Sermon for Easter 5: "Christ the Vine"

 + 5^th Sunday of Easter – April 28^th, 2024 +

Series B: Acts 8:26-40; 1 John 1:4-11; John 15:1-8

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Here in Washington we’re no strangers to fruit trees and fruit vines. You’ll find apple, pear, and cherry orchards. Vineyards of grapes and hop vines…and patches of raspberries, boysenberries, and plenty of blackberries (whether you like them or not!). And on those once barren looking trees and vines we witness the rhythm and pattern of life God first planted in creation; we see the masterpiece that is spring. Dormant buds give way to leaves, and flowers. Flowers are pollinated and give way to fruit. 

 

And obvious though it is, it’s worth remembering the order of things: fruit hangs on branches; branches are connected to a vine / tree. And the tree is the source of life for the branches and fruit. For fruit trees / vines to grow and bear fruit they need a true Vine, a living Vine, and a vinedresser. 

 

So, Jesus opens up his personal farmer’s almanac and gives us a little agricultural theology; he describes our Christian life in his dying and rising using fruit trees and vines. Jesus truly is as he says he is. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

 

Jesus tells us who he is. Who we are in him. And how we live in him. Jesus is the Vine. You are his branches. As a branch you abide in Christ the Vine. And as his branches, who abide in Christ, you also bear fruit. Bearing fruit is what branches do. But they don’t do this very well on their own. For the life, health, and growth of the tree / vine and the fruit, the gardener, or vinedresser prunes. 

 

This is a familiar image for us. Perhaps you’ve been in your yard, as we have ours these past few weekends, clipping dead raspberry shoots, pruning dead branches on our apple, cherry, and pear trees. Our backyards are a window into Jesus’ words today in John 15. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 

 

Bearing fruit is what branches do. As branches of Christ the Vine our branches and fruit do not all look the same. Some produce more fruit, some only a little – don’t bother comparing your fruit to another’s, or another’s to yours – it really is all gift to begin with. And Christ has no fruit quotas; he doesn’t take inventory – only that we bear fruit in him; and when you are joined to Christ the Vine, you are a good tree who produces fruit. And don’t worry that in this life our fruit is not perfect – our sinful flesh always worms its way through everything we do. But in Christ even our fruit is forgiven and covered in his righteousness by the tree of his cross. 

 

Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. “Clean” isn’t really the best wording here. Jesus uses the same word here as he did when he said the branches that bear no fruit are pruned. Already you are pruned because of the word. How are we pruned by God the Father, the vinedresser? Because of the Word that I have spoken to you.

 

The Vinedresser did some pruning already this morning when we confessed our sins and received absolution. God’s word – at times – is a pruning shears, pruning the diseased branches, cutting away what is dead in us, casting off our sin. And, God’s word is also our life as branches of Christ the Vine. In the water and word of your baptism he grafted you into his dying and rising on the tree.

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 

 

It’s true, apart from Christ we can do nothing. We have nothing. We are nothing. Apart from the Vine, we the branches whither, dry up, and die. But in Christ you are good branches, joined to the good tree. In Christ you have everything. In Christ you also bear good fruit. In Christ you abide. 

 

This is one of John’s favorite words for what it means to be in Christ. To abide is to remain, dwell with, and live in. To abide is to be with…to be nurtured…to receive, moment by moment life from the tree / the vine…to receive life itself from Christ. 

 

This is who you are in Christ’s dying and rising. I am the vine; you are the branches.

 

The God who said to Adam and Eve, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit, also gave himself – gave his very life – on a tree, unto death, so that we would not be cut off from the Vinedresser forever, but grafted into Christ the Vine, given life in Christ the Vine, made to abide in Christ the Vine…now and forever.

 

The God who declares to you, “I am the Vine; you are the branches” gives his very body and his blood -the fruit of the cross, in the fruit of the field and fruit of the vine and abides with you in his body and blood in the bread and wine for you. Here he nurtures. Gives. Forgives. And we receive his life.

 

The God who bore our sins and death on the tree of the cross and is the first-fruits of the resurrection of the dead, is the same God who, by his Spirit, bears fruit in your lives. And the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,²³ gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 

This is who you are because this is who Jesus declares you to be, created you, and baptized you to be. 

Jesus is the Vine. You are his branches, who abide in Christ, bear fruit. For you are good branches of and abide in Christ the Vine.

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sermon for Easter 4: "The Good Shepherd"

 + 4^th Sunday of Easter – April 21^st, 2024 +

Series B: Acts 4:1-12; 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

I am the good shepherd.

 

Jesus’ words are well known and well loved. But what does Jesus mean when he says he is the Good Shepherd? Does he mean that he is a respectable tender of wooly, ruminant animals? Or that he’s moral master of mutton? Or that he’s skilled at counting, sheering, and herding lambs and ewes? 

