Calvary Lutheran Church

The Only True Easter Story

May the light of faith in the Savior’s resurrection shine brightly in your hearts today and always. Hallelujah!

Mark 16:1-8

“The Only True Easter Story”

My dear worshipers of the resurrected Lord:

            The Easter story: After Jesus’ death on the cross and burial in the tomb, it was very early Sunday morning when some of the women who had been with Jesus started out for his tomb. They included Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. They carried spices to anoint Jesus’ body and, thereby, preserve it from decay just a bit longer.

            As they walked along together, they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” This was a problem, because they knew they weren’t strong enough. But they continued on anyway, figuring that they would think of something when they got there.

            But when they arrived they found Roman soldiers still standing guard in front of the tomb. So Mary went up to one of the guards who looked in charge and said, “We have come to anoint our dead loved one with spices, oh please, have your men remove the stone so we may enter and show our love for him one last time.”

            At first the guard said, “No, absolutely not, no one is to move this stone.” But when the women pleaded with him all the more he reluctantly agreed and said, “Oh, O.K., but make it quick. Here, you men, push this stone aside.” So four husky soldiers got behind the stone and strained to move it from its opening just a crack so the women could pass through.

            The women walked in slowly, looking for Jesus’ body. And then they spotted it. There it was, still wrapped in the linen clothes that Joseph of Arimathea had supplied. They all began to weep again. You know how it is when you see a loved one for the first time at the funeral home or the church after they have died. It’s hard. Well, this was their beloved Jesus.

            Then Mary Magdalene stepped forward and began to unwrap the clothes to expose his dead body. She breaks down again in tears and says, “I don’t know if I can do this.” But the others join in to help her. The body looked so scared and mangled. The wounds were so deep. Dried blood was everywhere, it even penetrated the burial clothes.

            They poured the spices on his body, and ever so gently rubbed the ointment in with their hands. First, his face that had showed so much love to them and others. Then his arms. When they got to his hands they saw the nail prints from the cross. Then his chest, they saw the deep spear wound in his side. Then his back, they didn’t realize how severe the flogging and rough wooden cross had penetrated to the spine. Then his legs. And finally his feet, more nail wounds. No one said a word. It was purely as act of love on their part, because no one was going to see the body anymore.

            Suddenly they are startled by a soldier shouting into the tomb. “Hurry up in there, we have to get this stone back in place.” So the women quickly finished the process. They replaced the linen clothes around the head and the body and walked out of the tomb. They were barely out of the tomb when the soldiers quickly push the stone back in its place. Mary said softly, “Thank you.” And the women left to go back home. They had fulfilled their final act of kindness. Now all that was left was to mourn his passing, which they did the rest of the day and the rest of their lives.

            You’re probably thinking to yourselves right now, “Wait a minute. That’s not the Easter story I know. That’s not what happened at all? Where did you come up with that story?” If that’s what really happened on Easter Sunday do you think I would be here today? Do you think I would be singing hymns of praise and victory and hope? If that’s what really happened on Easter Sunday do you think I would be a member of this church or, for that matter, even a Christian? What good is a dead Savior? What good would it be to believe and trust and follow a dead prophet. Then Jesus would be no different from Buddha or Confucius or Mohammed or Joseph Smith or David Koresh or anyone else who clamed to be an enlightened spokesmen of God and made exorbitant claims about themselves and the future, but who still lie dead in their graves. I rather have no hope than a false hope like that.”

            Well, that may be how you feel, but this Easter story that I just described is exactly what the vast majority of the people in the world today think about Jesus on this Easter Sunday. They scoff at the thought that Jesus ever left that tomb under his own power. They ridicule the idea that any kind of resurrection from the dead took place, after all, that just doesn’t happen. And they are not just those outside the church, I’m talking about many in the church, who call themselves “Christians,” who are sitting in church pews or preaching from church pulpits like these this morning.

            So what if Jesus had not actually risen from the dead? What would have to be the events that transpired for that to be true. First of all, Jesus’ followers, both the disciples and the women who numbered in the dozens, would have had to conspire together and say, “Jesus is dead, we know that, but let’s start the roomer that he rose from the dead?” It had to start with them, because no one else would have come up with such an idea, certainly not the Jews, certainly not his enemies or some strangers. It had to be started by his followers.

            But is that even remotely possible? Consider their situation. The women had come to the tomb only to anoint his body, they weren’t expecting or even hoping for a resurrection. And the disciples were hiding behind closed doors for fear that the Jews were looking to kill them next. The last thing they wanted to do was attract attention to themselves by claiming some resurrection by Jesus.

            And yet 50 days later on Pentecost Peter and the eleven stood in the streets of Jerusalem and announced, “God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him”(Acts 2:24). Where did this sudden burst of courage come from if it was all just made up?

            And it wasn’t just on Pentecost, but everyone of those disciples boldly proclaimed the resurrection of Christ Jesus from then on in spite of ridicule, persecution, and even death. Yes, every one of them, except John, was put to death for preaching the resurrection. How many people do you know who would be willing to die for a lie?

            O.K. let’s assume that they were so distraught by Jesus’ death that they all agreed to die like Jesus. Unlikely, but it could happen! Muslim extremists are willing to die for what they believe to be true in the future life. But let’s say it happened with the disciples in Jerusalem. They wanted to die like Jesus, so they preached the resurrection.

