The testimony about Christ in the writings of Moses

Posted on May 4, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Midweek of Easter 2

John 5:31-47

In the lesson this evening from St. John’s Gospel, Jesus rebukes the Jews for not believing in Him. And why should they have believed? Not because of what Jesus said about Himself, but because of the testimony that others had given about Him. John the Baptist was one of those witnesses. But there was a much more important one. God the Father Himself had testified about Jesus. Not audibly or visibly, but in the Holy Scriptures, specifically, the Scriptures written by Moses. If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?

We’ve considered recently some Old Testament prophecies about the Christ’s death and resurrection. Let’s take a moment this evening to consider the Father’s testimony about His Son in the Torah, in the writings of Moses—testimony which people reject at their own peril.

The Book of Genesis begins with the Creation, with the power of God’s Word to create all things and to manipulate the things He created. What else is it to change water into wine but a divine act of creation? To walk on water? To calm a storm? To speak healing to human bodies that were previously diseased? What else is it to raise people to life from the dead but to do the work of God?

Adam and Eve fell into sin, and Jesus agreed with Moses that the human race has been fallen ever since. But Moses also wrote of the Seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head. What else is it to drive out demons but to show that one has power over the serpent? Isn’t it God’s own testimony that this is the Man in whom mankind was to believe?

Moses went on to write about the depravity of the human race at the time of Cain and up to the days of Noah. He shows that mankind is hopeless and lost unless God Himself steps in to save by His grace. What else was the preaching of Jesus but man’s depravity and God’s desire to save by His grace?

Moses wrote about God’s gracious selection of Abraham and his family, the miraculous birth of Isaac, God’s promise to bless all nations through Abraham’s Seed, and about Abraham being justified before he was ever circumcised, not by works, but by faith in God’s promise. Well, Jesus was a Son of Abraham. And what else did He preach but to trust in the Lord God for justification, and not in one’s own works or circumcision?

Moses wrote about Isaac, Jacob, and Judah, and how the Messiah would come from them, too, and Jesus was their descendant. He also recorded Jacob’s prophecy that the scepter wouldn’t depart from Israel until the true King and Messiah should come, and it was just prior to Jesus’ birth that the scepter had departed from Israel, God’s testimony to them that the Messiah’s coming was imminent.

Moses wrote about Israel’s slavery in Egypt, and Jesus preached about the people’s ongoing slavery to sin. Moses wrote that you can’t deliver yourselves from slavery. God alone must deliver you. He must raise up a Deliverer. Redemption is God’s work alone. If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!

Moses wrote about the Passover and the Passover Lamb. What else is Jesus but the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?

Moses wrote about Israel’s thirst in the wilderness, and how God had to provide it through Moses, His servant. So Jesus taught that God must provide the living water you need for your thirsty soul. It must come from God, through His servant, the Christ.

Moses wrote about Israel’s hunger in the wilderness, and how God had to provide bread from heaven. So Jesus taught that God alone could satisfy their hungry souls with His righteousness, with the true Bread that came down from heaven, the bread of life, Jesus Christ.

Moses wrote down God’s commandments. He explained sin and atonement through blood-sacrifice. He taught about man’s uncleanness and about God’s holiness and man’s dire need for holiness to be able to stand before God. He taught about the priesthood and the need for an Intercessor, for a High Priest, chosen by God, who could be the mediator between God and Man. Then along comes Jesus, the Holy One, who convicts all people of sin. But He also presents Himself as the once-for-all, all-atoning Sacrifice, whose blood cleanses the unclean, who is the great High Priest and the one Mediator between God and Man.

Moses wrote about Israel’s idolatry and warned them that they would die in it, if they refused to repent. So Jesus also warned the Jews about their idolatry of money and their idolatry of themselves, and warned them of their coming destruction.

Moses wrote about the bronze serpent, lifted up on the pole. That was a testimony of God to how the world could be saved, by looking to Jesus in faith.

Moses wrote about the future conquest of Canaan, and so he testified that God alone must give you victory over your enemies, over sin, death, and the devil, even as Jesus gave sinners that victory through the forgiveness of sins, through His eventual death and resurrection, and by conquering the devil through them.

