Easter Series B
4 April 2021
EASTER SUNRISE
Exodus 15:1–11
1 Corinthians 5:6b–8
John 20:1–18
The Risen Lord Jesus Is Our Strength and Our Song, for He Has Become Our Salvation
O come, let us “sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously” (Ex. 15:1). By His cross, He has shattered the enemy, crushing sin and death beneath His feet; and in His resurrection, He has brought us out of Egypt into the freedom of the Gospel. He has called us out of darkness into light, and led us from confusion, fear and weeping into the joy and gladness of His resurrection. He is our strength and our song, and He has become our salvation (Ex. 15:2). Thus do we hear and respond to His voice of the Gospel, as He calls each of us by name. We enter His tomb by our Baptism into His death, and just as surely as He has risen, so we also “must rise from the dead” (John 20:9). “Let us therefore celebrate the festival” (1 Cor. 5:8), not in the revelry of self-indulgence, nor in the debauchery of lust, but in sincere faith and genuine love. For “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor. 5:7). He has thereby set us free from sin and death, and now He feeds us with Himself unto life everlasting.
And lest anyone think this is all simply a liturgical abstraction, it was human flesh that went down into that tomb, and human flesh that emerged from it. Human flesh-the depressed, the addicted, the lonely, those struggling with sexuality, those who struggle financially, those who struggle in marriage, in short, all of humanity, has been crucified with Christ, and resurrected with Him. Who cares what you have done? Who cares where you have been? Judgment belongs to the Father, but you, you, bear the image of the Son, and it was you, you, whom he rescued. - Pr. Ken Kelly, from Baptism of our Lord Homily 1.13.2019
EASTER SUNDAY
(4 April 2021)
Isaiah 25:6–9
1 Corinthians 15:1–11
Mark 16:1–8
The Risen Christ Has Swallowed Up Death Forever!
The entire fallen world is veiled in a funeral shroud “that is spread over all nations” and “cast over all peoples” (Is. 25:7). But the Lord of hosts, in the Person of the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ, has removed that terrible pall and swallowed up death forever. By submitting Himself to death, He burst it apart from the inside out. Now He wipes away all tears from our faces, and He invites us to “be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Is. 25:9). His body and His blood, crucified and risen, are given and poured out for us as a feast “of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined” (Is. 25:6). We enter that feast through Holy Baptism, whereby our old man is buried with Jesus Christ, and we are raised up in Him, “dressed in a white robe” of His perfect righteousness (Mark 16:5). What St. Paul and the other apostles received “by the grace of God” is also “delivered to you” by the preaching of Christ, “in which you stand, and by which you are being saved” (1 Cor. 15:1–11).
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Resurrection: Biological Event
Rev. Dr. Daniel J Brege
You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen. (Mark 16:6)
Many Christians have the misconception that the Christian faith is only a spiritual matter. To be sure, the Christian faith involves deep spiritual things; it speaks with God’s authority on spiritual themes such as faith, hope, love and forgiveness. It deals with spiritual beings such as angels and with the spirits of those who have died, and it addresses numerous other spiritual matters.
However, Christianity—unlike any other religion—recognizes the foundational value of the physical. The Christian faith recognizes that God created all things good. He created all the elements of the universe and He created all the laws that enable such elements to interact. Above all, God created physical, biological life—life that is directly dependent upon elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, sodium and the like. To remain alive, a creature must continue to absorb and use such elements through food and respiration. Human beings are not mere “spiritual” beings; they are—in many ways like the animals—biological beings. They are nonetheless far different from the animals, for they were created to be like God, in His image, and they were intended to live forever—as biological beings. If the Creator removes His hand of blessing, biological life spins like a top preparing to fall. Because of spiritual death (being disconnected from God), biological life runs down and ultimately crashes in physical death.
When man rebelled against the Creator and thus became separated from God because of sin, all biological life wobbled toward death. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they immediately became—as God had promised—dead. They were, as St. Paul would explain, dead in their trespasses and sins (Ep 2:1ff). This spiritual death is directly linked to physical death. Spiritual death could not be readily detected, but physical death would be keenly observed. This happened when human bodies ceased to absorb and use those nutrients necessary for biological life. Though only physical death can be quantified, yet both spiritual and physical death are inexorably linked, and they are together essential in defining death. Because of spiritual death, human bodies have genetic problems, age-related ailments, various destructive diseases, debilitating injuries…and ultimately physical death.
When the Son of God became man, He could not be a mere spiritual being; appropriately He became a biological being, He became flesh. He was and still is Mary’s biological son. He was also, unlike the rest of humanity, spiritually alive, that is He was without sin, perfectly connected to God. Consequently His body did not inherit the various ailments that would ultimately bring His physical death. However, out of unfathomable love, He chose to bear our griefs, our sicknesses and our sins (Is 53). He chose to carry all that causes physical death. Physically He was not destined to die a “natural death” but He would allow Himself to be susceptible to the pain and murder inflicted by fallen mankind. Thus the One who should not die, biologically died. His body ceased to be able to absorb nutrients; He died of thirst, He died from lack of oxygen, He died as essential elements bled from His body, He died from physical shock.
