Tag Archives: Tomb

Living Redeemer – Sermon on Job 19:23-27 & Mark 16:1-8 for the Resurrection of Our Lord

Job 19:23-27 & Mark 16:1-8 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Imagine someone plopped a thousand piece puzzle in front of you – not the box with the picture of the final product, just the thousand pieces. Those pieces sit in front of you, and the person says, “Put it together.” Sure, it would be daunting at first, but you’d start using your brain and logic. Maybe, you’d start searching for the corner and edge pieces. Once they’re sorted out, you start to fit all the boarder together. Then, you’d start looking at the colors. You continue to sort the pieces out, match the ones with the same color, find the right fits. You’d start to see that this matches with this and that matches with that. You’d see how this one piece has blue on one side and green on the other side and, yup, it fits with that one.

So long as you kept at it, there’s nothing that would stop you from eventually solving that puzzle. Sure, it might take really long time, but you’d figure it out. All puzzles are solvable when you have enough determination, information, and time.

Too often, we approach life as though it’s all a big puzzle to be solved, and we don’t have a picture of the final product. But we still think that if we can just figure out this then that will fall in place. We imagine that finishing this thing will make that portion easier. We try arranging the pieces of finances and family, school and career, the busy schedule and the need to rest. Sometimes, it feels like you make progress; sometimes, you’re completely stuck and confounded. A new problem pops up over here, and the pieces doesn’t seem to fit in quite the right way. 

That’s the wrong approach to life. Life is not a puzzle for you to figure out and solve with enough logic and time and effort. Instead, your life is a mystery. Mysteries are different from puzzles. Mysteries are things that you can’t figure out. It doesn’t matter how much information you have, how many details you know, or how much you piece together. Mysteries can’t be solved with logic. We can’t use our reason to get everything to fit nice and neat into a complete picture. With mysteries, you might get periodic glimpses of potential solutions, but final solution always seems to be just beyond your grasp.

When Job was suffering all the horrible things that did, he approached his life as a puzzle. He thought that if he could just get enough information that everything would make sense and fit together. But the information Job needed wasn’t available to him. It was hidden in what was taking place in the heavenly council (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6; Jer. 23:18-22).

When we read the book of Job, we get information that wasn’t available to Job. We have the 30,000 ft. overview of what is happening. We get to know what’s going on behind the curtain. We have a window into all the things that God is doing. The whole time of his suffering, we know why Job had all these crosses placed on him. But Job – he never knows. He never gets told. He just trudges through his pain and suffering. He is simply experiencing a life that is filled with trouble, and all Job can do is slog through it.

Even though we might not suffer the same things Job suffers or to the same degree or for the same reasons that Job suffers, we are like Job. We can only live our lives one moment at a time. You can only go through the experiences of this life by living in them. And you don’t always get to know why certain things happen. You don’t get to know why the one you love died. Why you lost our job. Why your kids are misbehaving. Why your parents are so unreasonable and unbending. You don’t get to know why everything happens. And the book of Job is a great reminder that God doesn’t owe us an answer to the why. God isn’t obligated to show us the picture on the box of a puzzle. He doesn’t need to precisely because He hasn’t given you the responsibility of piecing all the parts of your life neatly together. That’s nor your job. It’s not what God has called you to do.

Instead, God has given you something far, far better. God has given you the assurance that He’s given you a Redeemer, and not just any redeemer. God has given you a living Redeemer who can place all the jagged corners and complex pieces of your broken life into one big, grand masterpiece.

Dear saints, God has given you His promise that, at the last, you will stand upon the earth with your Living Redeemer, Jesus Christ, in the new heavens and earth. You will stand resurrected in the kingdom of God when all sorrow and sighing have been put away for eternity.

That’s God’s promise, and His promise is worth believing. Job had that faith as he was going through all the things that he suffered. God gave Job the faith to know and believe that his Redeemer lives.

Those verses you heard from Job’s lips today (Job 19:23-27) have become so connected to Jesus’ resurrection – probably because of the hymn. And, yes, we’ll sing it near the end of the service. But the fact that these words are so connected to Easter makes it easy to forget that Job spoke those words thousands of years before the eternal Son of God took on flesh.

Even then, Job knew that he had a Redeemer, and that faith was what carried Job through his horrible suffering. But what Job believed back then is even more true now than when Job confessed it.

You have a Redeemer who not only lives, but who died and now lives again and forevermore. You have a Redeemer who marched straight, right into the jaws of death and the grave. And He has come out on the other side alive. Your Living Redeemer is the same Redeemer that Job confessed. That Redeemer was living when Job confessed and trusted and He lives even more assuredly now.