Finally, Moses wrote about the Promised Land, how it was God’s free gift to an undeserving people, because of the covenant He made with Abraham. So Jesus proclaimed the first covenant fulfilled and a new covenant in place, the gift of the heavenly Promised Land and of eternal life to all who believe.

As Moses wrote, The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brothers. You must listen to Him! That Prophet was Jesus, witnessed by Moses, witnessed by God the Father through Moses and through Jesus’ words and works, which were all just the things Moses had testified about and portrayed in his writings. If you truly believe Moses, you will also believe that Jesus is the Christ, and you will put all your faith and trust in Him! Do it now! Do it continually, so that on the Last Day you are not counted among those who saw and heard God’s testimony about His Son, and yet ended up calling Him a liar. May God preserve us from such an end! Amen.

 

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Following the Good Shepherd

Posted on May 1, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Misericordias Domini – Easter 2

1 Peter 2:21-25  +  John 10:11-16

It was 15 years ago last week that I preached my very first sermon here at Emmanuel, as your called shepherd, also on John chapter 10 and the Good Shepherd. And ever since, it has been my greatest desire and aim never to make the sermon, or anything in the church, about me, but always and only about Christ, the Good Shepherd.

How is Christ a good Shepherd? He’s a good Shepherd in many ways. He cares for His sheep and His lambs, for each and every baptized believer in His Holy Christian Church. He feeds His sheep—feeds us with His Word and Sacrament, forgives our sins, strengthens our faith and guards us from that easy slide into unbelief, into viewing life as the rest of the world views it, from an earthly perspective instead of from a heavenly one. He also leads His sheep—leads us by His Spirit and by His Word, teaching us so that we know what is right and wrong, and learn to choose the right and avoid the wrong as He empowers and encourages us by His Holy Spirit. And, like a shepherd, the Good Shepherd goes searching for the lost sheep, for the ones who stray from His Word and Sacrament and blunder into sin and impenitence, sending out His ministers to find them, accompanying them as they do, and then rejoicing when the lost are found and returned to the flock. These are tender, sweet images of Jesus, our Good Shepherd.

But the image in today’s Gospel is a bloodier one than that. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Christ laid down His life for us. Suffered for us. Died for us. Stood between the wolf and the sheep and allowed Himself to be devoured, so that we might live.

Why? Who or what was the wolf that was prowling around, ready to pounce on us? The wolf here is a symbol of danger. We were in danger because of our own sins against God, because of our own selfishness, our own disobedience to God’s commandments, our misplaced trust in ourselves, our idolatry, our pride. Our sins meant death for us. They’re the reason why we die in the first place, and suffer every other evil and misfortune here on this earth. And our sins gave the devil power over us, to accuse us before God and to drag us away to hell. In the end, God’s own righteous anger over our sins is what would have allowed the devil to have us and death to take us and hell to torment us forever.

But then the Good Shepherd intervened—intervened by God the Father’s own will and design—to suffer the death we had earned for ourselves, in order to share His righteousness and His life with us, in order to Shepherd us here on earth and there in the life that awaits after this life. He laid down His life, knowing that it would be enough—enough to save anyone and everyone who believes in Him, who takes refuge in Him, who claims Him and Him alone before God the Father as the reason why He should forgive us and accept us and welcome us into eternal life, not because we’re such good people, but only because of Christ and His works for us.

Now, in this Gospel, Jesus also contrasts Himself with the hireling who is unwilling to suffer for the sheep. The hireling is in it for himself, to get paid. If it’s a question of him suffering or the sheep suffering, he’ll choose the sheep suffering. He’ll run away when the danger approaches.

So any number of men who called themselves prophets in the Old Testament preached what the people wanted to hear in order to build themselves up. Those who told them what they needed to hear, the earnest warnings from God to repent and believe in Him—they were usually hated and rejected. So, few were willing to suffer in that way.

Even the apostle Peter once fell into that trap. Instead of standing up against the men who came to Antioch from Jerusalem trying to force the Christians to live, not according to God’s Word, but according to human traditions and beliefs, Peter, seeking to avoid conflict and shame for himself, gave in to the human traditions being imposed by those men until the apostle Paul stood up and warned him and the other believers and turned their eyes back to Christ, who was crucified so that we might be free from the slavery of sin and from the slavery of trying to save ourselves by our works and from the slavery of manmade traditions, as if man had the right to regulate the things that God has left free.

