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Date: Easter Sunday Text: Mark 16:1-8
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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith.
Alone.
And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.
The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the 16th chapter.
Glory to you, O Lord.
When the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices so that they might go and anoint Jesus. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
And they were saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back. It was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe.
And they were alarmed. And he said to them, Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. But go and tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee.
There you will see Him, just as He told you. 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. This is the gospel of the Lord. Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Amen.
All right.
What do you guys make of this gospel text? What a weird place to end off. You got women leaving, fleeing the tomb in fear. What an unsatisfactory ending that is, right? So we'll have to take a look at what's going on in this gospel text, see if we can make any sense of it at all.
In fact, in order to make some sense of it, let's do this. Let's do a little bit of a review. In the season of Epiphany, we all watched and listened as Jesus set His face like flint to go to Jerusalem, to go to the cross.
In Lent, we heard Jesus' plan. And I love it when a plan comes together. Those of you who are here on Good Friday know what I'm talking about. Jesus' plan was this. He was going to be arrested, handed over to the Gentiles, beaten, flogged, crucified, die, and then rise from the dead.
And then we heard Peter rebuke Jesus to His face for even daring to say such words. And then on Good Friday, we watched as Jesus' plan unfolded exactly as He had planned it. On Friday, Pilate presented Jesus to the canceled culture with a face full of blood, clothed in a robe of purple, wearing a crown of thorns, and everything went according to plan.
He went to the cross, bearing your sin and mine, and He most certainly died. Today, we're awakened to the news that the women who went to finish the work of preparing Jesus' body for burial, and to see His face one last time, that when they arrived, they were met by a shining, grinning face of an angel, bringing them news that Jesus, the crucified, and He will forever be known as the crucified, the one who was crucified for you and for me, that He had risen from the dead, and then the women fled the tomb in astonishment and fear.
Is that it? Shouldn't there be something else? I mean, you'd think there would be. I mean, you know, I can just see y 'all going, couldn't you just elaborate just a little bit more? I mean, after all, we just heard from an angel, nonetheless, that Jesus accomplished something that none of us have ever been able to accomplish, not even Houdini.
He came back from the dead. And what is more, well, let me ask the question, what more is there to hear? I mean, it's all kind of fine and dandy. I mean, what were you expecting the angel to do, to preach a sermon?
You'll note that the angel delivered the exact words that were given to him to deliver, and not one word more, not one word less. I would note angels are very faithful in their message delivery. So you may be sitting there going, okay, but I have questions.
I need to figure out how to wrap my brain around this. No, actually, you don't. You don't need to figure out how to wrap your brain around this. The facts are actually quite clear. As I like to say, this isn't rocket surgery.
I mean, remember, Friday afternoon, Jesus gave up his spirit after suffering for six hours on the cross while burying in his body your sins and mine. And shortly after Christ died, his corpse was pierced by a Roman spear, and blood and water poured out of the wound in his chest.
And then his corpse was taken down from the cross and hastily buried in a rich man's tomb. A stone was rolled in front of the tomb and sealed, and an attachment of soldiers stood guard to guarantee that the disciples wouldn't steal Jesus's body, and then fraudulently claimed that he had risen from the dead.
Thus perished Jesus of Nazareth. That's how the story goes, right? Now a little bit of an aside. I'm really excited about the fact that Jesus's enemies figured out what Jesus was saying when he said that he would rise from the dead.
They figured it out. The disciples, yeah, not so much. They were still, I mean, up to this point, they really didn't know what Jesus was talking.
About.
Was this a parable? Was this a metaphor? What was he talking about? And so it was Jesus's enemies who kind of put it all together, and they are the ones who made sure the soldiers were there standing guard, and by them standing guard, it's impossible for anyone to say that the disciples stole the body.
They would have to get past the guards, so I thank them for that. But now we've got a problem. Well, there's Jesus, he's dead, right? We're just recalling the facts. And then if you remember, Jesus's plan included one more tiny detail, and by tiny I mean huge.
