"Does Easter Really Make a Difference?" The Resurrection of Our Lord Easter Day Commemoration of Johannes Bugenhagen, Pastor April 20, 2014 Mark 16:1–8
You probably weren’t expecting to hear this here in church, especially on this day, but here goes: does Easter really make a difference? Do the events of Jesus’ crucifixion and His resurrection actually change things? Is all of this just a celebration, or are things actually better because Jesus died and rose? These questions may seem to you sacrilegious, especially on this high holy day of the Church Year. Or at least not proper for this setting here in God’s House. Isn’t it the non-Christians who are supposed to be asking these questions? Aren’t those who have an axe to grind against Christianity the ones who question whether Jesus rose and in any event point out that it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference anyway? At the same time, you might have come here today wondering exactly these things. You might find it refreshing asking these questions here in this place. Perhaps you have heard too many Christians in your life tell you that you are not supposed to question, that you’re not supposed to understand, or that you’re not supposed to have any doubts or uncertainties. Does Easter really make a difference? You might be wondering why we’re going down that road, or you might be glad the question is being raised. Whichever way you find yourself, it’s okay to ask the questions. It’s even good to ask the questions. The Bible gives you permission to do it. The Bible is filled with examples of people who believed in God and asked a lot of questions. They had a lot of doubts. They struggled in their inability to understand. That is refreshing. It’s comforting to know that you’re not alone. It’s a relief to know that you’re not the only one who wonders. It’s not just you who has the questions, the nagging doubts, or even outright doubts. You’re not alone in struggles. You’re not the only one who wonders if God is there for you when it seems the troubles and challenges of life are threatening to overwhelm you. If it’s true the Jesus rose from the grave, why does it seem that He doesn’t help me when I’m suffering from severe illness? If it’s true that Jesus had power over death, why does it seem there’s very little power over bills that are piling up and disputes between family members or co-workers? It’s enough just to look at the struggles in our own personal daily lives. But if you look at the world you only see it on a big scale: problems keep cropping up, natural disasters continue to take their toll, and individuals and groups continue to terrorize ordinary citizens. Does Easter really make a difference? Are things actually better because Jesus rose from the dead? Because it sure doesn’t look like it. It sure sometimes doesn’t feel like it. He may have risen from the dead, but where is He? And what is He doing to make things better? Or at least not get worse? Because it sure seems like things keep getting worse. One answer to all of this is denial. I don’t mean psychological denial. I mean just plain, simple denial. Jesus did not rise from the dead. He lived. And He died. But come alive after three days? Who actually believes in that kind of stuff? As it happens, a lot of people do, and they’re known as Christians. But the person who sees things rationally and realistically sees that plainly people do not rise from the dead. So denial is the answer. This is the answer you will hear on the airwaves and on TV when they have those programs where they interview scholars who talk about how, far from rising from the tomb, Jesus was placed in a different tomb than the one the women went to or that the first Christians just made up the whole story or many other plausible explanations to account for the obvious myth of Jesus being in a tomb for three days and then emerging from it alive. The denial of Jesus rising from the dead seems the logical one. It seems the one that makes sense, since even for the sake of argument He had risen from the dead, it sure doesn’t seem to make much of a difference! But there is another answer. It is the one the Bible gives. You might just find that it’s much more realistic than trying to explain away Easter. It is the one of all of those Christians in the Bible who believed in God and yet questioned Him. The one of all those people of God in the Bible who trusted in God and yet were free to ask Him about their doubts and their struggles and their uncertainties. It is the one Mark tells us at the end of the account of the resurrection of Jesus. When the women went to the tomb early on Sunday to anoint the body of Jesus and were met by an angel instead and he told them that Jesus was no longer in the tomb but had risen, the women “went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” Denial of the facts, frankly, isn’t rational. It’s a cop-out. Wrestling with the facts, however, that’s very reasonable. And it’s much more realistic of how we actually are. That’s why the Bible is not afraid to tell things the way they are. It is very comfortable in stating that those women didn’t go away from the empty tomb now feeling that everything was right with the world but rather went away in astonishment and fear. Do we think that now that Jesus has risen from the grave everything is just going to be okay? Do we think all our doubts and fears and struggles will vanish into a wisp of air? The Bible teaches differently, and so does our experience. You may be here today fully confident in faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You may be here today deeply struggling and wrestling with questions and doubt. It’s okay to ask the questions. Wrestle with the truth of what the angel said. He is not here. He’s no longer in the grave. He is risen. He is alive. It makes all the difference in the world because it makes all the difference for eternity. Things will continue to get worse here in this life because it is a fallen world. But Easter is the event that has changed all eternity. Because of His death and resurrection, He has given you salvation and though your struggles in this life will finally end in the grave, you will not end there. You will be raised from the grave. You will live forever in heaven without any pain, suffering, doubt, fear, or sin. There are many who deny this and they deny it to their eternal death. It makes a difference. It makes all the difference. Jesus died and rose so that you may not die forever but live forever. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
