The Joy of Easter
Matthew 28:1-10
A busload of politicians were driving down a country road when, all of a sudden, their bus ran off the road and crashed into a tree in an farmer’s field. The old farmer, after seeing what had happened, proceeded to dig a hole and bury the politicians. A few days later, the local sheriff came out to investigate. When he saw the crashed bus, he asked the old farmer where all the politicians had gone. The old farmer said he had buried them. The sheriff asked the old farmer, “Were they ALL dead?” The old farmer replied, “Well, some of them said they weren’t, but you know how them politicians lie.”
Thankfully, dear friends, that’s not the way it is with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His Resurrection is not a lie, but an absolute fact. For although He truly was dead, now He is truly alive again forevermore. And that is the Joy of Easter – that because He lives, we too shall live. Yet, on that very first Easter morning, there was very little joy or gladness. For on that dawn of the first day of the week, as the women headed for the tomb, even though the sun was starting to rise, their hearts were still shrouded in darkness. More to the point, even though the Son of God had already risen, they were still filled with gloom and sadness. After all, as our text says, they were going to look at the tomb. In other words, their eyes and their thoughts were focused on nothing but death, decay, and despair.
“Oh ye of little faith,” we scold them. But are we really any different? Aren’t we also people of little faith? For instance, a friend gets sick or we lose our job, or our children are in trouble. So, we pray for God’s help. But when things don’t immediately get better, we often stop praying. We give up, because we figure God has given up. That’s hardly what you would call undying faith. At other times we look for the worst in situations rather than the best. Instead of relying on God to turn evil into good, we get angry and frustrated and turn away in doubt. It’s very much like the situation in our text. St. Matthew tells us that many of the disciples, even after they heard the Easter story, still had doubts. It’s a word the means: ‘double-minded,’ trying to stand between two conflicting opinions. In this case, it means trying to trust in God and at the same time put our hopes and dreams in the ways of the world. And when we do that, we always wind up being disappointed. Like the women in our text, we act like people of little faith. Instead of basking in the joy of Easter, we fall down into the gloom and sadness of despair.
What, then, is God’s response to our sinful doubts and fears? Perhaps we can take a cue from the lady, who was driving her old beat up car on the Highway with her 7 year old son. She tried to keep up with traffic but they were flying by her. After getting caught in a large group of cars flying down the road, she looked at her speedometer to see she was doing 15 miles over the speed limit. Slowing down, she moved over to the side and got out of the clump that soon left her behind. Just then she noticed the flashing lights of a police car. She waited for the officer to come up to her car. As he did he said, “Ma’am do you know why I pulled you over?” Her son piped up from the back seat, “I do – because you couldn’t catch the other cars!”
In view of our damnable sins, God doesn’t just let us off the hook, because He can’t catch us. Quite the opposite, He could throw the book at us. But in His merciful kindness, He does not do that. Instead, He lets us off the hook for a different reason – for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ, and His death and resurrection, which sets us free. That’s the response that the women received, when they got to Jesus’ tomb. They did not get a stern rebuke. Instead, they received this gentle reassurance from the angel: “DO NOT BE AFRAID.”
What a wonderful word of Gosepl: “Do not be afraid!” It reminds us of the words of King David in the beloved 23rd Psalm: “YEA, THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I WILL FEAR NO EVIL FOR THOU ART WITH ME!” The angel was telling the women that Jesus their Redeemer and Friend was not dead and gone. Instead, He had risen from the dead and come back to be with them, so that they would fear no evil. By conquering death, He proved that He would lead them through that dark, shadowed valley into the light of His undying love. In effect, what the angel said the women at the empty tomb is the same thing that Jesus says to you and me today: “Do not be afraid! Don’t be afraid of God’s wrath and anger. Don’t be afraid of the consequences of your sin. Don’t be afraid of death hell, for I have obliterated them all by My victorious Resurrection!”
After all, that’s why the angel rolled the stone away from the grave. Not to let Jesus out – but to let the women in, so they could see the miracle of His resurrection. You see, in a way that stone is like our sin, our lack of faith. It’s a barrier that locks us out of God’s kingdom and keeps us away from His love. But the joy of Easter is that when Jesus rose again, He rolled our sin away. He removed the barrier, so that now we can come inside His kingdom and see His love, see His resurrection power to destroy our guilt. Not only that, but when the stone was rolled away, the angel threw it down and sat upon it. That too is a symbol of Jesus’ triumph. He has overthrown our enemies – sin, death and hell – and sat down upon them. They are now His footstool, so that they cannot hurt or harm us anymore. That is the joy of Easter that removes our doubts and fears!
No wonder, then, that when the women left the tomb and Jesus greeted them, what He actually said to them was: “REJOICE!” It’s a verb that means: ‘to be glad, to take delight in something.’ He was encouraging them to be glad in their salvation and to take delight in Him. In Greek, it’s the normal word used for welcoming someone or bidding them farewell. And in that latter sense, it can also mean: ‘to dismiss something from your mind.’ Truly that epitomizes the Joy of Jesus’ Resurrection, for He has dismissed from our hearts and minds all our doubts and fears, brought on by sin and death. He now welcomes us into His kingdom, because He has bid farewell to all our guilt and shame.
That’s why He took such great pains to let the disciples know that He had risen. As a matter of fact, it’s amazing that He would still call them disciples, for they had forfeited their right to discipleship by their faithless behavior. Yet, Jesus’ Resurrection proves that He is the Great Forgiver, who wanted to reassure them and us of His pardoning love. That’s why in our text, Jesus went so far as to call them His brothers. What a wonderful word of absolution and grace. As the Bible commentator William Henriksen puts it: “‘My brothers,’ not ‘those habitual quarrelers, those men who promised to remain loyal to me no matter what would happen, but who when the crisis arrived left me and fled; those men who, with one exception, were not even present at Calvary when I was laying down my life for them.’ None of that. Instead, ‘my brothers,’ those whom I acknowledge as members of my family, those who share the inheritance with me, those whom I love.”
My friends, that is the same word of absolution and grace that He speaks to us every time we read His Holy Word, every time we turn to the comfort of our Baptism, every time we nourish our souls with His body and blood in the Sacrament. He calls us His forgiven brothers and pardons us of all our faithless behavior. And that is the joy of Easter!
Before the Communists seized control of Russia, it had been a long-established custom for relatives and friends to exchange verbal Easter greetings. An unnamed priest once availed himself of this usage to win a debate. It was at the time when Lunatscharsky, the Bolshevik commissar for popular education, delivered a public lecture in a large Moscow auditorium. He said that the Christian religion was now completely overthrown and that the Bible could be easily disproved. He felt so sure of himself that he challenged anyone in the audience to find a flaw in what he had just presented. A young priest came forward, turned to the audience, and said, “Brethren, Christos woskresse,” which means, “Christ is risen!” With one accord the vast audience cried out, “Woistinu woskresse,” which means, “He is risen indeed!” With that the priest sat down and said: “I have finished; there is nothing more to say.” Amazingly enough, the meeting was closed at once. In the end, Lunatscharsky’s eloquence and flowery language had availed him nothing.
Truly there is nothing more to say. “Christ is Risen” is the answer to all our sins and doubts and fears. It silences the foe and the avenger and puts him in his place. Above all, it conquers death and hell and gives us new life! May that Joy of Easter so fill our hearts and souls that, like the women in our text, we too would depart from the empty tomb and run quickly to report what we have seen and heard, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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04/07/2005