And his plan then required this, that he rise from the grave on the third day after his death. And just like God, whose word does not return to him void, but it accomplishes that for which he sends it, because God cannot lie, and neither can Jesus, because Jesus is God in human flesh, Jesus on that first Easter morning, the first day of the week, he became the first fruits of what is called the new creation.
He's now the second Adam. He's come to life, and his body began breathing. And this is where I think we can kind of tease a few things out. You remember in Genesis chapter two when God formed Adam's body, and there it lay lifeless in the garden, right?
What do you call a lifeless body? You call it a what?
A corpse, right?
So there was the corpse, the newly formed corpse of Adam. But what happened? Well, scripture says that God formed the man of dust from the ground, and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
The first Adam began as a corpse, the second Adam, and Christ is the second Adam here now because of the resurrection, he also began as a lifeless corpse. Paul makes this connection for us in Romans chapter five.
Here's what he writes. Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. For sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. Got to pay attention to scripture. Christ is clear.
The scriptures are about him. And so Adam is a type and a shadow of none other than Jesus himself. So let me ask you this. Do you get it yet? All right, good. Now, you'll note that the angel didn't need to say much because almost everything that needed to be said had already been said by God in his word.
So the question is, were you paying attention? So what does this mean? Sounds a little puzzling, right? Well, here's what it all comes down to. If you want to know, like, put that line at the bottom. I don't do math very well, but I do remember that you would take a few things, you'd put them in order, and then you'd carry the one and, you know, all that kind of stuff.
And then there was a line, and then at the line, you would put the total, right? So here's, you accountants, you just, yeah, I get it, right? So here's the bottom line. Here's the total.
Are you ready?
This means we're saved. That's what this means. It means we're saved. And if you're not sure, I mean, just kind of like, okay, let's talk about an appropriate response to this. You guys remember the Isle of Misfit toys, right?
When Santa Claus, they could hear the jingle bells dinging, right? What did the toys say?
We're saved!
And they said it with that crazy voice. We're saved. Let that sink in. Because Jesus rose from the grave, we can be confident that we are saved. And this means that the new creation has already begun.
Jesus is the first fruits of the new creation, and the empty tomb proves it. Have you ever stopped to think for just a second here? How long did it take God to create everything that you can see, smell, taste, touch?
Six days, right? Seems kind of like a slap shot job if you think about it, because the new creation, God's been working on it for 2 ,000 years. Is it any wonder that we cannot even begin to fathom what it is that awaits us?
And all of this, we can have confidence because Jesus rose from the grave. In fact, Paul puts it this way in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 20. And you'll note, this is just a few verses after our epistle text.
But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all died, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
But each in his own order. Christ is the first fruits. Then at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule, every authority and power.
For he must reign until he's put all of his enemies under his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. I am looking forward to that. I'm hoping I can get a front row seat to watch when God picks up death and just goes, flick off into the lake of fire with you.
Death will be dead. And I'll be going, yes, got to do a Napoleon dynamite for that one. Yes, ah, it's going to be great, right? And all of this we can have confidence of because why? Because Jesus rose from the dead.
But you're going to note here in Paul talking about the fact that Christ has risen from the dead, that he is the first fruits of the new creation. You cannot talk about the new creation apart from the judgment of God.
And it seems like an odd theme to preach about on Resurrection Sunday on the day when Jesus rose from the grave. But this is exactly how the apostles preached, the eyewitnesses to the resurrection. And you'll note in our epistle text, Paul confesses he wasn't even worthy to be called an apostle.
Why?
Because he murdered Christians. And yet, what did God do? He had grace on him. So I want you to think for a second, this theme of resurrection and judgment. This is the kind of theme that would make us be tempted to flee the tomb, flee church, if you would, in fear.
And rightly so. I don't know what you've done, but I know what I've done. And I know for a fact that my list of offenses is 10 miles, maybe 50 or 100 long.
So are yours.
And we don't want to stand before God in judgment and Him to walk through all those miles of sin recorded. No, we don't. And the reality is this, that's what we deserve. But because Christ bled and died for our sins, we can have confidence of the forgiveness of our sins, but even more so due to the fact that He has risen from the dead.
The fact that He has risen from the dead proves to us that His sacrifice for our sins was accepted by God the Father. That everything written about Christ's sacrifice on the cross is true as it's recorded in Scripture.
That He is the one who took His very own blood, not only as our sacrifice, but as our high priest took the very blood, His own blood, and He took it into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle in heaven itself.
And He poured out His blood on the mercy seat, the real one. And because of this, we know that we are forgiven. He rose from the dead. If Christ hadn't risen from the dead, could we be confident of the forgiveness of our sins?
I don't think so, because I don't know if you've noticed, dying is a pretty easy thing to do. I mean, people do it every day. Some people on accident, some people on purpose. I mean, you are just one banana peel in a bus away from a casket.
This is how this works, okay? Dying is easy. Coming back from the dead, not so much. So the fact that He came back from the dead comforts us. But you'll note that the apostle Paul, talking about how he was unworthy to be called an apostle, remember the words of that angel who also said, go and tell Jesus' disciples and let Peter know too.
Why was Peter singled out in the message of the angel? It's really easy to put that together. Because Peter had so grievously betrayed and denied Christ. Not once, not twice, but three times. And you'll note the mercy of God in sending the angel and saying, and make sure that Peter knows.
Let him know. Because Christ wasn't going to come to condemn him, not come back from the grave to condemn him, but to forgive him and pardon him and restore him. And if Christ can forgive Paul and He can forgive Peter, He can forgive me and He can forgive you.
In fact, He does. So then note then the preaching of the resurrection, Christ, the first fruits and judgment, they go together. And over and again, you'll note that when the apostle Paul goes into a synagogue for the first time to preach the good news that Christ is the promised Messiah and that he had bled and died and rose again from the dead, he always leaves his sermons, not with having people bow their heads and close their eyes and ask Jesus into their hearts.
Instead, he gives kind of a word of warning, an ominous note. Listen to this, what Paul says in his preaching of the gospel to the synagogue in Antioch, Pisidia. So let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through Jesus, forgiveness of sins is now proclaimed to you.
And by Him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. But beware, therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about. Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish, for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe even if one tells you.
Note the word of ominousness here. You see, the angel in our gospel text delivered the message. The tomb is empty. The apostles have seen the risen Jesus and they have delivered the good news, the stunning, staggering good news of the forgiveness of sins to us.
And so you'll note, Paul even defines the gospel in these terms. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scripture. He was buried and he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture.
But then note also, Paul also says in Acts 17, that the time of ignorance God has overlooked and now he commands all people everywhere to repent. And this is a daily discipline for all of us because God has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.
And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. So brothers and sisters, pay attention. Christ has risen from the dead. Not only has his sacrifice been accepted by God and is sufficient to wipe away all of your sins, but also it is this Jesus who is going to be our judge and his resurrection proves it.
But I assure you, Jesus as the judge has cooked all the books in your favor. It's a rigged trial. He's taken all of your sin upon him so that he can declare you, and he has done this already, innocent, forgiven, pardoned, reconciled.
But when we talk about judgment then, it's important for us to take a look at our Old Testament text and note that I'm a guy who makes a big deal about context. I don't know if you've ever heard me talk about context.
I always say when you're studying the scripture, you got to look at it in context, context, and context. And so Isaiah 25, our Old Testament text, gives us this beautiful picture, but there's a context to it.
And in order to understand the context of what we read in our Old Testament text, we got to back up one chapter into chapter 24. And I want you to hear how judgment and forgiveness work together here because Christ has called us all to repent and to be forgiven.
And so here's the thing that we're all afraid of, the day of judgment. Let's talk about how this thing is going to go down. Isaiah 24, one says, behold, Yahweh will empty the earth. He will make it desolate.
He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. You better let the carbon footprint counters know that all of their efforts are for nothing because preserving this earth ain't gonna happen. It's all gonna be wiped out.
And what a mess it'll be. And God goes on to make it clear that what is coming is for everybody. Here's the words of the prophet Isaiah. It shall be as with the people, so the priest, as with the slave, so the master, as with the maid, so her mistress, as with the buyer, so the seller, as with the lender, so the borrower, as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
In other words, this is happening for everybody. It doesn't matter how great you are in the eyes of humanity or how meager you are in the eyes of humanity. Everybody will experience this. The earth shall be utterly emptied and utterly plundered for the Lord has spoken this word.
The earth mourns and it withers. The world languishes and it withers. The highest people of the earth languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants for they have transgressed the laws. They have violated the statutes.
They have broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore, a curse devours the earth and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are scorched and few men are left. You'll note that on the day of judgment, foolishly, there are those who will suffer for their own guilt.
You don't want to be forgiven? You don't want to be reconciled to God by what Christ, your sin bearer, has done for you? Fine, have it your way. You get to suffer for your own guilt. And then he goes on.
He describes the fact that on that day, when God executes his judgment, the wine mourns, the vine languishes. The merry-hearted, they sigh. The mirth of the tambourines is stilled. The noise of the jubilant has ceased.
The mirth of the lyre is stilled. When Jesus returns, nobody's gonna be doing the Macarena. Keep that in mind. Few people still do it anyway. But anyway, that's a different thing, right? No more will they drink wine with singing.
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The wasted city is broken down. Every house is shut up so that none can enter. There's an outcry in the streets for lack of wine. All joy has grown dark. The gladness of the earth is banished.
Desolation is left in the city. The gates are battered into ruins. For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when the olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.
This is a terrifying picture of God's judgment. And believe me, this is just around the corner. Even if it's a thousand years from now, it's just around the corner. This is exactly how it will go down.
So here's the question. Is this what you fear? You should. And at the same time, you should understand this, that today is the day of salvation. Christ is risen from the dead. Today is the day of salvation.
Call upon his name. With him, there is abundant mercy, forgiveness, and grace. In fact, I would remind you, all of you who are baptized, you were baptized into Christ's death and into his resurrection.
Your sins have been washed away. Your heart circumcised by the hand of God himself. You belong to Christ. Did you hear the words of the absolution today? I heard you all confess your sins. And Christ, he is the one who forgave you.
And so note then that because God does not lie, because grace is given to all who call upon the name of the Lord, there is abundant pardon, forgiveness, and mercy, he doesn't lie. Continue to trust his promises because not only will God judge the earth, God will also bring salvation to you when Jesus returns in glory.
That's what's promised. And it's there then that we see now the context of what is spoken in Isaiah 25. In Isaiah 25, we get the picture of the great wedding feast of the lamb. And I gotta tell you, God knows how to put on a party.
All right?
I mean, this even sounds better than like when I go to visit the Lens. I mean, whenever you visit the Lens, there's food and I won't talk about the other stuff, but you get the idea here, all right? It's a great feast any time that you go to the Lens, but Christ knows how to throw a party even better than the Lens.
And so we're gonna note here that on the last day of this earth, the last day of this creation and the first day of the new one, we are all invited, guests of honor, the wedding feast of the lamb. And here's what Isaiah says.
On this mountain, the Lord of hosts, he will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food, of morrow, of aged wine, well-refined. You teetotalers out there, you're gonna have to get used to this.
It's just gonna be awesome, right? I could just see, you know, Julie and I sitting there going, yeah, that's right, this is the best wine ever, right? And Islay going, oh yeah, you betcha.
Okay.
Right?
But note then where this party goes. It says that God will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. And what is this covering? What is this veil?
It's death itself and the consequences of our sin, all of the curses that we are under because our first parents disobeyed God's command. This will include the curse of toiling, the curse of painful childbirth, the curse of death itself and the conflict that exists even in our most intimate relationships.
That will be swallowed up and that veil that is spread over the nations, God is gonna rip it away and throw it away forever. And then we get these words. God will swallow up death forever. Never again will death bother us anymore.
