Sermon for the Feast of the Resurrection A Long Day’s Journey Out of Night Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! In today’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene picks her way through the darkness, headed to tomb where the body of Jesus had been laid. “It was still dark.” Dear Christian friends: Occasionally, small children fear the dark. You can’t see anything in the dark. There is no certainty, no assurance, no visible source of comfort. Nighttime darkness gives opportunity for young fears to grow large. Throughout the entire Gospel according to St. John, darkness and nighttime are used as images of sin, unbelief and inability to understand. · Chapter 1 states that Jesus is the light of men, the light that “shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:5, NIV). These Words do not refer to literal darkness, but to spiritual darkness—that is, the darkness of refusing to be enlightened by the light of Christ. · In John chapter 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness. The darkness serves as a symbol of Nicodemus’ lack of understanding, even his unbelief, as he asks Jesus those searching questions, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb?” (John 3:4) · Then there is that the man born blind in John chapter 9. His blinded eyes are symptomatic of his entire life, of that blinded condition that did not allow him to see the Lord’s salvation. Jesus opens the man’s eyes and calls the man out of the darkness—not merely out of the darkness physical blindness, but out of the darkness of sin and unbelief. · Finally, there is that dark act committed by Judas Iscariot, one of the Lord’s disciples. Judas betrayed Jesus to His enemies and handed Him over to be crucified. Describing how Judas headed out the door on his dark errand, St. John chillingly wrote, “It was night” (John 13:27). Enter today’s Gospel: “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark.” Not only was it early in the morning, but Mary Magdalene is still in the darkness, that is, still not understanding the Word and promise of her Lord and yours. Mary stills looks upon the Jesus with merely human eyes and with frail human understanding. You heard John’s explain, “As yet they did not understand the Scripture, that Jesus must rise from the dead.” But the Resurrection opens their eyes. It was not enough to see the stone rolled away from the tomb (John 20:1), because that stone only created the fear that someone has “taken the Lord out of the tomb” and discarded His body in an unknown place. It is not even enough for Mary to see those “two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.” Mary Magdalene was utterly unable to believe until that moment when her Lord Jesus opened her blind eyes; when He made her able to believe; when His light shined in her darkness (John 1:5); when He revealed Himself to her in His resurrected glory and called her by name,“Mary!” With the speaking of the divine Word, she who once was in the darkness of sin, unbelief, and lack of understanding is now gets drawn into the eternal light of Christ. “Mary!” says Jesus. The scales of unbelief fall from her eyes and Mary sees Jesus her resurrected Lord. What does this darkness and light in John’s Gospel mean for us? It means that, apart from the resurrection of our Lord, we remain mired in the blackest, darkest night of our sins. Apart from Jesus’ resurrection we live in hell on earth—for what is hell, other than the eternal torment and torture of being separated from God? Without His resurrection, we have no hope, for God has said, “If Christ has not been raised your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:14). But now the darkness has been banished by the Light of Christ. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! No longer do you stumble along in the darkness of unbelief, like Mary did on her way to the tomb. By the power of the resurrection, God has opened your eyes, just as He opened Mary’s eyes in today’s Gospel. God has “called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8). The resurrected Jesus is the bright and eternal life that chases the shadows of your own death away. For all who have been baptized into Christ, these shadows of death no longer terrify and inspire fear. We are no longer children cowering in fear of darkness, but we are children of the light! Thus it is written: · “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4, KJV). · “Death is swallowed up in victory! O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). · “I shall live to enjoy the light of life” (Job 33:28, ESV). · “Our Savior Christ Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). This is why Mary finally rejoices. This why she rushed away from the tomb, reporting to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18). This is also a good reason for us to have an Easter Sunday pep-rally, and to say with great volume and great joy, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
