John 20:1-18 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." 3 So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. 4 Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, 7 and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples went back to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." 14 Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"- and that he had said these things to her.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
1 From death’s perspective, Friday was admittedly strange. When the Messiah, the Son of God, was born to that virgin, he was a bit puzzled. Since He was born without the taint of original sin, death had no claim on Him. So he watched the boy grow up, the One they named Jesus, waiting for the day when He would sin and subject Himself to death. But the day never came. Not even when death’s ally the devil tempted Jesus during his forty-day fast in the wilderness did the God-Man sin. No one had ever escaped death’s control, not even Enoch or Elijah who were carried into heaven. They were sinners after all, and so were always dying. That’s the way it is with sin. He’s the third party in this ultimate axis of evil: death, the devil, and sin. The three are inseparable; you can’t have one without the other. If you sin (or are born with sin), your end is death. And the devil sees to it that you’re faced with hundreds of opportunities to sin even in a single hour.
2 So what of this Jesus. Death wasn’t quite sure what to make of Him. Why would God take on human flesh, the flesh that in every other being was spoiled with sin? Was He trying to serve as an example for humans? Certainly not, as they were already damned because of the sin of Adam and because of their own sin.
3 As death watched Jesus roam from town to town during the three years of His ministry, he grew more and more uncomfortable. First Jesus was undoing the little things that proved human bodies were mortal. He gave life to dead eyes so they could see; He gave hearing to deaf and dead ears. He even cured paralysis, giving life to a mostly lifeless body. But when death really began to sweat was when Jesus started raising people who were completely dead. First there was the son of that widow from Nain. Boy was death proud of his work on her. First he claimed her husband, then he took her son. But then, in the midst of what was to be a celebration for death—a funeral—Jesus intervened. He stopped the mournful procession and touched the dead boy and commanded him to get up. And then he did! The dead boy was alive again! Then, nto much later, Jesus did the same thing for the daughter of that synagogue ruler Jairus. Death knew Jairus was going to Jesus to ask Him to heal his daughter, so he hastened her dying so that she died before Jesus could get there. Did that stop Jesus? No! Instead, He mocked death: “The girl is only sleeping.” “Sleeping my foot. She’s as dead as I can make’ em.” But then Jesus took her by the hand and commanded her to rise. And she did!
4 Death was a mess. Maybe he underestimated his adversary. So, Jesus can raise recently dead people. But there was no way Jesus would win against death when it came to Lazarus. He waited around too long. By the time Jesus arrived Lazarus was four days dead and beginning to rot. Then Jesus told Lazarus’ weeping sisters some smarmy stuff about “I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” And death felt particularly powerful when Jesus wept at the death of His friend. But Jesus commanded the stone to be removed from the tomb and beckoned, “Lazarus, come out.” For a brief second, death smirked because he knew Lazarus was too far gone for even Jesus to raie him. But then, an instant later, the dead man—er, the once-dead man—came strolling out of the tomb as alive as ever!
5 And then that Friday. Death knew he had no claim to Jesus. He never sinned, so death could never claim Him. Sure, He could suffer at the hands of the soldiers, but unless He Himself laid down His life, death would never get Him. And then it happened. He laid down His life for God knows why and death quickly snatched Him. But it certainly didn’t feel as good as death had hoped. The whole while, death was uneasy. Was this a trick? When Jesus descended to death’s lair and proclaimed victory to the souls there, death was really afraid. There was no one who could raise Jesus back to life, yet He still feared the worst. If Jesus died as the sinless Son of God in the place of sinners…death didn’t even want to think about it. For the moment, he wanted to savor his victory. But the devil was already lamenting his defeat. And sin was commiserating with Him.
6 Then the worst thing death could imagine happened. Jesus left Him. And there was nothing death could do to stop him. He was completely powerless. Jesus just rose. He left the tomb, and, as if to mock death’s impotency, He left His grave clothes folded neatly on the shelf. This was nothing like the other resurrections that Jesus had performed. All those people went on to die again because they were still sinful. But when Jesus rose, He forever shattered death’s power.
7 Beloved, Jesus didn’t die for His own sake. He died for the sake of sinners, for all the children of Adam and Eve who were damned both by their parents’ sin and by their own sin. Nor did He rise for His own sake. He died for you, and He rose for you. He died to pay for your sinfulness, and He rose to open the door of the grave for you to follow Him. He is the Firstborn from the Dead. Once the grave’s been opened from the inside, there’s no shutting it.
8 Sure, if your life ends before Jesus returns to claim His Church, you will die. But not even death rejoices at your little deaths. Those who die the blessed death—how he hates that phrase—those who die retaining the Lord’s gift of faith aren’t in death’s grip. They rest from their labors with their Lord until He returns to raise their bodies and reunite body and soul into an incorruptible person, free from any attachment to sin death, or the devil. Ever since Jesus rose from the dead, the church has spent her days mocking death. And what can he do? She’s right after all. She prays to the Lord for a blessed death for all Christians. She buries her dead bodies and treats them with respect to show others that their Lord will raise their bodies. She holds funerals in churches, the same places where their Lord defeated death in each of their lives through the waters of Holy Baptism.
9 And worst of all, she has a meal that, as often as they eat and drink of it, proclaims the Lord’s death until He comes. Death can’t even stand to think about the Lord’s Supper. The Resurrected Lord meets His children with His real resurrected Body and Blood. He bids them eat His Body and drink His blood for the forgiveness of sins, promising them that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His Blood will live forever. Death was powerless over the Body and Blood of Jesus the first time, when He crushed death’s power and rose from the dead. And death is equally powerless over those to whom the Lord gives His Body and Blood, the medicine of immortality, a mockery of death. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria
Pastor Jeff Hemmer
Hope, Jerseyville