The Resurrection of Our Lord 2017

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Matthew 28:8
Theme: Still Giving Life




Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

The Marys were the first. They came at dawn with hearts full of darkness. They pondered the meaning of His death and the apparent failure of His mission. Their hope was low, or even lost. But at the place where the dead are housed they met the Creator of Life. And the Light of the World quickly dispelled their darkness. Jesus was risen. Death had been defeated. Reconciliation had been accomplished. The condemnation of sin would no longer estrange sinners from God. They saw the risen Lord with their own eyes and we now enter into their joy with the eyes of faith. The Bridegroom has returned to us. The Shepherd has come back.

Celebrations were tempered and erratic at first. The truth of His resurrection didn’t immediately sink in. As if in a stupor, they struggled to come to terms with the facts. Pentecost was still 50 days off. Yet, the risen flesh and blood Jesus met the test of tangibility. The women clung to Him. The disciples ate with Him. Thomas felt the very scars where the nails were driven and the spear had pierced. He was real. He was living.

Dear friends, Christianity lives or dies by the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Without the resurrection, the crucifixion remains a tragedy, only a heroic event of martyrdom that has no lasting consequence beyond the ability to inspire awe and imitation in successive generations. Moreover, Christianity as a whole collapses into a human oriented religion whose main purpose becomes easing the suffering of this life. That’s a noble task in and of itself, but without the fact of the resurrection nobody can be promised the true well-being that only comes with “the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”1

The message is not always palatable to a skeptical society. We have been schooled in empirical validation for some time now. If we can’t see it, hear it, smell it, touch it, or taste it, is it real? In Jesus’ day, the theological liberals were the Sadducees. They did not believe in the resurrection or in angels. The Pharisees were much more conservative. They believed that God would raise the dead as He had promised already in the Old Testament. The same thing is still evidenced today. Many liberal biblical scholars do not believe in the supernatural, including heaven, hell, and Satan; or Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. This leads to a spiritual crisis of the greatest proportions. The specificity of Christ and His work of redemption are replaced by a God of providence, a higher power who exists, but of whom we know very little about His intentions. From this perspective, there is no blood sacrifice, no appeasement of divine wrath, no victory over Satan.

Anemic understandings of the Christian message are nothing new. The apostle Paul took up a defence of Christ’s work with the Christians in Corinth in this way, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead…if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”2

Our faith is not a composition of human opinions. If it is, we’d best move on! In Christ hope is never lost. Consider the example of a devout Christian woman whose husband was a hardened atheist. For forty years, this woman prayed fervently for his conversion but with no results. He steadfastly resisted any consideration of the facts about Christ, the reality of sin, or the existence of God. Late in life the woman became ill and was confined to her bed for an extended period of time. It became too difficult for her to read. Her only request was that her husband read to her from the Bible as he attended her bedside. It was simply a part of her daily routine. This he agreed to do for her sake only. Shortly before she died she had the joy of seeing him baptized and become an active member of the congregation. Her lifelong prayer was answered in the 11th hour.

Today we celebrate the victory of Christ over death. In doing so we celebrate our status as the baptized people of God. The Scripture says, “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”3 We are raised with Christ already now spiritually. Our second resurrection will involve the restoration of body and soul for eternity.

Knowing the future promised to us, Holy Spirit changes our perspective on the present. You may think your life involves drudgery, hardship, or tragedy. Your hope may be razor thin that certain things in your life will ever be realized, reconciled, or resolved. You might be physically frail, emotionally fatigued, or psychologically damaged. You may suffer from too little self-esteem or too much ego. You may feel you’ve been deceived or treated unfairly. Or you might be accused of the deception or unfairness. You might be driven by ambition, by anger, by sympathy, or complex mixture of many other motives. If so, take heart, you are no different than the average sinner.

And you are not alone, you are part of the church. Jesus sent the women to go and tell. He then sent the apostles saying, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”4 The result is this remarkable reality; this gathering of sinners deemed to be saints in the sight of the holy God: The church. No earthly organization compares. The dimensions of this holy fellowship are not limited by time or space. The Holy Spirit draws us. The mystery of the crucified and risen Christ binds us together. Here at this footstool of God was are gathered at the threshold of the throne. Here earth convenes with heaven. Here we participate in sacred blessings.

Here personal agendas are laid aside. Here egos are checked at the door. Here opinions are abandoned and truth is exalted. Here Christ invites us battled-hardened and weary sinners to enjoy rest. Here Christ feeds our souls with the sacred meal of His body and blood. Here is the assembly of those who are promised a baptismal inheritance. Here we gather at the Jordan peering into the Promised Land. Here the sheep of the flock are kept safely in His fold. Here we raise our alleluias and they are joined with “angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven.”5

Dear friends, Christians should labour under no misunderstandings about the truths we hold sacred. The current public climate of our society is becoming increasingly hostile. It’s critical that we know what and who our true enemies are lest we be distracted by the trivial things in life and the temptations of the world. The guilt of sin, the cleverness of Satan, and the inevitableness of death cannot be resolved in any measure by our abilities. Left on our own our prospects in this life are difficult enough (God allows wickedness to prosper for a time), but at the time of death we would be utterly doomed, estranged from God.

But Christ has all these things in hand. He says, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”6 And again, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”7 Nothing more important can ever be said or accomplished. These truths are why we celebrate today. Amen.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

+ In nomine Jesu +

The Resurrection of our Lord
16 April, 2017
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Nicene Creed
2 1 Corinthians 15:14-15, 17-19
3 Romans 6:3-4
4 Matthew 28:19-20
5 LH, p16
6 Revelation 1:17-18
7 John 11:25-26