In today’s Epistle, that same apostle Peter, having been restored to the truth of Christ and the freedom of the Gospel, calls on all Christians to imitate Christ specifically in doing good and in being willing to suffer for doing good. To this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in his steps. We can’t follow the example of Christ in suffering for sins. His suffering for sins was the only payment for sins, the only atonement for sins that God accepts. We can’t pay for anyone’s sins before God, including our own. But still, St. Peter calls on us all in today’s Epistle to follow the example of Christ in suffering patiently, suffering for doing good. No deceit was found in His mouth. And so, as His people, no deceit should be found in your mouth, either. No twisting of the truth. No hiding of the truth.

Oh, and you could avoid much suffering in this world if you just allow deceit to come out of your mouth, or if you just remain silent when you know it would help your neighbor more for you to speak. It’s tempting to keep quiet, tempting to go along with the crowd, tempting to avoid having to suffer. But if you would be sheep who follow the Good Shepherd, then you must follow Him in this way, too.

Is He worth following? Is He worth suffering for? What does Peter say about Him? He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, should live for righteousness. By his wounds you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray. But you have now been brought back to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

So, yes, the Good Shepherd is worth following, worth suffering for, precisely because He is good, because He laid down His life for us and gives us healing by His wounds, the healing of the forgiveness of sins, peace with God, the adoption of sons, and the gift of eternal life. That’s what a good shepherd does.

Somewhat ironically, given recent events, the word Overseer that Peter uses here in the Epistle is the word that’s also translated as “bishop.” Christ is your true Shepherd and Overseer or Bishop. Nothing can change that. But He Himself has appointed shepherds and overseers in His Church to shepherd and to oversee on His behalf. Your shepherd and overseer under Christ is the one whom you called 15 years ago in the name of Christ to do this task, your “pastor” or “shepherd.” And he is called to do it after the example of Christ, in word and deed, and in suffering—called to do it, not as a lord of all, but as a servant of all; not as one who can demand obedience to his own word, but who points you always to God’s Word; not as a hireling, but as one who cares for the sheep entrusted to his care with all the love and compassion of Christ.

What a task we’ve all been given, as sheep of the Good Shepherd and as a pastor under the Good Shepherd! Who is up to it? None of us, on our own. But as Christ feeds and strengthens us by His Word and Sacraments, as He leads us and guards us by His Spirit and by His Word, He will make us up to the task of living as sheep in His fold, until He brings us safely into His heavenly pastures. May God grant it, for Jesus’ sake! Amen.

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The Word gives the power to believe

Posted on April 24, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Easter 1 – Quasimodogeniti

1 John 5:4-10  +  John 20:19-31

As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty…If Christ is not risen, then your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, then we are the most pitiable of all men.

“Pitiable” sort of summarizes the state of the Eleven apostles on Easter Sunday afternoon. They had heard from the women about the empty tomb. Some of them had seen it with their own eyes. John, we’re told, believed when he saw it. But the rest—no, that strained credulity too far. They were pitiable, huddled together in that upper room in fear of the Jews. If they could manage to get Jesus killed, famous as He was, powerful as He was, what hope did they have? No, they had no time to think about this supposed resurrection of Jesus. They were too busy worrying, too busy being afraid of the Jews, afraid of earthly trouble and danger. Afraid of death. Those same fears plague our entire race. And there’s another fear, too, that should plague our race, but most people don’t give it any thought anymore. People should be afraid of the devil, and afraid of the God who has the power to destroy both body and soul in hell, especially if Christ is not risen, because then there is no hope for sinners. You are still in your sins, Paul says.

But Jesus the Christ is risen from the dead. And He showed Himself openly to His disciples for the first time on that Easter Sunday evening, in the upper room where they were hiding. When they saw Him alive after being crucified, dead, and buried, they believed in Him again, and they rejoiced.

And they had good reason to rejoice. Peace be with you, Jesus said to them. They surely didn’t have time, right at that moment, to contemplate all that that greeting entails. But we can! They had stumbled on Maundy Thursday night. They had kept stumbling through the weekend and were stumbling still by not believing the women’s report. They were sinners and lawbreakers and men who did not deserve to sit at the table with Jesus in His heavenly kingdom. But He spoke peace to them.

