“Oh!  By the Way. . .”

based on Mark 16:3

Pastor Richard Mau

Easter Festival Service (9:00 & 10:45)

April 20, 2003

Immanuel Lutheran – Des Plaines, IL

 

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE

Psalm 118        Isaiah 25:6-9    1 Corinthians 15:19-28 Mark 16:1-8

 

Mark 16:3 They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"

 

 

            Whether it be husbands and wives, parents and children, workers and employers, there is this human tendency that goes kind of like this.  You are doing something or going somewhere, and in the middle of everything someone comes up with one of those, “Oh! By the way. . .” statements that unloads something of major significance that causes everyone to look either in astonishment or, more often, in disgust with, “Well, NOW you tell me!” It is kind of like, “Why didn’t you think to tell me this before?”

 

            The women going to Jesus’ tomb on that first day following the Sabbath were intent on doing something very important to them.  Late on Friday, they watched as Joseph (of Arimathea) and Nicodemus very compassionately took Jesus’ crucified body and reverently wrapped it with spices and laid it in a special tomb.  These two men did this out of love and respect for their Lord whom they believed was the Christ.  They ensured that Jesus would have a proper and very special burial.  And the women watched as a massive stone was rolled to seal the tomb shut, protecting the remains from vandals or scavenger animals.

 

            The women had gone out after sundown on the Sabbath and purchased other spices to anoint Jesus’ body, thus completing a very proper burial and recognition.  And they were up before daybreak so they could be at the site of the tomb as daylight broke, to complete this preparation the very first thing in their day.  Their actions speak to a solid devotion to their Lord Jesus.  But in all of their planning and preparation, they did not consider the heavy stone they knew was there. 

 

 

            Keep in mind these women, nor any other of Jesus’ disciples and followers, knew that a guard had been posted.  The Sanhedrin had arranged that secretly while all others were faithfully observing the Sabbath Passover.  It was not until later that they became aware of this action.

 

            As they approach the tomb, here is where we hear that, Oh! By the way. What about that big stone that we cannot handle?  Who is going to roll it away for us?  The answer, one that we know today, is that God’s plan certainly was different than what they expected.

 

            Mark opens his Gospel with these words:  “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  He concludes his book with the account of the resurrection.  This resurrection from the dead is the clinching event in the life of Christ.  Without the resurrection there is no basis of faith.  The resurrection is part of God’s plan to save his people from their sins and to bring them back into everlasting life that was lost at the moment of the first sin in Eden. 

 

The resurrection was observed and reported by pagan soldier guards, these women who went to the tomb, the angels God sent to proclaim Jesus’ victory over death to them, and to the disciples and over 500 other believers whom Jesus revealed his risen self to as Paul records in 1 Corinthians. 

 

Christian faith cannot stand without the resurrection.  Without the resurrection there is no hope.  Without the resurrection Jesus’ life and death become just another good teacher who walked the territory of Palestine those few years.  What makes Jesus known to all the world today is that he is God, he came to us in human form in the person of the Son of God the Father.   He redeemed, that is bought back believers from eternal death, when he died as the sacrifice needed to pay the price of all sins of all time.  He proved this sacrifice accepted by God by this resurrection. 

 

            The resurrection is not an, “Oh!  By the way. . .” thing that skeptical historians and philosophers try to pass it off as.  It is a miracle that God purposefully did for you.  Jesus performed countless miracles during his three-year ministry to verify his divine self.  This is the last miracle that he needed to perform so that people of all times could rest secure in their faith in God as not only their maker, but their redeemer.  That is what his given name “Jesus” means, “He will save his people from their sins.”  [Matthew 1:21]

 

            When the angel declared to the women, “He has risen!” Jesus’ work on earth is now complete.  God made you in his image.  You have broken that image in your inherited sinfulness and the innumerable sins you have committed in your thoughts words, and deeds.  You cannot save yourself and deserve God’s eternal wrath as your life is a constant rebellion against his will and his commands.  But God still loves you and wants you to be his dear children, not just now but for all eternity. 

 

To do this he humbled himself taking on human form, sent as the Son from the Father.  He lived the life of perfect obedience to the Father that no man could.  He lived that life also in complete servitude to you, giving all that he had so that you will be saved.  He suffered and died a death being rejected and forsaken by the Father so that you never need to fear that kind of death.  He rose today from the grave to give you the assurance that because he lives, you will live too.  It will not be a spiritual life alone. Your flesh will be raised bodily, just like Christ, to be just like him in eternity.  It is just as Job wrote, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes-- I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!”  [Job 19:25-26]

 

            You and I live today in a world, in a nation, and in a community where the prevailing thoughts about Jesus are more on the, “Oh! By the way, there is this person Jesus.”  You and I live today in a world, in a nation, and in a community where the prevailing beliefs are anything but Jesus Christ as the true Son of God, that Jesus Christ is our risen and ascended Lord and Savior.  Our world, nation and society have deceived people into thinking that if you believe something you are ok.  But Jesus has clearly said to us, “I and the Father are one.”  [John 10:30]  He has stated very clearly, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  [John 14:6]    And for those who wonder if the resurrection is for you or not, Jesus comforts you saying, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.  [John 11:25]

 

            Christians are baptized in this faith.  Christians are baptized in the name of the Triune God as there is no other God.  Christians are saved by God’s grace alone by faith in Jesus Christ his dear son alone.  And, by the power of the Holy Spirit given to us by both the Father and the Son, let us proclaim our Lord’s death and resurrection until he comes again.                     Amen.

 

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!

 

He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

 

 

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