Solomon wrote in his inspired book of songs, "Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away." Indeed, the women of our text fulfill this description this morning.
While Judas' body lie burst open in the field of blood, while the Pharisees were concocting a story to cover up the resurrection of the Jesus, while the disciples doubted and cowered in hiding, and while the rest of Jerusalem was sleeping, a number of devout women gathered with spices to anoint Jesus' body.
During Jesus' ministry they tended to his needs, and even stood vigil at the cross. Some, like Mary Magdalene, had been healed by Jesus from demonic possession. Some were his earthly relatives: Salome, his mother Mary's sister, and Mary mother of James, his father Joseph's sister in law. They all, however, were united by a common grief: their Lord was dead.
They needed to hurry, for according to rabbinic tradition, the body began to decay three days after death. As soon as the Sabbath was over, while it was still dark, they journeyed to the tomb to perform what they thought would be their final act of love and reverence. It was the least they could do for this great teacher and innocent man who had been so cruelly crucified.
The sun began to rise. As its rays caused the darkness to scatter, their grief would soon scatter. As Christ foretold through Isaiah 700 years earlier, "The Lord has send me to bind up the broken hearted…and release from the darkness of prison…to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion…to bestow the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair."
Today, instead of anointing a dead rabbi, they are anointed by the Spirit of the Most High with this good news: Christ is risen! Dear friends, join me as we follow the women to and from the tomb today, and have the darkness of our hearts scattered by the Light of Holy Scripture!
Part I: Of our own hearts
As we turn to St. Mark's gospel, our ears catch a bit of their conversation, "They asked each other, 'Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" This was no paupers' hovel that Jesus had been placed, but the tomb of a rich man. And in keeping with Joseph of Arimathea's wealth, the stone was also very large. So large, we gather that it took three men, Joseph, Nicodemus and John, to put it in its place.
But the conversation shows us much more. It shows us the state of their mind and their heart. Their deep grief had sent their heart running in every direction and spawned every fear, as grief has the habit of doing. They worried about rolling the stone away, getting the spices, leaving early. But all showed one thing: They were grieving their Lord's death and seeking some kind of closure.
Grief is the sadness of a loss: whether the loss of a job, a loved one, a dream, a child, an opportunity and so on. Grieving is trying to close that wound. The effect of grieving on the human soul is like scare tissue. The bleeding stops, but the feeling is gone as well. And after 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years, what we become us just a collection of emotional scars. We are desperate to lose those scars and feel as we did before.
In the Academy Award winning film Crash, the police detective in the opening scene says, "I think that the reason some people crash into others is just so that they will feel something." People try drugs to escape pain and feel at peace, others join cults, others rush to the psychiatrist's couch or get a prescription for Prozac. But true closure from grief, true relief from pain, can never be accomplished by any human endeavor.
The reason is simple. The pain is real, but we neither understand how deep it goes in us or what the real cause of it is. The real cause of our grief is not death, war, sickness, and tragedy. These are but symptoms of the disease. The true disease is sin. Man breaks God's law. The result is death and pain. The effect is grief and guilt.
The women arrive at the tomb with such a mindset. When they see the stone rolled away, they again show their grief. They gaping and gawking with mouths wide open. Some one has desecrated the grave! Some one has taken the Lord! They slowly enter the tomb to asses the damage and explore this frightening scene.
Suddenly, a young man dressed in a long flowing gown gleaming like lightening, appears opposite the place where Jesus had been laid! Now their fear has poured on top of their grief. They stand there dumbfounded. But the Angel tells them, "Don't be alarmed…you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been raised! He is not here! See the place where they laid him!"
This brightly arrayed angel does in one sentence what all the drugs, alcohol, self-help books and human planning can never do. These words scatter the darkness of a grieving heart. These words reveal that there is a true savior in the world. They emptiness of the tomb tells us that the good news of Jesus is the good news that gives peace.