He spoke it to you just this morning, too, through the one whom He has sent. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. As the Father had sent Jesus, so He sent His apostles. And the Christian Church founded upon those apostles has been sending men ever since, in the name of Jesus, to speak the Word of Jesus, to speak the peace of Jesus. Peace with God. Peace, and not war. Peace in the forgiveness of sins which He won for all people on the cross and which He now pronounces upon all who repent and believe in Him.

Only He pronounces it through His Holy Spirit, that is, through the ministry of the Word. As my Father has sent me, so I also send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. With the authority of Jesus, ministers who have been called by God, through the Church, actually forgive sins to the penitent. How do you know that a minister’s forgiveness is God’s forgiveness? Because Jesus said so.

This is, by the way, why ordination is so important—that public rite by which a man is set apart for the office of the ministry. It serves as a public testimony by the Church that the man who is being installed as a pastor has the authority that Christ gave to His apostles. It’s the Church’s testimony that this man’s forgiveness (pronounced in God’s name and according to God’s command) is God’s forgiveness, and his retaining of sins is God’s retaining. And you are to believe it, just as firmly as you believe that Christ is risen from the dead. Because the same apostles who were witnesses of Christ’s resurrection are witnesses of His Word granting this authority to the Church.

But what if someone will not believe the Word recorded by the Apostles and pronounced by the minister?

Well, Thomas wouldn’t believe, either—wouldn’t believe until he saw, until he touched the body of Jesus with his hands. If he couldn’t do that, then the resurrection of Jesus wouldn’t be real, in his mind. It would just be a fable, a tall tale, the wishful thinking of pitiable men.

But then Jesus appeared again, a week later, and allowed Thomas to see Him and to touch Him. And then He spoke powerful words, Spirit-filled words, words that are able to cut through all the unbelief of man: Do not be unbelieving any longer, but believing. And then, Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.

How is it possible? If it took a visible, tangible proof for even the apostles to believe, how can anyone possibly believe in the risen Christ without seeing—believe that He did truly rise from the dead, that He is the Christ, the Son of God, that He truly made atonement for all our sins and now truly forgives all who look to Him in faith through the mouth of a humble preacher?

It’s very simple. St. John tells us plainly: These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, by believing, you may have life in his name.

But it’s just writing. It’s just a book, this “Bible thing.” And people will tell you, it’s just like any other book, a work of fiction, not dependable, not reliable, and certainly not true. In fact, what is truth?, as Pilate famously asked. But you know better. You know that the Scriptures of the prophets and apostles are true, that is, they agree with reality. And how do you know that? Because these words have power. Divine power. The Spirit’s power, the Father’s drawing, pushing, prodding, coaxing you to do what otherwise would be impossible, to believe in that Man who lived so long ago, who lived and died, and who was witnessed as risen from the dead, that Man whom you have never met in person, but whose word and reputation are so convincing that millions have believed, based only on the things that were written by John and the other apostles and prophets, and preached by their successors, and passed on by countless Christians, parents to children, children to parents, friends to friends, strangers to strangers, and so on and on and on.

Believe in that Man. Put all your hope in that Man. Because one day you will see Him, too, just as Thomas did. All men will see Him. And all who have believed, all who have been born of God, who have already been victorious over the world by faith, will sit down with that Man, Jesus Christ, at a feast that will never end. Amen.

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Faith founded on Scripture

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for the Week of Easter

Acts 10:34-41  +  Luke 24:13-35

The account you heard this evening about the disciples on the road to Emmaus is the reason why we reviewed all those Old Testament prophecies last week. It’s important to know the events of Holy Week. In fact, it’s vital for us to know them. But it’s just as important to know the Word of God that prophesied those events ahead of time. Because that’s how the Holy Spirit works faith in a person’s heart, not by seeing the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, but by hearing the Spirit-inspired words pointing to the crucified and risen Lord Jesus. Faith has to be founded on Holy Scripture.

Who were the two disciples walking toward Emmaus? One is called Cleopas. They weren’t among the Twelve apostles, but they were obviously disciples of Jesus. They had witnessed all the events of Holy Week, and then their hopes that Jesus might be the Christ were dashed when He died. Even the reports of the women and of the empty tomb weren’t enough to give them hope.