So, when life seems like a puzzle, when it seems like you have to figure all sorts of things out and piece it all together in just the right way, forget about it. Instead, listen to what the angel says to the women on the morning of the resurrection. “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen” (Mk. 16:6). In other words, “Your Redeemer lives. He is not here. And your Living Redeemer is going before you” (Mk. 16:7). This is still true.

Your Living Redeemer has gone before you to death and the grave. He has also gone before you to the resurrection and life eternal. And your Living Redeemer continues to go before you each and every day of your life.

So, no matter what you go through, no matter what puzzling trials, tribulations, and sufferings you face, Jesus has already gone before you through all of them. Your living Redeemer is the first fruits of the resurrection (1 Co. 15:20). He stepped before you and did what was needed. He bore all of your sins upon His cross. He went to His grave to sanctify your grave. He walked out of that grave alive. And you will too.

Jesus has won and purchased your forgiveness. All your sins – all of your envy, malice, and laziness; all of your unwillingness to help others, all of your attempts to dodge responsibilities, and all of your attempts to make excuses for your failures and the pain you have caused others – all of it is forgiven. All of it can be blotted out.

None of that sin can stand next to your Living Redeemer, but you can. You can stand with Him because all of that sin has been dealt with and laid aside by His perfect forgiveness.

Faith in Jesus, your Living Redeemer doesn’t just give you the picture on the lid of a thousand piece puzzle so you can put it all together yourself. Instead, it makes you see further, beyond the puzzle.

The confusing, dark, and evil complexities of this life, they’re all fading away, because the light is coming. The sun of a new, eternal day is rising. Your Redeemer lives. And at the last, so will you. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

No Nonsense – Sermon on Luke 24:1-11 for the Vigil of Easter

The bulletin for tonight’s service can be found here.

Luke 24:1-11

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

With all the reverence and respect that I can give to them, the angels that appear the morning of the resurrection are a bit sassy. These women had left early, even before the sun had started to peek over the horizon. So, they probably hadn’t gotten themselves ready like they would on any other morning. They just tossed on some clothes and grabbed the bundles of spices as they went out the door to walk through that dewy, morning air. They went intending to finish the job of burying Jesus. But when they arrived at the tomb, they find it. The stone – rolled away. The body of Jesus – gone. So, they stand there totally disheveled and utterly perplexed.

These two angels that stand in front of them look completely different. The angels are clothed in dazzling apparel. They look at these tired women with their bundles, and it’s almost like the angels are thinking, “Oh, for cute. These women with their bundles of spices. What do they think they are going to do here?”

And one of those angels asks his sassy question, “Why do you seek the Living One among the dead? He’s not here. He is risen. Remember what He told you while He was still with you in Galilee? The Son of Man had to be delivered into the hands of sinful men, crucified, and on the third day rise. By the way, ladies, that’s today.” It’s like that angel is saying, “This shouldn’t be too difficult for you. He told you all about this.”

And it’s at that point that these women – Mary and Mary and Mary and Mary (there were lots of Marys) and Joanna and Salome – they remember that Jesus had said that He would rise. Only then did they remember those words of Jesus.

So, they ran back to tell these things to the eleven apostles and all the others who were gathered together. Luke doesn’t record the conversation between the women and the rest, but he makes it very clear (it doesn’t come out in our translation) that there was an ongoing conversation. “As they were speaking about these things to the apostles” (Lk. 24:10). 

Luke only leaves us to imagine what this conversation would have sounded like. But the women probably told them all about the angels and their dazzling apparel and about the other sassy angel who had come down to sit on the stone and dance on the grave of death (Mt. 28:2-3). They would have told them how the angel reminded them what Jesus had said about that dying and rising stuff.

But the words of these disheveled, frantic, crazy women sounded delirious. The apostles figured it was nothing more than an idle tale and a bunch of nonsense. What they had seen on Good Friday was too devastating. They figured the women hadn’t gotten enough sleep and should have set their alarm clocks for a little later.

And that reaction to the women’s report is a huge comfort to us today. They should have believed the whole time, even as Christ hung on the cross. But the fact they initially thought it was all nonsense bolsters our faith.

Because as that day rolled on, Jesus would appear to two of them on the road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-32). Jesus would appear to Peter (Lk. 24:34). That evening, Jesus would appear to all of them as they sat locked in the upper room (Jn. 20:19-22). Jesus would eat in front of them and show them His pierced hands and side (Lk. 24:38-43).