            Well, it is one thing to claim Jesus’ resurrection, it is another to get other people to believe it, especially those who were inclined not to believe it, as the Jews were. When Peter announced that Jesus had risen from the dead, all the Jews would have had to do was go to the tomb, exhume the body, point to it, and say here is your resurrected Jesus. That would have been the end of the Christian faith before it even got started.

            But that’s not what happened. Instead, the Bible says on Pentecost, 3,000 Jews were converted to believe in the resurrected Christ. In Acts 2, we read that “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” In Acts 4, “Many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about 5,000.” In Acts 6, “The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” In Acts 9, “The church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” The message was believed, why? Because the tomb was empty and the eye-witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection were many, and they were talking. No, the events following Easter Sunday of mass conversions simply do not support the dead-body-still-in-the tomb version of Easter.

            So how can anyone not believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus? If you ask liberal theologians today they will say that all the accounts of the Bible including the resurrection and the Acts of the Apostles were merely fabricated and written by over-enthusiastic followers of Jesus decades later and that’s how we got the New Testament. But it is all a myth to simply teach a lesson. The lesson of Jesus’ resurrection is to have hope even under the most dyer of circumstances.

            But if it is all just a myth, we would have to ask again, “Who would have believed them?” Who really believes in Greek mythology today? Who believes that the accounts of the Iliad and the Odyssey or Aesop’s Fables really occurred? Who today really believes that Elvis Presley is still alive. The roomers are there, but no thinking person actually believes them. Oh, a small following of fanatics may believe for a while, but they have no sustaining power.

            If Jesus had not risen from the dead and the accounts were made up decades later it means that Jesus was a fraud and a liar, because he said he would rise from the dead. If the resurrection falls then all of Christianity falls. That is why Paul wrote, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins” (I Corinthians 15:17).

            And yet 2,000 years later most of the two billion Christians around the world are celebrating his physical resurrection. Countless numbers of Christ’s followers assemble for worship the first day of every week to commemorate the resurrection and to confess that “on the third day he rose again from the dead.” The spread of the Christian Church throughout the world is a testimony of the truth of the resurrection and the power of the Spirit’s work in people’s hearts. Paul wrote in his letter to the Colossians, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth” (Colossians 1:6).

            Which brings up a final point. If Jesus never rose from the dead, and if the resurrection story had been made up, how is it that you believe it? How is it that Jesus is so real to you that you depend upon him for all your help for body and soul? How is it that you trust in him completely as your Savior from sin? How is it that when trials and troubles come your way they only drive you closer to the Lord? How can you be so confident that your body will rise from the dead and be in heaven for eternity? And how is it that this faith has remained with you from the time of your baptism, to now, and will remain to the time of your death? There is no explanation for your living, strong faith, other than the truth that the living, strong Lord Jesus himself is in your heart, assuring you of his presence.

            The greatest evidence for the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead is your Spirit-filled faith in that resurrection. This was Peter’s argument in his first epistle. He wrote, “Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through the faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:3-6).

            Let’s rejoice now in the true account of Easter. After Jesus’ death on the cross and burial in the tomb, it was very early Sunday morning when some of the women who had been with Jesus started out for his tomb. They included Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. They carried spices to anoint Jesus’ body and, thereby, preserve it from decay just a bit longer.

            As they walked along together they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?” This was a problem, because they knew they weren’t strong enough. But they continued on anyway, figuring that they will think of something when they got there. But when they arrived they found that the stone had already been rolled away, and not just a crack but completely removed from it slot, as though lifted and heaved aside. They were shocked at this. Who could do such a thing? No one else was in sight.

            They entered the tomb slowly and found no sign of Jesus’ dead body anywhere. Instead, they saw a young man very much alive and dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side of where he was laid, and they were alarmed because they perceived him to be an angel. The angel spoke, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.” They looked and saw only the linen cloth. “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled the tomb to tell the world. Later, Jesus appeared to Peter, to Mary, to the twelve, to more than 500 at one time, to James and all the apostles including Paul. For 40 days Jesus appeared alive to hundreds of witnesses. And Jesus said to all to whom he appeared, “Because I live, you will live also” (John 14:19).  

            That’s the Easter story. That’s what really happened. That explains the disciples’ courageous witnessing. That explains the two billion Christians in the world today. And that explains why you are here, why you believe, and why every Sunday is Easter Sunday to you. Yes, the light of faith in the resurrected Savior does shines brightly in your hearts today and always. Amen.

May we pray:

Precious Savior Jesus Christ, we thank and praise you that by your suffering on the cross you endured the very agony of hell for us, and that by your death you have reconciled us to God. But on this day we espeically thank and praise you for your resurrection from the dead, for it proves that you are God's Son and seals your sacrifice as the full payment for our sins. O Jesus, may we never cease to praise you with our hearts and lips for all that you have so graciously done for our salvation. As you were raised up and glorified in your body, raise us up by the Spirit from spiritual deadness to trust you with all our hearts and to serve you in godliness all our days. All this we ask to the glory of your name, O triumphant Christ, who lives and reigns forever. Amen.