Why did Jesus not allow them to recognize Him as He walked with them? Why did He “restrain their eyes”? Because the kind of faith they would need for the rest of their life doesn’t come from seeing. It comes from hearing.

And so Jesus walked through the Old Testament with them, making the connections between prophecy and fulfillment, even as we did last week. Using the Holy Scriptures, Jesus swept out the debris in their hearts, the debris of misinterpretation that plagued the people of Israel, the notions that the Christ would appear glorious at His coming, that He would restore an earthly kingdom to Israel, that He would take up the throne of His kingdom without suffering, without dying, and without rising from the dead. As they walked, they began to see the truth, that the Christ had to come and suffer for sin, that He was to be like the Passover lamb, and like all the Old Testament sacrifices, shedding His innocent blood in order to keep safe all who believe in Him. He had to be lifted up on a cross, like the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up in the desert, so that all who look to Him in faith are saved from the serpent’s venom. He had to be like the tabernacle and the temple, God’s dwelling place on earth. And the temple of His body had to be destroyed and rebuilt in three days.

The hearts of those two disciples burned within them as they listened to the Word of God that Jesus spoke, and only then, after their faith was kindled by the Holy Spirit through the Holy Scriptures, only then did Jesus reveal Himself to them and allow them to recognize Him. He didn’t first show them visible proof of His resurrection. He first led them to faith through the Word. Then He allowed them to see.

And so it is with us, too. We haven’t seen Jesus. But He has sent His Gospel out into the world, and His Holy Spirit has caused our hearts to burn as He shows us that all of Scripture, in fact, all of history was pointing to the cross and to the empty tomb of the Christ. That’s the message that brought us to faith, and it’s the same message and the same preaching of Law and Gospel that will bring others to faith. No programs, no activities, no youth groups, no amount of fun and entertainment will bring a single soul to trust in Jesus for salvation. Only the Scriptures. Only the Word of God. Only the preaching that centers on Christ, and on Him crucified. And risen! In accordance with the Holy Scriptures.

And if the Scriptures were telling the truth about the Christ’s death and resurrection, then you can be sure they are also telling the truth about Christ reigning at the right hand of the Father, and about His constant care for His Holy Christian Church and for every single baptized believer.

So even though you don’t see Jesus, listen to the Scriptures! Listen to the Word of God! And your faith will grow! And then, if you know someone who doesn’t know the risen Lord Jesus, don’t try to convince them with arguments and proofs. Use the Scriptures. It’s the Holy Spirit’s only tool for bringing people to faith. And if we come to know Christ through the Scriptures, then He will surely abide with us here on earth by His Spirit, until we see Him in person, with our own eyes, when He comes again. Amen.

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Prophecies fulfilled, Easter Sunday

Posted on April 17, 2022 by Rev. Paul Rydecki
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Sermon for Easter Sunday

1 Corinthians 5:6-8  +  Mark 16:1-8

Just as Good Friday was a unique day in the history of the world, so today is also unique. Easter Sunday marks the first permanent defeat of death, when a Man who died actually rose from the dead, not to live out the rest of His earthly life only to die again, but to live forever, with a glorified body, no longer subject to death, making Him truly the Lord of life and the Ruler over death.

And, as with Christ’s suffering, death, burial, and descent into hell, this day was also prophesied ahead of time in Holy Scripture, as we just said in the Nicene Creed, “He rose from the dead according to the Scriptures.” Spend a moment with me reviewing some of those prophecies and let your hearts burn within you as did the hearts of Jesus’ disciples as He led them to see the connection between prophecy and fulfillment.

The prophecy of Christ’s resurrection most cited by the apostles after His resurrection was from Psalm 16: I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in hell, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. King David wasn’t writing about himself, as the apostles pointed out, because David’s tomb was still in Jerusalem, where his body still lay, thoroughly corrupted and decayed. No, he was writing about his greater Son, his Offspring, the Christ, whose body would not be left by God to rot in a tomb.

Another prophecy from Psalm 22: I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted One; Nor has He hidden His face from Him; But when He cried to Him, He heard. We saw on Good Friday how this Psalm painted the picture of Christ’s crucifixion and death. But even after His suffering and death, Christ, the afflicted One, would be heard and helped by His Father. Yes, the Father let His Son be afflicted and die for our sins, but there would still be help for Him, because He wouldn’t remain dead.

