The Resurrection of our Lord (A) 2020

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

Text: Matthew 28:8
Theme: Fear and Joy



Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Dear followers to the empty tomb,

Joy is never without evidence. That doesn’t mean the existence of joy is always easily substantiated. People can be so happy they shed tears. Yet, tears are much more commonly associated with grief or pain. Still, people can be filled with joy even when their expression of it is very subtle. When the Marys got to the tomb on Easter morning what did they find? They were expecting a detachment of Romans soldiers following strict protocol about access to the crypt. Instead they were greeted by someone of much higher authority. “The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said.’”1 Imagine their shock! We can appreciate how they would be dumbfounded and filled with confusion. They had come to venerate the corpse of their Master. Instead they are told He’s not even there. What’s more, that He was alive! They left filled with fear and joy2.

The city of New Orleans is well-known for the striking above-ground vaults in its cemeteries. Many interesting historical accounts accompany the picturesque tombs. An 1875 issue of the New Orleans Bulletin details the following amazing incident. A victim of a smallpox outbreak was being carted to the cemetery in what was called a charity wagon. A charity wagon was a horse and wagon type hearse for those who couldn’t afford their own funerals. In route to the cemetery, the victim suddenly revived from his supposed state of death and got into a fight with the wagon driver. A serious altercation ensued. The driver, insisting the man was legally dead (and perhaps fearful of contracting smallpox), finally smothered the man in an attempt to subdue him. The wagon driver was subsequently charged with murdering a man who had previously been declared dead. What a paradox! How can you murder a man who is already dead?

Dear friends, a similar paradox lies at the heart of Christian truth. Yes, Jesus Christ was executed under the authority of Pontius Pilate, He, a living man, was put to death. But, from the divine perspective, and let us say, divine legal perspective, He was as good as dead because He was bearing the sins of the world. His condition was terminal. Remember, the reason Jesus was put on the cross and laid in a grave in the first place was because of our sins. There was nothing for Him to personally gain by His sacrifice.

Already when Mary was anointing His feet with expensive perfume, palliative care was taking place. Had He ‘recovered’, had He avoided death, our fate would have been sealed. But Jesus was never going to offload our sins. He wasn’t going to ‘recover’ from the mortal syndrome of vicariously bearing the punishment of fallen humanity. He wasn’t going to turn back. He loves us too much to shirk from dying for us.

The Marys left the tomb filled with fear and joy- and perhaps a touch of panic? The word panic sounds a little familiar, doesn’t it? The devil absolutely delights in panic. People are seldom more vulnerable than when they are filled with terror. But, do you think that Satan doesn’t know that the coronavirus is also a huge liability to his agenda? Remember, the only real weapon in Satan’s arsenal is deception. He has no actual power over us, only the art of trickery. So, it’s a massive risk for him to over-play the coronavirus. How is that so? Remember, unbelievers don’t really occupy much of the devil’s time. But…what if unbelievers start to reassess their priorities? What if people start digging a little deeper for meaning in life?

What if people’s faith in ‘the goodness of humanity’ starts to falter. What if they start to recognize how corrupted human nature really is? What if the increasingly popular tenets of universalism- that is, the belief that everyone is going to be saved regardless of what they believe in or what they have done- begins to fall out of favour? What if people’s structures of self-reliance become so unstable, so unreliable, so unworkable, that they start searching, really searching for alternatives? What if they become open to hearing the gospel?

And, what if Christians who have become lukewarm in their faith, those who have become lax or even estranged return resolutely and humbly like the Prodigal Son? Do you see the risk for Satan now? Economically and politically the coronavirus might be a disaster, but what about spiritually? To be clear, we’re not dealing here- in this coronavirus anomaly- with a deliberate persecution of the church. Yet, the opportunity is certainly there to permanently withhold freedoms that were temporarily suspended. Some in society would like more restrictions on Christian witness. But witness is often most effective in conditions of oppression.

A unique individual by the name of Luigi Tarisio was found dead one morning in his home. He had very few earthly possessions except for one unique collection. He had hoarded in his home 246 exquisite violins collected during his lifetime. None of them had been played for decades. Most of them were stored in the attic, but the rarest was in the bottom drawer of an old rickety dresser. Ironically, in his devotion to violins he robbed the world of the great music they could have produced. When his greatest violin, a Stradivarius, was played it had been silent for 147 years. When finally played it was a delight to the ears.

Dear friends, Christian truth isn’t meant for admiration, but for confession. Yes, we admire, adore, praise and worship, we love and venerate our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we don’t do so by hiding away His truth and the joy and peace it brings. We are instruments of the Holy Spirit and through us He plays a celestial tune. Yes, it’s a tune that’s often unharmonious to the ears of unbelievers. Yet, when filtered by faith it’s part of a beautiful symphony.

The world is still full of skeptics. It always will be. Christ doesn’t fit into their boxes. But He didn’t fit into the tomb either. Who are we, as humans facing the inevitability of mortality, to question Him who shattered death’s power? Who are we, as creatures of the shadows, to interrogate Him who is the eternal source of light? Yes, the complaints will always remain: God is too apathetic, or inattentive, or impotent- and even the strongest believers have their doubts- but what alternative can we offer? Will we charge recklessly, stumbling headlong into the world of unbelief and anxiety? Will we rush into the darkness unarmed and unprotected?

Christ commanded the storm and the sea, and they were stilled. He ordered demons and they were silenced. He addressed, the lame and the blind, the deaf and the mute, the diseased and the possessed, and they were healed. He rebuked Satan and he fled. This same Redeemer, divine, immortal, immutable, stepped out of the grave, and- as far as we know- said not a word, the weight of His steps crushing the empire of death, its scaffolding and foundations, abolishing the dominion of sin and its fictitious sovereignty. The Scripture says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”3

Jesus lives! And the indestructible quality of His life is not a private possession. Easter isn’t simply the commemoration of this one noteworthy person who overcame the supremacy of death. As if the main thing we were rejoicing about was honouring this legendary hero who inspires us to new achievements. His life, the divine, immortal life, is the sustaining power of ALL life. Believers already participate in the immortal property of that life.

The living Jesus is the living water that continually refreshes you in your baptismal faith. The living Jesus is the living Word that absolves you of your sins and lifts away your guilt. The living Jesus offers you His own body and blood, endowed with His lifeforce for the strengthening of your souls. The living Jesus guards your heavenly inheritance, unspoiled and undefiled until you join Him in celestial glory.

We possess these blessings now in faith- that’s the hard part, that’s the struggle- but we possess them in actuality, nonetheless. We are baptized. The Spirit dwells in us. What does the apostle say? “Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power the enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.”4 Our lives now are but a shadow of what they will be.

Dear friends, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, death has no power over you. How that joy is articulated in your life- whether conspicuously or with subtlety, in fits and starts, or with constant consistency, lucidly, or obliquely, whether it’s with self-conscious recognition, or with sub-conscious ambiguity, or (like the majority of us), a combination of all these- is going to depend on what point you are in the journey of bearing your cross. But, rest, assured, you won’t be deprived of the knowledge or experience of that joy in eternity. Jesus hung upon THE cross for you and the grave could not hold Him. Join your alleluias with all the people of God. He has triumphed and we are free. Amen.

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
+ In nomine Jesu +

The Resurrection of Our Lord
12 April 2020
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Matthew 28:5-6 2 See Matthew 28:8
3 1 Corinthians 15:26 4 Philippians 3:20-21