Easter Festival Service
March 27, 2016
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the LORD Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened. (NIV1984)
Dear fellow worshipers of our living Lord and Savior,
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
I’m not sure how many of you know this, but I was born and raised in Minnesota. Sometimes when I am able to make it back home I try to take a drive along Century Avenue. When I get to Lakewood Community College I turn into what might appear to be a large open field directly across the highway from the college. I go there to look for my relatives. My Grandma and Grandpa are there. My Grandpa’s brother, Uncle Joe, is there. My older brother John is there. My Mom and my Dad are there too. I have other relatives there whom I only know by name. I am sure that by now you know what I am talking about. The “field” is called Evergreen Memorial Gardens. And when I say I am “looking for” my relatives in reality I am looking for their headstones.
Now imagine what kind of a reaction I would get if I went home to Minnesota and told my family that I was going to drive out to Evergreen Memorial Gardens to see my brother Mike and his family, or to see my sister Terri and her husband— all of whom are very much alive and well! My family might think I’ve gotten a bit morbid. My family might think I’ve gone a little loony. My family might even ask me the question which serves as our sermon theme for this glorious Easter Sunday: Why Do You Look For the Living Among the Dead? Today, my friends, as we gather together here in God’s house to celebrate the physical resurrection of our dear Lord and Savior we are going to focus on that powerful question which the angels asked the women on that first Easter Sunday: Why Do You Look for the Living Among the Dead? There are two things we want to see as we study this question. First of all, let’s see that this question defies all human logic. Secondly, let’s see that this question defines our purpose in life.
The actions and the attitudes of the women on that first Easter Sunday are extremely easy for us to understand— because they are extremely logical! These women were there on Calvary. Now if you remember the crucifixion scene from the movie My Son, My Savior try to fathom what it was like for these women— no props, no special effects, just real nails, real blood, real spears and ultimately real death! Jesus was their friend. Jesus was their Lord. Jesus was their Savior— or so they had hoped! Now Jesus was dead— or so they had thought! The only logical, the only loving thing left for these women to do was to finish preparing Jesus’ body so that He could have a proper Jewish burial. Luke sums up all this “logic” in the simple words of our text, “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.”
The profound sadness that permeated the hearts and minds of these women, the profound sadness that caused their very souls to weep is a sadness that some of us have felt as well, isn’t it. When someone we love dies, when we are faced with an illness for which medical science has no cure, when we look in the mirror and wonder who is that person with silver hair and a wrinkly face, when Satan has been successful in overwhelming us with sorrow and guilt for the sins we have committed— at times like this, my friends, it is so very easy for us to walk through life feeling much like these women early in the morning on that first Easter. And if we try to lean on our own human logic at times like these, then like these women we can easily come to the conclusion that all hope is lost.
Praise God, my friends, that the good Lord in His grace and in His mercy sent His Easter angels to ask these women a question that completely defies all human logic! Did they see Jesus being nailed to a cross on Calvary’s hill? Yes! Did they see the Roman soldier pierce Jesus’ side with a spear? Yes! Did they watch as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus’ lifeless body down from the cross and placed it in a grave? Yes! Was Jesus still dead? No! No? How can that be? Listen to what the Easter angels proclaim, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ Then they remembered his words.”
These women were so overwhelmed by their emotions; they were so overwhelmed by the logic of what they saw that somehow— they forgot! They forgot that Jesus Himself had told them on more than one occasion that His goal, His mission as the Lord’s Messiah was to sacrifice Himself on the altar of the cross as the payment— the total complete payment— for all the sins of all mankind. Yes, the eternal Son of God was willing to endure the punishment that we deserved for all of the sins that we have committed against Him. And then— in defiance of everything we can wrap our minds around— Jesus physically rose from the dead on the third day just as He promised He would! Once these women came face-to-face with the facts— the empty tomb, the Easter angels, the words Jesus had spoken— their limited human logic was overwhelmed by the Truth! Jesus lives! Jesus won! Jesus is victorious over sin, death and the devil! Hallelujah!
The very same joy, the very same confidence, the very same victory that the Easter angels brought to these women by asking them the question, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” — it is all yours, my friends, purely by grace through faith in what Jesus has done for you! Yes, without a doubt the message of Easter defies human logic! Thank God it does! If the message of Easter did not defy human logic then every time we buried someone we love we would be left with nothing but pain and loss, sadness and an unfathomable void deep in our heart. If the message of Easter did not defy human logic then illness and aging would literally devour us. If the message of Easter did not defy human logic then Satan would snicker mercilessly each and every time we sin. It is only because Jesus lives that we will live! It is only because Jesus physically rose from His grave that we have the sure confident hope that one day we too will physically rise from our graves! It is only because Jesus is victorious that we are victorious— not only in this life but for all of eternity! “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Yes, that is without a doubt a question that joyfully defies all human logic!
At the same time this is the question that defines our purpose in life. Look at how this truth was revealed in the hearts and in the lives of these women on that first Easter Sunday. Luke tells us, “When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.” The true message of Easter, the message of Jesus’ victorious physical resurrection from the dead was way too glorious for these women to keep to themselves! They had to tell someone! So who do they tell? They naturally went and shared the joyous message of Easter with those who were closest to them, those they knew best.
That is now the goal, that is now the purpose for living that our risen Lord and Savior has given to you and to me. Do you know someone who doesn’t understand that Easter is so much more than just bunny rabbits and candy eggs? Be their Easter angel! Do you know someone who doesn’t realize that there is more to life than work or things or pleasure? Be their Easter angel! Do you know someone who is fearful of what is waiting for them beyond the grave? Be their Easter angel!
Next time I make it home to Minnesota I just might take a drive to Evergreen Memorial Gardens. I will go there looking for my relatives— not because I am morbid, not because I am little loony. I will go there with the deep comfort of knowing that the word “cemetery” very literally means, “sleeping chamber.” Evergreen Memorial Gardens is where many of my relatives are “sleeping.” I will go there with the absolute confidence that I will see my family members again because by God’s grace and by God’s power both they and I believe the message of the Easter angels, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”
To God be the glory!
Amen