Easter Sunday
Mark 16:1-7
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 31, 2024
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
“Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” asked the women as they went to Jesus’ tomb to anoint His dead body with spices. This large stone meant to keep Jesus’ dead body trapped inside the tomb is symbolic of an even larger stone, an immovable stone, which mankind has failed ever to move. This immovable stone is death. Perhaps, if the women found a couple of strong men with a lever, they could move the stone from Jesus’ tomb. But no one can move the immovable stone of death. And you all know this. All of you who have ever looked in the face of your dead loved one, father, mother, husband, wife, or child, know this. There’s nothing you can do. I’m amazed by what modern medicine can do. People, I was certain were going to die, get better through surgery or medical intervention. There is now talk that through computers, we may soon see those born blind given sight and the paralyzed with severed spinal cords walk again. Remarkable. But no medical or computer advancements can raise the dead. You stare at the dead in the face. The doctors are as helpless as you are. You put your dead in the grave and visit the grave, but they stay underground.
Death is an immovable stone, because it is the fruit of sin. “The wages of sin is death,” St. Paul writes in Romans 6 (vs. 23), “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law,” he writes again in 1 Corinthians 15 (vs. 56). Can you remove your sin? So could you remove your death. But we can’t remove our sins. Once they are done the guilt remains. And death is a constant reminder of the guilt that hangs over our heads. Unless sin can be removed from us, the stone of death will remain in place.
Yet, when the women arrive at Jesus’ tomb, the stone is removed! Jesus’ body is gone. And an angel announces to them that Christ has risen, just as He said He would! As the stone before Jesus’ tomb has been moved, so the immovable stone which kept all of us in the grave has been lifted. Jesus has removed it by removing our sins. Christ is true God and true man. The sins of the whole world were laid upon Him as He went to the cross, and He paid for all of them with His blood. How do you know that He paid for all of them and not some of them or none of them? Because Christ was raised from the dead. St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 4, “Jesus Christ our Lord was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (vs. 25) He was delivered up to death for our sins, as the Prophet Isaiah prophesied, “The Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) Not some of the sins of the world, but all the sins of the world, as the Apostle John later writes, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
Jesus suffered for all sins, your sins, and the sins of the whole world. And He was raised from the dead. The fact that He is risen proves that your sins are gone. If a single sin remained unpaid, then Christ would not have risen. This is how you know that you have forgiveness of sins in Christ.
So, what does this mean for us? It means that we too will rise from the dead! Mary and the other women must have laughed at themselves later. They were going to Jesus’ grave to anoint his body with spices. Why were they going to do that? Because they believed in the Resurrection of the dead. They prayed in the Psalter, “The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 115:17-18) How can they bless and praise the LORD forevermore, if they’re dead? They can’t. So, they believed from Scripture that they would rise from the dead. So, they wanted to honor Jesus’ dead body as a confession that His body would rise, as would all bodies. Yet, they were surprised that Jesus’ body rose! Well, how did they think the resurrection from the dead would take place? Christ must rise first!
The Feast of Firstfruits coincided with the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. (In that part of the world, they begin their harvest in the spring). In Leviticus 23, God instructed the people to bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest to the priest for him to wave it before the LORD on the day after the Sabbath (vss. 10-11) of the Passover. So, on this day after the Sabbath when Christ was raised from the dead, the Chief Priest would have been waving the sheaf of the firstfruits before the LORD in the temple. They could not bring in the rest of the harvest until they first waved the sheaf of the firstfruits before the LORD. And they could not expect God to bless any future harvests, if they did not bring their firstfruits before God. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ.” (vss. 20-23)
When Christ rose from the dead, He fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits by making possible our harvest. In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus compares the Last Day of Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead to a harvest, when He will send out His angels to gather the grain into barns, but the chaff, He will burn in the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For us to enjoy the Resurrection of the Dead, Christ must first rise as the Firstfruits of them from the dead.
Yet, there is more. For us to enjoy the resurrection of the dead, we must be joined to Christ. St. Paul writes in Romans 5, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” (vs. 17) Yet, you’ll notice that he says, “those who receive...” Everybody will rise from the dead on the Last Day. But not all will enter the Resurrection into eternal life. Others will be raised to the resurrection of judgment, when they will be condemned and cast into the everlasting punishment. They would rather never rise from the dead, but let their graves forever cover them than to rise to judgment. But Scripture is clear that after death comes judgement. And on the Last Day, while the righteous will be gathered into paradise, the unrighteous will be condemned.