The women weren’t spewing a bunch of nonsense. It wasn’t an idle tale. As that day wore on, their disbelief melted away into belief. And that belief would strengthen into boldness. And that boldness would mature into courage.

What first had sounded like an idle tale and a bunch of nonsense to the apostles slowly became an undeniable certainty. Jesus died but lives. And now, because He lives, death would have no hold on them because it had no hold on Jesus. Death was no longer their enemy, because their Savior, their Lord, their Jesus, had defeated death.

As the years passed, almost all of those – who, initially, thought that the Resurrection was just a bunch of nonsense, just an idle tale of tired and confused women – they would, one by one, refuse to deny the fact that Jesus had risen. They would not deny that the One who had died is now living. They would rather give up their own lives because it wasn’t nonsense. Jesus is the Living One who gives everlasting life to all who believe in Him.

Dear saints, the day is coming when all the perplexities of this world and of your life will not be perplexing anymore. In that day, this fact will remain certain, firm, and sure – Jesus is risen. It is no nonsense. Amen.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! 
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rejoice – Sermon on Matthew 28:1-10 for the Resurrection of Our Lord

Matthew 28:1–10

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Dear saints, rejoice. Rejoice because God will not allow what is His to be stolen. You’re going to get a little Christmas on Easter because the two go together. The Son of God has taken on flesh. God has a Body. He was born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger so He could die and be laid in a tomb for you and in your place. But even though Jesus died, God did not allow death and the grave to claim, take possession of, or keep His Body (Ps. 16:10). That Body belongs to Him. He will not let it be stolen. Christ is risen. Rejoice!

The morning of the Resurrection, the Marys who had watched Jesus’ crucifixion (Mt. 27:55-56) and burial (Mt. 27:59-61) get up before dawn, and Matthew tells us that they are going to see the tomb. That statement is so ominous. The other Gospels let us know that they were returning to finish the work of embalming Jesus’ Body (Lk. 24:1; Mk. 16:1), but Matthew gives us a little insight into their mindset. They are going to the cemetery to see the tomb, the place of the dead.

But when they get there, their eyes are drawn away from the tomb to the angel sitting triumphantly on top of the stone. His appearance was like lightening, and he was wearing clothes white as snow. We don’t know his name, but this angel is quite the character. Most of the time angels pop on the scene in Scripture, they are there to declare something. Only a few times in Scripture do angels actually do things. After the Fall, a cherub guards the way to the Tree of Life with a flaming sword (Gen. 3:24). An angel takes Lot by the hand to save him from a mob (Gen. 19:9-11). And a seraph touched Isaiah’s unclean lips with a burning coal (Is. 6:6-7). But this angel outdoes all of those. This angel puts on a show.

It’s clearer in the Greek than it is in our translation, but this angel descends and causes the earthquake. He then rolls away the stone from the entrance of the tomb – not to let Jesus out. The resurrected Jesus can pop up anywhere anytime (Jn. 20:19, 26). The angel rolls away the stone to show all creation  that Jesus is risen. And then the angel sits on the stone to dance on the grave of death. This angel is playful, rambunctious, and full of rejoicing.

After all of that, the angel settles down a bit and does things we are more used to angels doing throughout Scripture. He starts talking, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus the Crucified One (which is a more literal translation). He is not here, for He has risen.” In other words, the Living One is not found in the place of the dead (Lk. 24:5). The angel then invites the women to see something better than what they had come to see. They had come to see a tomb, but it’s no longer a tomb. The angel directs their attention to the empty, vacated place where Jesus lay while He was dead (Mt. 28:6). What was supposed to be the tomb of Jesus ended up being nothing more than a temporary bed. Death had not won. Death was defeated because, again, God will not be stolen from.

Then, this dazzling, electric angel has some instructions for these women. They are given a task, a job. They are to report, but notice, please, to whom they are to give this report. “Go quickly and tell His disciplesthat He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you [disciples] to Galilee; there you [disciples] will see Him” (Mt. 28:7). So, the women quickly leave the tomb to tell the disciples as they were instructed. But their announcement gets delayed because the Crucified, Risen, and Living Jesus meets them.

Christ greets them with one word, “Rejoice.” Even though that one word was a common way to greet people, the word means ‘rejoice.’ Hawaiians greet people with, “Aloha,” which means, “Love,” Jewish people will greet others with, “Shalom,” which means “Peace,” and the common greeting in Jesus’ day was “Rejoice.” (Editorial comment here: Our common greetings stink. Hi, Hey, and ’Sup? are lame.) Anyway, even though this was the common greeting, it’s hard to imagine that Jesus, on the morning of His resurrection, was simply saying to the women, “Hey; how’s it going?” No. Our Lord joyfully greets them and invites them to rejoice.

Then, Jesus gives these women the exact same task that the angel had given them, but with an important difference. Jesus tells the women, “Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Unlike the angel, Jesus doesn’t call the eleven, “My disciples.” Jesus calls them “My brothers.” And there was no confusion for the women here. It wasn’t that they were to go tell the disciples about the resurrection and then go to find another, second group of people who are Jesus’ brothers. No. The disciples are Jesus’ brothers. And this one little change from the lips of Jesus is astounding and should fill our hearts with joy.

When someone upsets or disappoints you, you might try to create distance between that person and yourself by changing how you address them. Imagine that your best, closest friend did something truly horrible, evil, and disgusting, and this thing is known. It’s on the news, in the papers, plastered on social media, everyone knows about it. Someone might come to you and say, “Aren’t you friends with Vinny?” (I’m trying to use a name that isn’t represented here.) “Wasn’t Vinny in your wedding? Don’t you hang out with him a lot?” You don’t want your reputation to be harmed because of Vinny’s bad reputation, so you distance yourself from Vinny by changing how you refer to him. “Ugh, yeah. That guy did an awful thing.”

But look at what Jesus does here. Jesus brings the disciples closer to Himself by calling them, “My brothers.” This is remarkable. The disciples had all failed at being disciples. Just a few hours before Jesus was arrested, He clearly told the disciples, “You will all fall away because of Me this night” (Mt. 26:31). When the crowd came with clubs and swords to arrest Jesus, the disciples fled with their tails between their legs (Mt. 26:55-56). All of them were an embarrassment but think especially of Peter. Three times, Peter denied even knowing Jesus when a couple young servant girls and a stranger asked him if he knew Jesus. Peter even calls down a curse on himself, “God condemn me if I know this Jesus.” And he used more foul, colorful language than that (Mt. 26:69-74). All of the disciples had failed Jesus and fallen away, but the resurrected Jesus still calls them, “My brothers.”

When Jesus calls these eleven failures, “My brothers,” before He sees them, it shows that He has done more than reconciled them. Jesus wants to make sure that the eleven know that they are more to Jesus now, after He is raised, than they were before He died because those eleven are now forgiven, righteous, and given a better status than being followers and disciples. They now have the glory of being children of God. They are His brothers. And the same is true for you. You, like the disciples, are part of the purchased, redeemed, and adopted family of God because Jesus has died and risen to make you His own.

Dear saints, rejoice. Jesus has cleansed you of all your sins. He has made you His holy, redeemed brothers and sisters. He is not ashamed to claim you as part of His family – not at all.

I put two verses on the back of your bulletin that are worth pondering every day of your life. Hebrews 2:10-11. “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.”

Because He is holy, Jesus is the one who sanctifies you, who makes you holy. He is not ashamed of you. He isn’t embarrassed about your past sins – either known or hidden. Those sins have been dealt with. They have been paid for by the precious blood of Jesus. Christ has sanctified you, made you holy by His death and resurrection. He is your God, and from Him you can expect every good thing. While you were a sinner, Christ died for you. Now that He has made you Hid child, He won’t hold back any good thing from you (Ro. 8:32).

Rejoice! The Crucified and Living One is your Brother and He is not ashamed to have you as part of His family. Not now, not ever.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Name-Calling Savior – Sermon on John 20:1-18 for the Resurrection of Our Lord

John 20:1-18

1 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. 13They 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.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Just as a ‘heads-up,’ I’m going to set the scene and fill out some details about Mary Magdalene as well as the events of morning of Jesus’ resurrection. I’m not making stuff up; I’ll be pulling from Scripture. If you want the references for things that I mention that aren’t in this text, ask me after the service, and I can print out the sermon with all the references.

Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb before light dawns the morning of the Resurrection, but she isn’t seeing, hearing, or thinking clearly. She is still filled with grief and sorrow from watching Jesus’ crucifixion. Mary Magdalene stood and witnessed the sad events of Good Friday at the foot of the cross (Jn. 19:25; Mk. 15:40). And the last time she had seen her Lord, He was wrapped in burial cloths before the sun set on Friday (Mt. 27:61; Mk. 15:47; Lk. 23:55-56).