Isaiah 53: Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief. If he makes his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring, he will prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD will prosper in his hand. From the labor of his soul, he will see and be satisfied. By knowledge of him my righteous servant will justify many; for he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he will divide the spoil with the strong. Because he poured out his soul to death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. Yes, Christ was numbered with the transgressors. He was crucified right alongside two criminals. He made His soul an offering for the sins of the world. But then, after the Christ gives up His life, Isaiah says that He will see His offspring. God will prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. After bearing their iniquities, after suffering and dying for the sins of mankind, the Christ would live again to continue to do the Lord’s will, to spread the Gospel. To build His Church, against which the gates of hell will not prevail. None of that could He do if He were to remain dead.

The simple prophecy about the Christ from Psalm 110 also proves that He had to rise from the dead. The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! How could the Son of David rule in the midst of His enemies if He remained dead, having been put to death by His enemies? How could He reign at the Father’s right hand? How could His enemies be made His footstool if their Good Friday victory hadn’t been erased by Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday?

Or there’s the prophecy from Isaiah 49:6:  Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” If God’s Servant had remained dead, if the light of life had been snuffed out for good, then the Christ couldn’t be a Light to the Gentiles, couldn’t be the Lord’s salvation to the ends of the earth. Only by rising from the dead could He continue to shine His light throughout the world in the preaching of the Gospel to bring both Jews and Gentiles into His Holy Christian Church.

But if we want to see that the Scriptures always foretold the resurrection of the Christ, there’s really no need to go any farther than the first book of the Bible. In Genesis 3:15, God says to the devil: I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel. The Seed of the woman, that special offspring of Eve and of Mary would have His heel bruised or stricken by the devil. He would suffer. He would even die. But the only way for the Christ to bruise or crush the serpent’s head—to destroy the devil’s power over the sinful human race—is by not remaining dead.

And so the Easter morning story unfolds, with the faithful, believing women, our dear sisters in the faith, making their way early in the morning to Jesus’ tomb, near the hill of Calvary, where He was crucified. They go, not expecting to find Him alive, but to find Him dead, because they don’t yet understand the prophecies. But they arrive to find the stone rolled away from the entrance, and an angel sitting where Jesus’ body had been. He’s the first to announce the good news: Do not be afraid. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen; he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him.

And then the angel reminds them of what may be the greatest prophecy of all: Go and tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you. How many times had Jesus’ told His disciples that He would rise from the dead on the third day? But, they thought, surely no one, not even Jesus, could do such a thing, could raise Himself from the dead. He must be speaking in riddles. He must mean something else.

No, He said what He meant, and He did what He said. Christ, our Passover, has been slain. But He took up His life again.

Now, what does that mean for you?

For the unbeliever, it means you won’t get away with your sin forever. Because, just as the Scriptures prophesied the death and resurrection of the Christ, so they also prophesy a day of judgment on which Jesus Himself will judge those who despised His Word and His sacrifice. But the good news is, there is still time! There is still today to repent of your sins and put your hope in this divine Man who died and rose again. It’s the very reason He came, that sinners should have a Substitute who would pay for their sins with His death, so that they can now have their sins forgiven by God and live forever by trusting in Him.

For the believer, you know what Christ’s resurrection means. It means He is a mighty Savior, a worthy Redeemer, worthy of your trust, worthy of your obedience. Our Lord Jesus is called the firstborn from among the dead and the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. He was the first to conquer death, but He won’t be the last. For all who believe in Him will also rise again to eternal life. Sickness? Disease? Death? What are they? They have no power, not really, not anymore. Hardship? Persecution? Injustice? These are only temporary things. You have a living Savior who now reigns at the Father’s right hand on your behalf, for your benefit. He has made you part of His body through Holy Baptism and faith. He has marked you as His own. And He will come for each believer, when it is time, first to guard the soul as the body sleeps in the grave, and then to raise the body, too. And then the great prophecy of Job will be fulfilled, not only for him, but for every believer: For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

Christ is arisen! He is risen indeed! A blessed and happy Easter to all of you, in the name of the living Lord Jesus. Amen.

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