This is why St. Paul writes to the Philippians in chapter 3, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (vss. 8-11)
Jesus was raised for our justification. Justification is being declared righteous. Jesus justified the whole world in His resurrection, because He died for the sins of the whole world. Yet, this justification, this righteousness can only be received through faith. This means that the resurrection to eternal life can only be received through faith. It does not depend on our works, but on faith, which receives Christ’s righteousness as a gift.
Yet, notice how seriously the Apostle Paul takes attaining the resurrection from the dead. He counts all his accomplishments as rubbish. He shares in Christ’s suffering, so that he may become like Him in death. That means that he crucifies his sinful flesh by repenting of his sins every day, crucifying his pride, his lusts, his anger, his passions, and is willing to be maligned for his confession of Christ. As he was buried with Christ in Baptism, so that he might rise with Him through the glory of the Father, so he buries himself with Christ everyday through repentance, that he might walk in newness of life in Christ each day (Romans 6).
If we lose our faith in Christ, we lose Christ’s righteousness and so the resurrection to eternal life. Yet, it is not in our power to have faith in Christ. It must be given to us by God as a gift. For us to enjoy the resurrection of the body, God must raise us spiritually today and every day, so that we have faith in His Son. He does this through the proclamation of the Gospel. He does this through Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar. In Baptism you put on Christ. And through faithfully receiving the preaching of the Gospel and the Lord’s Supper, you keep Christ on as a holy garment.
Scripture says that Christ is the head of His body the Church (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:29-30). If The head rises from the dead, so will the body. How can the head rise and leave its members dead? So, the Church will rise with Christ, because she is His body. But outside of the Church, that is, outside of that marital union with Christ through faith, you are not part of His body and will not rise with Him, but will rather experience the resurrection of judgment.
So, we should with St. Paul count all our things, our money, jobs, pride, lusts, grudges, and everything else that we cling to in sin, as rubbish, that we may be found in Christ with a righteousness from God, which depends on faith in Christ. We should not treasure anything in this world, because it can and will all be taken away. Rather, we should treasure Christ, who removed the immovable stone from our tomb and was waved as the Firstfruits from the dead before God, so that we too might be harvested and gathered into His barn. In Christ’s resurrection, we find everything we need: forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation. Through His Word and Sacraments, Christ keeps us joined to His body the Church, which cannot fail to rise with Him on the Last Day. Christ has removed the immovable stone from our graves, so that we may live with Him forever.
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.
Mark 16:1-7
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
March 31, 2024
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. 5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
“Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” asked the women as they went to Jesus’ tomb to anoint His dead body with spices. This large stone meant to keep Jesus’ dead body trapped inside the tomb is symbolic of an even larger stone, an immovable stone, which mankind has failed ever to move. This immovable stone is death. Perhaps, if the women found a couple of strong men with a lever, they could move the stone from Jesus’ tomb. But no one can move the immovable stone of death. And you all know this. All of you who have ever looked in the face of your dead loved one, father, mother, husband, wife, or child, know this. There’s nothing you can do. I’m amazed by what modern medicine can do. People, I was certain were going to die, get better through surgery or medical intervention. There is now talk that through computers, we may soon see those born blind given sight and the paralyzed with severed spinal cords walk again. Remarkable. But no medical or computer advancements can raise the dead. You stare at the dead in the face. The doctors are as helpless as you are. You put your dead in the grave and visit the grave, but they stay underground.
Death is an immovable stone, because it is the fruit of sin. “The wages of sin is death,” St. Paul writes in Romans 6 (vs. 23), “The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law,” he writes again in 1 Corinthians 15 (vs. 56). Can you remove your sin? So could you remove your death. But we can’t remove our sins. Once they are done the guilt remains. And death is a constant reminder of the guilt that hangs over our heads. Unless sin can be removed from us, the stone of death will remain in place.
Yet, when the women arrive at Jesus’ tomb, the stone is removed! Jesus’ body is gone. And an angel announces to them that Christ has risen, just as He said He would! As the stone before Jesus’ tomb has been moved, so the immovable stone which kept all of us in the grave has been lifted. Jesus has removed it by removing our sins. Christ is true God and true man. The sins of the whole world were laid upon Him as He went to the cross, and He paid for all of them with His blood. How do you know that He paid for all of them and not some of them or none of them? Because Christ was raised from the dead. St. Paul writes in Romans chapter 4, “Jesus Christ our Lord was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” (vs. 25) He was delivered up to death for our sins, as the Prophet Isaiah prophesied, “The Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) Not some of the sins of the world, but all the sins of the world, as the Apostle John later writes, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2)
Jesus suffered for all sins, your sins, and the sins of the whole world. And He was raised from the dead. The fact that He is risen proves that your sins are gone. If a single sin remained unpaid, then Christ would not have risen. This is how you know that you have forgiveness of sins in Christ.