Paul sums up the effect of the empty tomb on the heart of grieving Christians in this way, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…if only for this life we have hope, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…as in Adam all die, so in Christ, all will be made alive."
The angel's words affect us like a spiritual crash cart. He places the paddles upon our chest and calls out, "Clear! Clear the worries of your mind! Clear the grief of your heart! Clear the hopelessness and cynicism of this world! Christ is risen!" No longer does the darkness of sin, guilt and this world trouble me! God has accepted Jesus' death as payment for our sins!
This message is the beating heart of all our hope! No longer can the devil assail me with my sins. No longer do I fear death! My love of Jesus is not in vain! Whenever taunts come, doubts fly and sorrow rolls over me, I return to the empty tomb, and quickly does my darkness vanish in the radiance of the light of life!
Part II: of others
The warmth of this light makes me feel like Jeremiah, "His Word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in. Indeed, I cannot." And those first to the tomb are privileged to be the first to feel the fire of the Risen Christ and to spread its flame to other darkened hearts.
The angel commands the women to share this message, "Go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you!'" The empty tomb is not to be a secret! It is the confirmation Jesus surely was the Son of God. It tells us that God has accepted his payment. It is our proof that we shall rise as well. With this three-fold comfort, the women are commanded to go and tell.
The women are to tell Peter. The bitterness of Peter's remorse for his denials must have come close to overcoming him. How that gaze of battered Jesus must have tormented him. He needed that dark shroud of despair lifted. The Lord had work for Peter. They are to tell the disciples! Scattered as they were throughout Jerusalem, they were to find and tell them that Christ has risen!
And yet, the final verse of our text troubles us, "Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." Why, with such great news, did they remain silent? Perhaps a closer look at each other will reveal the answer.
No one here was afraid to come to church today. No one is afraid to listen and nod in agreement with the sermon. Together we shout, "Amen," and "Hallelujah." But when the command comes, "Now share your comfort," our lips quickly zip, our piety quickly disguised, and our bodies quickly run for cover.
We also have been entrusted with the sweet and comforting message of the resurrection of Christ. And yet, we are afraid, of what might happen to us if we share it. Will I be pegged as a Bible banger? Am I going to be thought of as simplistic and narrow minded? Will I be cast out of favor for my beliefs? All these fears are thrown at you by Satan and your sinful self with one hope in mind: joyful silence. The devil loves nothing more than a silent Christian.
The women may have very well remained silent, but Jesus appears to them. He tells them, "Don't be afraid." Assured of what they have seen and heard, they return to Jerusalem, tell Peter, and the other disciples. They keep telling them, even when the disciples refused to believe their testimony.
Your hearts have been filled with the same resurrection joy. You also have been commissioned by Christ (Matt 28:19-20) to preach this good news. But you too will follow the path of joyful silence and content inaction. You too will flee in fear unless you realize that the Risen Christ has graciously appeared to you as well.
The joy of Easter is not confined to one hour a year, but every day and minute of a Christian's life. Christ graciously meets you, bewildered and trembling in this hostile world in the Word, washing and meal. Christ has given to you teachers and preachers to illuminate and encourage with the Word of God. And there, repeatedly, you find Christ standing in your path telling you, "Fear not, I am with you!"
Encouraged by the Risen Lord, we affect our task: to illuminate our neighbor, to dispel his grief and point him to the comfort of Jesus Christ! As the great mission hymn sings, "Can we whose souls are lighted with wisdom from on high, can we to those benighted the lamp of life deny? Salvation, O Salvation! The joyful sound proclaim till each remotest nation has learned Messiah's name."
Who will keep you from this task and from the Lord? Will death? Will famine, hardship and persecution? Will danger or demons? Indeed, Paul reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord! Unafraid we go forth, led by the burning pillar of fire, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, illuminating darkened hearts with the gospel. Flee this place today with that joy and message.
Amen
Sermon for Easter Sunday
Text: Mark 16:1-8
Preached at Mount Olive Lutheran Church
April 16, 2006