 

Thankfully we don’t have to wait too long to find out what Jesus means. He tells us exactly:

 

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 

 

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is good because he lays down his life for the sheep. Because he cares for the sheep. Because he does not runaway when the wolf comes hunting. Because he knows his sheep and they know him. Jesus, your Shepherd, is good because he lays down his life for you, his sheep. 

 

“Laying down his life” is the language of sacrifice. Now in the Scriptures, this is what lambs, sheep, goats, rams, and so forth, are usually given by God to do. To be the sacrifice. The innocent for the guilty. The sins poured out and placed upon the sacrificial lamb. The blood poured out upon altar and the people for atonement of sins.

 

Back in Genesis 22, when the Lord instructed Abraham to bring Isaac to Mt. Moriah as a burnt offering, Isaac asked, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham replied, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” The ram laid down its life for Isaac.

 

Back in the Exodus, the Lord told Moses, Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb…a lamb for a household…and on the 14^th day of the month you shall kill the lamb at twilight… they ate the lamb and put the blood on the doorposts. And when I see the blood, (the Lord said) I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. The lamb laid down its life for Israel.

 

Back when Jesus came to the Jordan River, John the Baptist declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! Jesus, the Lamb of God came to lay down his life for you.

 

All the sacrifices of the Old Testament. All of the lambs for the burnt offerings in the tabernacle and temple. They all point to Jesus. Fulfilled in Jesus. Guide our ears, eyes, hearts, and minds to Jesus the Good Shepherd.

 

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 

 

When he says this, Jesus reminds us that he is not your average shepherd. Most shepherds would not put themselves in harm’s way for the sheep. Some wander off. Some die. Some become wolf-chow. That’s just the cost of doing business. Not for Jesus the Good Shepherd. 

 

Jesus the Good Shepherd is also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the Lamb and the Good Shepherd…the one who sacrifices himself for you, and the one who saves you. 

 

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 

 

Jesus the Good Shepherd not your average shepherd in another way as well. He laid down his life not for perfect sheep, not for sheep without blemish or spot or sin. Not for sheep who always follow the shepherd. But for you and me. Wayward sheep. Stubborn, selfish, sinful sheep. 

 

By this we know Jesus the Shepherd is good. By this we know that Jesus the Shepherd loves and cares for you: he does not save you when you are at your best, but when you are at your worst. Not on your best sheep behavior, but when you were as stubborn and rebellious as an old goat.

 

By this we know the Shepherd’s love, that he laid down his life for us. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 

 

By this we know the Shepherds love, that the Shepherd who laid down his life for you on the cross, feeds you with his life here in his body and blood. That the Shepherd who laid down his life for you promises to never leave you nor forsake you in your life, come what may. That the Shepherd who laid down his life for you, sends you, his sheep, to care for one another – fellow sheep of the flock of Christ. To be a living sacrifice for others around you. To point wayward sheep back to Jesus the Good Shepherd. And to be like John the Baptist, pointing your family, friends, and neighbors who need Jesus to the Good Shepherd who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 

 

Today and every day, you are the people of his pasture and the sheep of the Good Shepherd’s hands. The one who says to you, I am your Good Shepherd.

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

 

 

Sermon for Easter 3: "The Body Matters"

 + 3^rd Sunday of Easter – April 14^th, 2024 +

Series B: Acts 3:11-21; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36-49

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Every week we confess these words together: I believe one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

 

Every week we confess these words together: I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ…who was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary…and was made man.

 

Every week we confess these words together: I look for the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.

 

Today and every week we confess that the body matters. God the Father has fearfully and wonderfully created you in the body. God the Son has graciously redeemed you in the body with his own body. God the Holy Spirit – in water and word and promise – has made your body his temple.

 

And one of the many blessings of Jesus’ resurrection that we celebrate in these 7 weeks of Easter is that to our Lord Jesus the body matters.

 

The body of Jesus crucified and risen…matters. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, your rescued and redeemed body matters to Jesus. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, your neighbor’s body matters to him too.

 

Don’t think – like some have and still do – that flesh and blood and skin and bones are not beneath God. That he’s only concerned with the “spiritual”. No. Just the opposite. For God spirituality is physical and physical things are spiritual: (A few examples…). God loves matter. God loves the human body. God the Father created you. God the Son saved you. And God the Holy Spirit holies you. All in your body.

 

And Jesus does all of this through his in-the-flesh, crucified, and risen body. The Christian faith is physical, material, tangible, fleshly because we have a physical, material, tangible, fleshly God who became man to save you in his body. Scripture teaches us, and we confess this great and gracious mystery made flesh and made fact: Jesus is God and man. 