Because He is the Son of God, He was able to carry mankind’s spiritual death, but this also meant He had to carry physical death. Then, demonstrating His total victory over sin and all of man’s fallenness, He physically rose from the dead. He rose with a body that is now incapable of death—but it is an actual body. This resurrection came with two wondrous, yet related, results: First, it guaranteed forgiveness and justification, thus undoing spiritual death. Second, it guarantees our physical resurrection.
As surely as Jesus went around performing biological miracles…healing the sick and crippled, giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, and raising the dead…He now gives the ultimate biological miracle: Our permanent biological resurrection from the grave. Because He lives, we too shall live!
- Mark 16:1-8
1 Καὶ διαγενομένου τοῦ σαββάτου Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ Μαρία ἡ τοῦ Ἰακώβου καὶ Σαλώμη ἠγόρασαν ἀρώματα ἵνα ἐλθοῦσαι ἀλείψωσιν αὐτόν.
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
The Sabbath was past.
Now they are to finish the job
1. Bought spices
2. Go to anoint
They are going to lay flowers
How many "Mary's"?
Mary Magdalene was the common denominator. "Mary the Mother of James" would be Jesus' mother.
Mark 15:47 lists are the eye-witnesses
See - Luke 24:10
Is Salome the same as Johanna?
2 καὶ λίαν πρωῒ τῇ μιᾷ τῶν σαββάτων ἔρχονται ἐπὶ τὸ μνημεῖον ἀνατείλαντος τοῦ ἡλίου.
And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
Sunday, "Sabbath 1" as soon as possible, after the sun had risen, they go... they respond.
Context, Mark is writing to a persecuted church. Who were living with this every day. Yet the women go where their Lord is even if they don't have it all figured out.
3 καὶ ἔλεγον πρὸς ἑαυτάς• Τίς ἀποκυλίσει ἡμῖν τὸν λίθον ἐκ τῆς θύρας τοῦ μνημείου;
And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"
'who will roll it from the door of the tomb'
4 καὶ ἀναβλέψασαι θεωροῦσιν ὅτι ἀποκεκύλισται ὁ λίθος, ἦν γὰρ μέγας σφόδρα.
And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back-it was very large.
Receiving their sight, they saw The stone was exceedingly great. By the resurrection account they see the reality. They turn from looking down to looking up. The opposite of Genesis 3.
See how immediate the response is to their need.
5 καὶ εἰσελθοῦσαι εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον εἶδον νεανίσκον καθήμενον ἐν τοῖς δεξιοῖς περιβεβλημένον στολὴν λευκήν, καὶ ἐξεθαμβήθησαν.
And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
See Mark 14:51 "a young man" see Baptism, this is where Christ is for you. You are now clothed in the righteousness of Christ. This is the new man showing up on the other side of Easter. See Romans 6 this is where the resurrected Christ is to be found.
The women are amazed, fearful, alarmed shocked, feeling more than one emotion.
6 ὁ δὲ λέγει αὐταῖς• Μὴ ἐκθαμβεῖσθε• Ἰησοῦν ζητεῖτε τὸν Ναζαρηνὸν τὸν ἐσταυρωμένον• ἠγέρθη, οὐκ ἔστιν ὧδε• ἴδε ὁ τόπος ὅπου ἔθηκαν αὐτόν•
And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
He said, Stop fearing! See right here the place He was put.
We don't need a body...we go where He has promised He would be...
7 ἀλλὰ ὑπάγετε εἴπατε τοῖς μαθηταῖς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῷ Πέτρῳ ὅτι Προάγει ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν• ἐκεῖ αὐτὸν ὄψεσθε, καθὼς εἶπεν ὑμῖν.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."
The Ascension happened in Galilee. He Ascended not to be absent but to be near. You won't have me as you once did...now we have Him in the Sacramrnts.
8 καὶ ἐξελθοῦσαι ἔφυγον ἀπὸ τοῦ μνημείου, εἶχεν [f]γὰρ αὐτὰς τρόμος καὶ ἔκστασις• καὶ οὐδενὶ οὐδὲν εἶπαν, ἐφοβοῦντο γάρ.
And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
They were standing literally outside of themselves. The told no one nothing. In Greek the negatives stack up.
-The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software
-ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
-Schnorr Von Carolsfeld woodcuts, ‘The Resurrection’© WELS permission granted for personal and congregational use
-LCMS Lectionary notes © 2018 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
-Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis
