OT Reading)

        ⁶On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.  ⁷And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.  ⁸He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.  ⁹It will be said on that day,  “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.  This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

1 Corinthians 15:1–11 (Epistle Reading)

¹Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

      ³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

 

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With certain expectation did the women approach the tomb of our Lord on that first day of the week.  They came prepared, bringing spices to anoint Jesus’ body (Mark 16:1).  But what they found, and what they didn’t find, they were least expecting.  Though the Lord Jesus had told beforehand what would be, the believed Him not.  And though He had clearly spoken, His words they did had not remembered.  Therefore did the women approach the tomb, expecting a body to be present, the body of Jesus, laying there in the tomb.

The thoughts of the women were on what they expected, anointing the body of Jesus with spices, and that the stone at the entrance of the tomb would still be there.  These were on their mind as they approached the tomb of our Lord.  Jesus had been  Numbered with the transgressors on the cross, and His grave was with the wicked, but with the rich at His death (Isaiah 53:12, 9).

What the women expected to be was not.  What they had not expected at all, that is what was.  Truly it is God who works this way, surpassing human expectation, and fulfilling that which is according to His Holy Word.  This Jesus did that day, on that first day of the week, the day after the Saturday Sabbath, early in the morning when the women had come to the tomb.

As the angel had declared, so it was, You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has risen; he is not here.

But who believes such an account today?  Who believes that Christ is physically, bodily, and corporeally risen from the dead?  No man can come back to life of himself after being dead three days.

But it is truly Jesus who in St. John’s Gospel is recorded as saying, The Father loves me, because I lay down my life, in order that I might take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but a I lay it down of myself.  I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again (John 10:17-18, my translation).

Who believes such an account today?  You do, but not because you have seen it with your own two eyes, but because God’s Spirit testifies that it is so by means of Christ’s Holy Word.  And His testimony is sufficient.

Eyes, senses, and reason will all speak differently than the Lord does on this matter.  Like the women of our text, we too have certain expectations of what is and of what will be.  According to what we know from human experience, man remains dead after death.  Corpses remain corpses.  Bodies decay.  But not so with Christ.  His body saw no decay.  Nor did God’s Holy One see corruption (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:31).

Neither will you remain in the grave into eternity.  As Christ resurrected, so shall we when our Lord returns, for Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die (John 11:25-26)

Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:29).

Pilate did not have authority of himself to put Jesus to death.  Rather was that authority to put Jesus to death given to him.  And on that cross of crucifixion, Jesus bore the sins of all and truly died.  Yet none, not even the devil and death, had power to keep Jesus dead and in the tomb.

On this day of days, we celebrate, we rejoice greatly in the resurrection of our Lord.  The crucified One is no longer in the grave. He is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  Death and grave have lost their hold, for Christ has conquered death and the grave has lost its power.  Sin no more has dominion (Romans 6:14).  Jesus reigns victorious over sin, death, and the grave, now and forevermore.

But in all honesty, it doesn’t appear this way.  We still contend with our own sin and the sin of others.  And in this life, we still must face the reality of our own mortality and death, whether we like it or not, and whether we deny it or not.  Death comes to all of us, unless Christ comes before that time.  Yet for this reason did Christ die, in order to save you from your sin, from your sin that leads you to eternal death.

Jesus had not died on Good Friday on account of any transgression of His own.  On the cross, He died your death, yours and mine, and there crucified and put to death all your sin before our Holy God.  And now, because of Christ, your sin no longer belongs to you, for Christ has taken it away.  Now, because of Christ, you have His goodness, righteousness, and the Father’s everlasting kindness.  And Jesus rose again on the third day to demonstrate His power and authority over sin and death.

Therefore Christ is your life.  Death could not hold Him.  The grave could not keep Him.  In Christ, you have new life and even eternal life, where sin, death, and sorrow will be no more.

Now is Christ’s victory your victory, through faith.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5).

All your sin, your doubt, your faithlessness, and your despair has been swallowed up by His death, and the joy of His resurrection is now your own.

Today, we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord!  In the confession of this faith, we declare to one another and to the world this Christ, crucified and now risen.  But not only this day do we celebrate on this day.  Each day is lived in the resurrection of our Lord.  Each Sunday is a celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead.  And in every Lord’s Supper, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes, receiving into our very mouths the very body and blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins, confessing too that the same Jesus Christ is no longer dead but risen, risen indeed!  Alleluia!  Amen.

Readings for Easter Tuesday

 

Daniel 3:8–28

⁸At that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews. ⁹They declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! ¹⁰You, O king, have made a decree, that every man who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. ¹¹And whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into a burning fiery furnace. ¹²There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, pay no attention to you; they do not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

      ¹³Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. ¹⁴Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? ¹⁵Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

      ¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. ¹⁸But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

      ¹⁹Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. ²⁰And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. ²¹Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. ²²Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. ²³And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.

      ²⁴Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” ²⁵He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”

      ²⁶Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. ²⁷And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. ²⁸Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God.

Acts 13:26–33

²⁶“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. ²⁷For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. ²⁸And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised him from the dead, ³¹and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. ³²And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, ³³this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, “‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.’”

Luke 24:36–49

³⁶As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” ³⁷But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. ³⁸And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate before them.

      ⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Collect of the Day

Almighty God, through the resurrection of Your Son You have secured peace for our troubled consciences. Grant us this peace evermore that trusting in the merit of Your Son we may come at last to the perfect peace of heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

 

Readings for The Resurrection of Our Lord

 

Isaiah 25:6–9

        ⁶On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.  ⁷And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.  ⁸He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.  ⁹It will be said on that day,  “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.  This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

1 Corinthians 15:1–11

¹Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

      ³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Mark 16:1–8

¹When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.  ²And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.  ³And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”  ⁴And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large.  ⁵And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.  ⁶And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed.  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has risen; he is not here.  See the place where they laid him.  ⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.  There you will see him, just as he told you.”  ⁸And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Collect of the Day

Almighty God the Father, through Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, You have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by Your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.