 

The same body he stood in as he appeared to his disciples in Luke 24. See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” 

 

The body of Jesus that he shows his disciples is the same body that was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary for you. Was zygote and a blastocyst for you. Was growing in her womb for nine months for you. Was born for you.

 

The body of Jesus that he shows his disciples is the same body that was baptized for you in the Jordan River. In the flesh he was tempted for you. fasted for you. Hungered for you. In the body Jesus walked the dusty roads of Judea. Slept under the stars. Touched the dead bodies and raised them. Put his hands on sick bodies and healed them. 

The body of Jesus that he shows his disciples is the same body that ate and drank with tax collectors and prostitutes and disciples. The body that said take and eat, this bread is my body; take and drink this cup of wine is my blood. For you. The body that then sweat drops of blood. Was ripped open by whips. Bruised by fists and clubs. Soaked in sweat and spit and blood. The body that was pierced by nails. By thorns. By a spear. In his body he bore our sins – yes, all the sins that we commit with our body, and our mind, and our thoughts too – he bore it all in his body on the cross. The body that – like our body one day will – died and was buried. 

 

The body of Jesus that he shows his disciples is risen, glorified, alive again from the dead…and yes, still a human body. Jesus is and now always will be God and man. Though he keeps his scars. He is known by the scars. 

Luke 24 is yet another round of Jesus’ show and tell for his disciples and for you. He spoke peace. He created and still creates faith. Into the disciples’ fears and ours. Into the midst of their doubts and ours. He speaks, “Peace is with you.” And there he was. God’s peace. In the body. Standing there. Showing them his hands and his feet. And to top it all off, a little fish fry. “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Jesus’ resurrection was in the body. And His body was raised. Death no longer holds him can touch can lord it over him. 

 

And In Jesus’ death and resurrection, your rescued and redeemed body matters to Jesus as well. Jimmy Buffet once famously sang, “You treat your body like a temple; I treat mine like a tent.” “My body, my choice we hear.” Both are wrong. It is wrong to idolize our bodies. And it’s wrong to denigrate and destroy what God created. Your body is not an amusement park. And we are not autonomous. 

 

Our bodies matter to Jesus. And in our bodies we do both good, and evil. With our eyes we see someone in need…and with our eyes we look with lust upon a woman or a man. With our feet we walk to help our child or grandchild up from a fall on the playground…and with our feet we march to the beat of our own selfish drums. With our hands we write birthday cards or fix a leaky faucet…and with our hands we text or type words that cannot be unsent, unseen, or unsaid.

 

Scripture teaches us: your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God…You are not your own,  for you were bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.

 

Your body matters to our crucified and risen Lord Jesus who died in the body for you, and paid for all your sins of the body, eyes, ears, mind, feet, hands, tongue. Jesus rose in the body for you. That in him, you too will rise from the dead in the body. Your body is not a shell. You are more than a sack of meat in motion. You are not an accident. Your body matters to Jesus so much that he took on a human body to live, to suffer, to die, to rise – all in the body – to redeem, rescue, and restore…and one day resurrect your body. 

 

In our Lutheran graveside service the pastor prays these words over the casket. “May God the Father, who created this body; may God the Son who by His blood redeemed this body; may God the Holy Spirit who by Holy Baptism sanctified this body to be His temple, keep these remains to the day of the resurrection of all flesh. When you will walk in the body, resurrected, before the Lord Jesus in the land of the living. And he’ll show you the same hands and feet and scars he showed his disciples as he welcomes you to the feast.

 

The body of Jesus crucified and risen…matters. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, your rescued and redeemed body matters to Jesus. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, your neighbor’s body matters to him too.

 

Jesus sent his disciples in the body to preach with their mouths. To care for the widows and orphans and poor with their hands. And our Lord sends you in the body to care for the body of your neighbor as well. John’s epistle goes on in 3:18, Little children, let us not love only in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

 

Our Lord has given you eyes to see the needs of others around you. Heads to think critically and imagine creatively. Arms to embrace in joy and sadness. Hands to hold another at the bedside or in a moment of panic. Fingers to pick up the phone to call or prepare a meal for a brother or sister in Christ. Legs and feet to go and carry you as you buy groceries, and walk with grandkids, or share the gospel with someone you know who does not know Jesus. 

 

Our Lord Jesus has given you a body. A body which is redeemed, rescued, and one day will be resurrected from the dead…because of all that Jesus did and still does in his body for you. With his body he was born for you. Lived for you. Suffered. Died. Was buried for you. In the body he rose from the grave for you. and today, and every day until he returns, Jesus is with you just as he promised. Here in the bread and the wine. Here in his blood, and in his body. Given for you.

