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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the text comes from the Gospel reading that you heard read among you. You may be seated.
Christ is risen! This is the day that the Lord has made. Because on this day, of all days, was the day He chose to be raised from the dead. The first day of the week, which… Interestingly enough, was also when God first spoke everything into existence on that first day of the week and began something that you and I use to completely and totally judge our existence. Time. So when Christ is raised on this day of the week, He ends what was a part of the seven-day week and begins something brand new, for He fixes everything. What Adam and Eve brought into this world, into God’s creation, and makes it new.
Everything in this divine service, all of the hymns, all of the music, everything that is read and is sung is all given to you to create comfort in the resurrection of the body. Everything that you say and sing and profess is all to point you to the comfort and confidence that you have in the resurrection of the physical body. That’s what you believe to be true. That’s what you confess in the creed: I believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting.
The Apostle John wrote this, “…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. This biblical revelation about the resurrection of the body is in constant attack. And before you look around you and think and name all of those things that you perceive to be attacking that point of view, stop pointing outside of yourself and look inside. It is your own reason and senses that struggle with the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
If you’ve ever been around death, if you’ve ever seen it, heard its gurgle, smelled it, it screams to you, how can this be true, this resurrection of the flesh? And your reason and senses listen to it, but not your faith. You struggle in your reason and senses, but not your faith. Your faith clings to it, holds fast to it, and tenaciously does not release it.
You’ve heard folks say, well, that’s why I don’t go to church anymore, because God did such and such in my life, or my family’s life, or somebody else’s life. That’s why I don’t go to church anymore. That’s not your faith. That’s your reason and senses that’s screaming that. Your faith knows where there is comfort to be found. Your faith is trying to continually lead you back to that. To overwhelm your reason and senses.
Does God ever break through? You better believe He does. He did to Mary Magdalene. You heard her words. They have taken away my Lord. Where have they laid Him that I may take Him away? She was filled with grief. Her reason and senses were screaming, this whole concept of the resurrection doesn’t work. And yet what did God do in her but blow out those cobwebs of doubt? But not right away, did He? She struggled for a time.
Because where did she find the 11 men who had been with him for three long years? Locked in an upper room for fear of the Jews. It took a while for them too, for this resurrection truth to soak in and expunge the poison of reason and senses. But it did, because these men, these 11 men, were also the same ones who had such boldness that they died and shed their own blood for the Christian faith known as martyrs.
And Mary Magdalene, she became the great spokesperson of the resurrection. Amazing indeed. And when you think about what God did with Mary Magdalene, do you remember Mary Magdalene’s history? Let me remind you. Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. And you know the other street names for such a person. And you know how society looks upon those kind of people with disdain. Yet that was the one God chose.
The Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of St. Luke tell us that Jesus personally drove out seven demons from Mary Magdalene. You know, one of those kinds. And God chose her. He did not choose the eleven who were cowering in fear in the upper room. He chose her, full of fear and full of being overwhelmed. So if you think you’ve got to get your life squared away for God, you are listening to reason and senses and not what God has revealed to you.
Because she would have been waiting for a long time for herself to get cleaned up. Can you imagine what the disciples must have thought when she arrived? That’s that one lady, you know, the prostitute, the one who all those demons were driven out of. Just smile and nod as she’s telling them about the resurrection. And yet that’s who God chose.
In fact, when she holds fast to Jesus after recognizing Jesus in the garden, what does Jesus tell her? Don’t hold on to me. That seems odd. Here’s why. With what did Mary struggle the most? Her faith or her reason and senses? What had she gotten used to doing but connecting Jesus with what she saw and what she touched and not what she heard?
Teaser for next Sunday’s sermon just in case you were wondering. You were wondering, right? Thank you. So there’s this dude named Thomas, and he comes back, and he’s all about, unless I see the nail prints in his hand and see the spear mark in his side, I’m not going to believe. And what does Jesus tell him? Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.
Jesus is telling Mary, let go of me. Trust in what you believe, not in what you see. See. For thousands and thousands of years, that has been the Christian’s Achilles heel. Show me. I want to see it. I want to experience it. I want to somehow know it in a way that no one else knows it. And they have been asking for that and begging for that. And Jesus doesn’t deliver in that way. That’s why he told Mary Magdalene to let go. Trust in what you have heard, not in what you see or what you think.
In fact, in many ways, you have been given a more personal, intimate union with Jesus because He never revealed Himself physically to you, did He? You don’t have to struggle with what these Christians struggle with. They saw, they felt, and yet they were supposed to trust in what they heard. You, however, that’s all you’ve known since your baptism, what you have heard. And He does not disappoint, and He does not stop showing Himself to you through these means.
Consider the words, the words that Mary was given to tell the disciples. He didn’t tell them, tell them the miracle, tell them about how you saw Me alive. No, He said, tell them these words. What words? Go to my brothers. He called them my brothers. Though they probably didn’t feel too much like a brother because they ran away from Jesus in the garden, because they heard Peter deny Him and they know that they themselves deny Him in their hearts. Yes. Where did He find them next Sunday and this Sunday night but in the locked room for fear of the Jews?
And what does He call them before He ever reveals Himself to them? He tells Mary to tell them, they’re my brothers. Secondly, He’s telling them, regardless of how you feel about yourself, what matters is not what you feel about yourself, but what I tell you you are to me. What do you as parents do? You want to affirm your children into knowing, I’m your daddy, I’m your mama. Don’t forget that. Don’t ever forget that. Is that not what you tell your children? And is that not what you crave as a child? Is that not what He’s telling His children now? You’re my brother. Forget what you think of yourself. Forget what you think you have to be. You listen to what I say about you.
And then He goes on. Go tell them that I’m going to my Father and your Father. My God and your God. What powerful prodigal son overtones. It’s not about what the son thought of himself when he returned to the Father. It’s all about what the Father declared the son to be in his own mind and sight. It is the same with your God. It does not matter what you think of yourself. It matters what God declares of you. And He’s declared you His child.
Just as Adam swallowed the fruit of the tree and has given us all death because of that, so our Lord and God has swallowed death and destroyed death with His glorious resurrection. Hear again what Isaiah said to you. Behold, this is your God. You have waited for Him that He might save you. This is your Lord. You have waited for Him. Be glad and rejoice in His salvation and in His resurrection of the body.
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.