There will be no funerals in the new creation, full stop. And the Lord God, he will wipe away tears from all faces. And I don't think this is a throwaway line. Because it's not hard to imagine stepping into the clean air of the new creation, seeing the new earth and the sky lit by the glory of God itself and for the first time, letting your eyes and your senses take in the awesomeness, the beauty, the majesty of the new creation.
In that day, we will be joyful. And I think that some of us will also experience sorrow. Sorrow for those who are needlessly not there. It's not as if they weren't bled for or died for because they are.
It's not God's will that any should perish. And so it's so sad. It will be a joyous, somber, amazing, terrible day. But then God says this. And the reproach of his people, he will take away from all of the earth.
What is the reproach of God's people? Have you ever noticed that being a Christian has a tendency to get you in trouble? You know that there are certain things that if you say them, somebody's gonna go, when you say it, right?
Oh, you speak God's truth on social media. You will be put in Facebook jail, right? You might be canceled by Twitter. There's all kinds of things that could happen to you. And you'll know all of this is why, because the reproach that we suffer is the same reproach that Christ did.
We're not better than our master Jesus. They hated and despised him. What do you think they're gonna think about us?
But on that day, the reproach of being a Christian will be taken away from all of the earth. God has spoken. And then it will be said on that day, and here's this beautiful picture. Behold, this is our God.
We have waited for him that he might save us. Let me fill in some of the gaps here. Remember, it's still the wedding feast of the lamb. I always like to picture the wedding feast of the lamb. I don't know how the seating arrangements work.
So I'm thinking, well, maybe there's like a Kongsvinger table, right? And in my particular case, I'm gonna have to like sit at like the Kongsvinger table and be close to the Emmanuel table and also the Aletheia table.
So we're all gonna kind of all be a bunch. And what a rowdy group we're gonna be. I just know it. On that day, we're gonna be so excited to see each other. Some of us, it'll have been years since we've been together in each other's presence.
There's gonna be hugs and kisses and tears and catching up and all of this kind of stuff. And there we are being rowdy. And there's Julie enjoying the wine again, right? And we're so loud. But then from across the wedding hall, all the way on the other side, we hear this amazing sound.
And it's the sound of what?
Silence.
It just comes over us like a wave crashing onto the sea. And with every silent person standing, we look and we stop talking too, mid-sentence even. And we all stand in awe at what?
We get to see Jesus.
We get to see our God. See His face, His glory, His splendor, His majesty. Isaiah says, Behold, this is our God. We've waited for Him that He might save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him. So let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.
The salvation that He has given so freely, mercifully, kindly in love to each and every one of us. But that's then. This is today. Today, we still have a sinful nature. Today, the reproach of the nations is still upon us.
Today, death still taunts us and takes some of us a little bit at a time. So what do we do in the meantime? Well, Christ's resurrection helps us there too. The Apostle Paul writing in this regard says this, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
And indeed, it's not. In fact, the sufferings that we go through, whether they be bodily ailments, persecutions, financial struggles, whether it's a struggle against your own sin or against the temptations of the world and the devil itself.
Note that we are still right now the church that is in war. We are not the church triumphant. So keep your eyes always focused on what is coming. Know the joy that is before you so that you can say with the Apostle Paul, the sufferings that we're experiencing right now, they're not even worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us.
You see the creation itself right now, it's waiting with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God for us to spring from our tombs. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope so that the creation itself will finally be set free from its bondage to corruption.
And we'll obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Even the earth itself longs for the day when Christ returns. We know then that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
And not only the creation, we ourselves, we are the ones who have the first fruits of the spirit. We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for the adoption of sons and the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he sees.
And so right now we do not walk by sight. Today we walk by faith. And you'll note that's enough. It's sufficient. The good news has reached us. The tomb is empty. Christ has risen from the dead. Our salvation has already dawned.
He is the first fruits of the new creation and we will soon join him in the world without end. So don't consider the sufferings of your present time worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed.
Patiently endure with the spirit's help. And that's all we can do. Alleluia. Christ is risen.
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