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Christ is risen! Alleluia indeed. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text for this morning comes from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the epistle reading. You may be seated.
Now that greeting and that response, “Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia,” is not a new one. It’s not even a few hundred years old. Brothers and sisters, that’s the way Christians have been greeting one another on this most holy day for nearly two millennia. And today of all days, all around the world, in all different languages, are Christians greeting one another with such a proclamation of hope. And of all days, especially in the country of Egypt, our brothers and sisters in Christ are celebrating, saying these words knowing that the dead bodies that they just buried last week from the bombing shall rise again.
This eternal truth that was accomplished for us 2,000 years ago has great and profound implications on your life as you live it out in this world for the life to come. Jesus is here in both body and spirit. And that is not a reasonable assertion. It is a mystery of truth. This resurrection is not an abstract concept. It is a mystery of truth. This resurrection isn’t just a good bunny story or a good egg story. This resurrection isn’t a tradition. It is what shapes your life as a baptized child of God. It makes a profound difference.
I’m going to read it to you, but there are very few Christians who practice it regularly. Corinth is a lot like Austin— a lot of different languages, a lot of different kinds of people, and still very few who practice the Christian faith. But Paul is reminding this congregation in Corinth, and I am reminding you of this Gospel. So brothers and sisters, as your pastor, I am doing the same to you. I am reminding you of this gospel of Jesus Christ, His death and His resurrection. That’s the mystery made known to you this day.
Paul says, this truth is what you have already received. You received it if you grew up in the church at your father and mother’s knees, or by those faithful aged Sunday school teachers, or by those parochial teachers, or by that loving grandmother or grandfather, or aunt or uncle. You receive this, and this is the truth in which you stand and you will die in. By God’s grace, this is the truth, as Paul said, by which you are being saved.
Therefore, I exhort you, as Paul did to the Corinthians. His words were, “hold fast to this word that I’m preaching to you today.” The first thing that Paul says right out of the chute is the most obvious: Christ died for our sins. And then he adds, “according to the Scriptures.” In other words, His death was not something that happened out of nowhere. The prophets of the Old and the apostles of the New wrote about it, proclaimed it, and Jesus fulfilled it.
The writer to the Hebrews wrote this about Jesus’ sacrifice: Just as Jesus said, “without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins.” The second thing that Paul proclaims is that this Christ was buried, and this Christ was raised for you on the third day, just as he said, in accordance with the Scriptures.
What was proclaimed to you today? Did God proclaim and finish in Jesus? And do you want to know Jesus’ words regarding this very important third-day thing? Listen. Jesus said this: “For just as Jonah…” It says, bodily, not in a spirit form, but bodily, corporally in a body that you could touch, smell, feel, hear, and see.
To Cephas or Peter, Christ appeared bodily. To the twelve apostles in the upper room, Christ appeared bodily. To more than 500, Christ appeared bodily. To James, the half-brother of Jesus, the first bishop of Jerusalem, Christ appeared bodily. Christ appeared bodily to all of the apostles, and Paul makes it clear, Christ appeared bodily to him, the persecutor of the Christian faith, in accordance with the Scriptures, just as he said.
And what did he say? He said to Thomas in the upper room, “put your finger here. See my hands. Put out your hand and place it into my side.” I have a body, in other words. This is the kind of body with which you shall be raised. There will be no harps. There will be no wings. There will be no little clouds. You will have a body, and you will walk on the brand-new Garden of Eden, and you will see your loved ones, and you will hold your loved ones, and you will hear their voice.
That’s the mystery. And that’s the mystery that has bold implications for you in this life as you live out this faith. All of this was done for you today. Your day. The victory day. The triumphant day. And though the world may think we are the most weenie religion in the world, let them think it. You know different. And you’re going to die in that difference. And it’s going to be taught to your babies and your grandbabies. And you’re going to tell it to other people because this mystery makes a difference in your life now as you live it out. Because you have a future. And it’s a sure future. And this future is a concrete, eternal, physical body.
But Paul made it very clear that this gift that’s been given to you, this gift didn’t come to you by a special, specific pastor. No matter how many good memories you may have, he’s only a tool. And this gift didn’t come to you because of your great and loving godly parents, because there are a lot of kids out there who are in the church whose parents never brought them. And this did not come to you because you were born into a godly family, long-time Christian, because there are a lot of families who are not seeing their loved ones with them this day because they’ve walked away from this faith of the family.
Paul made it very clear, this came to you by the grace of God. And in fact, Paul says very clearly, “it’s by the grace of God I am what I am.” Not because of my lineage, not because of my ethnicity, not because of the family in which I was born, but because of the grace of God. It’s the same for you. By the grace of God, you are what you are.
But you know what? You and I come to terms on a regular basis, sometimes daily, sometimes not so much, but you and I come to terms with the lack of life in our body. I’m a type 1 diabetic, and I live my life looking at a box attached to my side, watching my blood glucose numbers, wanting to make sure I don’t eat the certain things I ought not and eat the right things and adjusting it, having to follow up with something. So every day in my life, I see death reigning in my body.
But I believe I’m going to have a brand-new body, free of the diseases that accomplish things in this world and in our lives. I look at my pictures of my kids when they were younger. Yeah, I had my hair parted down the middle and feathered back, baby. The 70s and 80s were good to me. And I look, and my face is not as taut as it was. And there are wrinkles. And you can see the gray hair and the lack thereof that covers the baldness. And I see in my body death every single day. And I believe that I will not have this body upon my resurrection, no different than Jesus was free of His earthly body and was given a glorified body.
That’s the mystery of the Christian faith, brothers and sisters. I take more pain medication now than I ever did at 20. Amen. So I, like you— can you relate? You feel it in your bones and in your back and in your body, and it’s not the same, is it? And that time that you did have it is fleeting. Not to be sarcastic to anyone young, but it’s really to be very blunt to you who are of a different age. Your faith in this resurrection mystery is what makes a difference for your future. It is a belief that you will be given an eternal, glorified physical body.
That is a bold mystery with even bolder implications for your life in this world. And what I’m preaching isn’t anything new. It’s the same sermon that Paul preached to you when I read you his letter to the Corinthians. I’m adding a little bit of application to you, but it’s the same gospel message 2,000 years later, but more than that because Paul is proclaiming what was proclaimed long before Paul ever came onto the scene, given to Adam and Eve in paradise, that the offspring of the woman shall crush the head of the serpent and life shall reign, not death; life shall reign.
And not life in an ethereal body, but life in a physical, corporal, eternal, glorified body of flesh and blood.
In the reading, Mary Magdalene came to Jesus’ tomb and was full of grief and anguish, struggling with death. What did Jesus do to her? He bound up her wounds. He bore her anxiety. And He took care of her. It’s the same thing that He does with me and with you as we struggle with our own mortality. As we struggle with the mortality of our grandparents or parents, as we see death reign in this world and cannot answer questions that our mind raises, He binds up those same wounds with this good news.
He said, “I am the resurrection. I am the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die.”
We stand on this marvelous mystery made known to us in the revelation of Jesus Christ. We are being saved by this same mystery. And you and I will hold fast to this mystery.
Christ is risen. And Christ is here in both body and spirit for you.
In the name of Jesus, Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