So, what does this mean for us? It means that we too will rise from the dead! Mary and the other women must have laughed at themselves later. They were going to Jesus’ grave to anoint his body with spices. Why were they going to do that? Because they believed in the Resurrection of the dead. They prayed in the Psalter, “The dead do not praise the LORD, nor do any who go down into silence. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 115:17-18) How can they bless and praise the LORD forevermore, if they’re dead? They can’t. So, they believed from Scripture that they would rise from the dead. So, they wanted to honor Jesus’ dead body as a confession that His body would rise, as would all bodies. Yet, they were surprised that Jesus’ body rose! Well, how did they think the resurrection from the dead would take place? Christ must rise first!
The Feast of Firstfruits coincided with the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. (In that part of the world, they begin their harvest in the spring). In Leviticus 23, God instructed the people to bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest to the priest for him to wave it before the LORD on the day after the Sabbath (vss. 10-11) of the Passover. So, on this day after the Sabbath when Christ was raised from the dead, the Chief Priest would have been waving the sheaf of the firstfruits before the LORD in the temple. They could not bring in the rest of the harvest until they first waved the sheaf of the firstfruits before the LORD. And they could not expect God to bless any future harvests, if they did not bring their firstfruits before God. St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ.” (vss. 20-23)
When Christ rose from the dead, He fulfilled the Feast of Firstfruits by making possible our harvest. In Matthew chapter 13, Jesus compares the Last Day of Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead to a harvest, when He will send out His angels to gather the grain into barns, but the chaff, He will burn in the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For us to enjoy the Resurrection of the Dead, Christ must first rise as the Firstfruits of them from the dead.
Yet, there is more. For us to enjoy the resurrection of the dead, we must be joined to Christ. St. Paul writes in Romans 5, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” (vs. 17) Yet, you’ll notice that he says, “those who receive...” Everybody will rise from the dead on the Last Day. But not all will enter the Resurrection into eternal life. Others will be raised to the resurrection of judgment, when they will be condemned and cast into the everlasting punishment. They would rather never rise from the dead, but let their graves forever cover them than to rise to judgment. But Scripture is clear that after death comes judgement. And on the Last Day, while the righteous will be gathered into paradise, the unrighteous will be condemned.
This is why St. Paul writes to the Philippians in chapter 3, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (vss. 8-11)
Jesus was raised for our justification. Justification is being declared righteous. Jesus justified the whole world in His resurrection, because He died for the sins of the whole world. Yet, this justification, this righteousness can only be received through faith. This means that the resurrection to eternal life can only be received through faith. It does not depend on our works, but on faith, which receives Christ’s righteousness as a gift.
Yet, notice how seriously the Apostle Paul takes attaining the resurrection from the dead. He counts all his accomplishments as rubbish. He shares in Christ’s suffering, so that he may become like Him in death. That means that he crucifies his sinful flesh by repenting of his sins every day, crucifying his pride, his lusts, his anger, his passions, and is willing to be maligned for his confession of Christ. As he was buried with Christ in Baptism, so that he might rise with Him through the glory of the Father, so he buries himself with Christ everyday through repentance, that he might walk in newness of life in Christ each day (Romans 6).
If we lose our faith in Christ, we lose Christ’s righteousness and so the resurrection to eternal life. Yet, it is not in our power to have faith in Christ. It must be given to us by God as a gift. For us to enjoy the resurrection of the body, God must raise us spiritually today and every day, so that we have faith in His Son. He does this through the proclamation of the Gospel. He does this through Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar. In Baptism you put on Christ. And through faithfully receiving the preaching of the Gospel and the Lord’s Supper, you keep Christ on as a holy garment.
Scripture says that Christ is the head of His body the Church (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:29-30). If The head rises from the dead, so will the body. How can the head rise and leave its members dead? So, the Church will rise with Christ, because she is His body. But outside of the Church, that is, outside of that marital union with Christ through faith, you are not part of His body and will not rise with Him, but will rather experience the resurrection of judgment.
So, we should with St. Paul count all our things, our money, jobs, pride, lusts, grudges, and everything else that we cling to in sin, as rubbish, that we may be found in Christ with a righteousness from God, which depends on faith in Christ. We should not treasure anything in this world, because it can and will all be taken away. Rather, we should treasure Christ, who removed the immovable stone from our tomb and was waved as the Firstfruits from the dead before God, so that we too might be harvested and gathered into His barn. In Christ’s resurrection, we find everything we need: forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and eternal salvation. Through His Word and Sacraments, Christ keeps us joined to His body the Church, which cannot fail to rise with Him on the Last Day. Christ has removed the immovable stone from our graves, so that we may live with Him forever.
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.
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