But now, it’s Sunday, the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene was one of several women who went to the tomb (Mt. 28:1; Mk. 16:1; Lk. 24:10). As the women approached, they began to ask each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” But when they got there, they saw that the stone had already been rolled away by an angel who was sitting on it (Mk. 16:1-4; Mt. 28:2). It seems as though Mary Magdalene immediately ran back to the disciples as soon as she saw the open tomb.

For Mary Magdalene, the empty tomb was, initially, another reason to grieve because she thinks that someone has stolen Jesus (Jn. 20:13, 15). She runs back to tell Peter and John about it. She returns to the tomb with them while they investigate her claim (Jn. 20:3-9). They see the empty tomb and the neatly-folded burial cloths (Jn. 20:5-7). But these two disciples can’t comfort Mary because they didn’t believe that Jesus had risen; at least not at this point. In fact, the disciples won’t believe the resurrection until later that evening (Jn. 20:8b-9; Lk. 24:36-49).

Peter and John leave the tomb, but Mary stays there. And sorrow again fills her. She sees two more angles dressed in white robes sitting inside the tomb where Jesus had been laid, and she even has a conversation with them. They ask her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” And you can hear the pain in Mary Magdalene’s voice as she answers, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” This conversation with the angels doesn’t help Mary believe in the Resurrection.

And I wonder what the angels thought about this conversation with Mary. They might have been a bit confused by her reply because, as Mary said this, Jesus is standing behind her.

Mary turns around and sees Jesus standing. But seeing the resurrected Jesus doesn’t give her faith. She thinks He is the gardener. And Jesus, patient Jesus, asks her the same question the angels had asked, “Woman, why are you weeping?” But Jesus adds another question, “Whom are you seeking?”  It’s almost like Jesus is saying, “Hey, it’s Me, I’m right here.” But Mary still doesn’t believe Jesus is raised. She says, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Even this conversation with the resurrected Jesus doesn’t give her faith.

But then, everything changes when Jesus speaks her name, “Mary.” I wonder what intonation Jesus used. Did He say it with a mild rebuke, “Mary”? Did He say it with a snicker, “Mary”? Maybe, He said it with utter compassion, “Mary.”

No matter how Jesus said her name, she believes. That one word – and not just any word, but her very own name spoken by the lips and voice of her resurrected Savior – pulls her out of her grief and sorrow. This is so magnificent.

The same voice that called seven demons out her (Lk. 8:2; Mk. 16:9) now expels the demon of unbelief. The last time she had heard the voice of Jesus was when He cried out on the cross “It is finished,” (Jn. 19:30) and, “Father into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Lk. 23:46). Now, that same voice, filled with life and peace, speaks her name, “Mary.” Jesus – who had drunk the cup of God’s wrath, had all the sins of the world laid on Him, and had passed through death and the grave – He calls her by name. And Mary believes and latches herself on to Jesus as though she will never let go. But her grip on Jesus isn’t as important as His grip on her.

Jesus sends her with a message to give to the disciples, “Go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’” Jesus can call the disciples, “My brothers,” and say this because something new has arrived. All who believe in Christ, all His disciples, all Christians, are welcomed into a new world where they are Jesus’ siblings, where God is ‘your God’ and Jesus’ Father is now ‘your Father.’

So, that very moment in the garden next to the empty tomb, Mary experienced the fulfillment of Isaiah 43:1-3. “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

I’m going to give you some Easter homework: Before you send your kids out hunting for Easter eggs, as a family, read Isaiah 43:1-3 and v. 11-18 of this text, then read Isaiah 43:1-3 again to see the parallels.

Dear saints, what Jesus did for Mary Magdalene the morning of the Resurrection, He does for you. He calls you by name. In John 10, Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (Jn. 10:11). In that passage, Jesus also says that He is the shepherd who, “calls His own sheep by name and leads them out” (Jn. 10:3). Jesus, your Shepherd, is the name-calling Savior. He calls you by name in your Baptism and places His name – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – upon you (Mt. 28:19). 

Jesus is your God, your Savior. You, Christian – this could be said to each and every one of you by name – you will always have the risen Jesus. He will never leave you or forsake you. He died for you and has forgiven all your sin. Christ leads you through every trial and tribulation you face in this life. And He leads you to the resurrection. Nothing in this world will overwhelm or consume you. You belong to Him. Jesus is your Savior, Redeemer, and Brother, and God is your God.

You are His. You belong to Him. He has bought and purchased you with His holy and precious blood by dying on the cross and rising again for you.

And now, He invites you to come to His table where you will again see Him in Bread, which is His resurrected Body, and in Wine, which is His life-giving Blood. Come, taste, and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.