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Sermon for Easter 2: "Peace and Forgiveness"

 + 2^nd Sunday of Easter – April 7^th, 2024 +

Series B: Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Jesus breathes on His disciples. How’s that for a welcome?! You’re behind locked doors, scared out of your wits, the women have reported Jesus is risen and then, all of a sudden, Jesus appears out of nowhere. Well, not out of nowhere. Out of the grave. But He’s no ghost. No figment of their collective imaginations. No hallucination.  “Look at my hands; my side.”  He is real.  He is alive. He is risen!  And risen Jesus can do whatever He wants to. Locked doors and lowly bread and wine are no problem for His crucified and risen body.    

 

Jesus doesn’t wait for an invitation. He enters. “Peace be with you.” The Hebrew word is “shalom.” Shalom is a blessing and a greeting all at once. Shalom is harmony, wholeness, everything in its place.  All is well. Genesis 1 before the fall: very good. “Peace (Shalom) I leave with you, my peace (my Shalom) I give to you.  Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

 

This is exactly why Jesus is sent by the Father. That’s what Jesus’ death and resurrection mean:  peace for His disciples and for you. For the Father is well pleased by His obedient, Crucified and Risen Son. His sacrifice has restored life, to His disciples, to you, to me.  Sin, death and the devil are defeated. You are redeemed. You are loved. You are at peace with God and God is at peace with you in those precious wounds. Jesus is sent from the ark of the heavens, a flesh and bone dove, to bring peace through His flesh and blood on the cross.  

 

“As the Father has sent me to Shalom the world to Himself, even so I am sending you.”  And when Jesus said this he breathed on the disciples – a little Pentecost - the big one is coming, 50 days after Easter.  The God who once breathed life into Adam’s dusty lungs, the God who breathed upon the waters of creation and parted the Red Sea waters, the God who breathed life into the valley of dry bones now breathes on His disciples.

 

“Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

 

Have you noticed that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are always together?  At His Baptism.  Good Friday. On Easter. At Pentecost. In his Church. In the Word.

 

Jesus is born to breathe our toxic, sin poisoned air, to suffer, die and give up His breath on Good Friday – suffocated by sin - so that he can breathe new life into our lifeless graves by rising from His own.  From the disciple’s panic room to His people huddled in His Church, wherever they are gathered, whatever fear, doubt, confusion or sin you are struggling with - Jesus gives his breath of life to his people.  

 

Jesus doesn’t leave His church gasping for forgiveness.  If the church is going to preach and proclaim, she’s going to need breath; and if you as Christians are going to give a reason for the hope that is within you (1 Peter 3:15), you need mouths to speak, words to declare.  You need Jesus’ breath. His life. O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will breath out your praise.       

 

Jesus ordained His apostles by this breath. Jesus gives them authority to do what God alone can do - forgive sin. He gives an Office.  A Spirit-breathing, life-giving office.  A preaching and hearing office.  Given to forgive and retain sins.  That’s what God calls pastors to do. That’s what the church is for: a wind tunnel of the Holy Spirit, bringing you forgiveness, from Jesus to through his appointed means to you.

 

That’s the hard part for us - understanding and believing that the Spirit is at work in lowly, ordinary, daily stuff of creation. Words. Water. Bread and wine. Fellow sinners. 

 

Thomas gets a bad reputation. But honestly, we’re far more like Thomas. So often for us, seeing is believing. A friendship that reconciles after a huge argument? An end to constant illness? A politician who keeps their promises? Nothing to worry about or be anxious over?  Sure. I’ll believe it when I see it.  

 

Problem is, believing isn’t always seeing. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). God masks Himself. Jesus looks, lives, and dies like a man – yet faith says, “Jesus is Lord.”

 

You go about your daily work, sweat, labor, toil – not always whistling while you work – yet faith says, “This labor is holy, divine work, for I am God’s instrument for the good of others.”

 

We get sick, lose jobs, loved ones die, we hurt, cry, suffer – yet faith says, “I am a child of God, Baptized and loved by Him.” And nothing and no one can snatch you out of his pierced hands.

 

Believing is not seeing. To believe is to confess that God is where God seems not to be, to confess that God is good when God seems to be bad, to confess that what is really real is not what you see, but what you hear. 

 

Just like our twin, Thomas, we want something real. He throws down a gauntlet for Jesus. The ultimate reality show: “So you think you a dead man can rise from the grave?”  “Just let me see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side or else I will not believe.”

        

Thomas may have been many things – stubborn, hard-headed, confused, and most of all unbelieving – but John never uses the word doubt. All the other disciples didn’t believe the women’s report at first either. But only Thomas gets the name - doubting Thomas. And yet, thank God for Thomas. St. Gregory once said, “More does the doubt of Thomas help us to believe than the faith of the disciples who believed.” Jesus takes the triple-dog-dare. Gives him hard proof.  “Go ahead, Thomas; read my wounds like Braille; put your finger here; place your hand in my side.  Do not disbelieve but believe.”

 

“My Lord and my God.”  That’s the kind of confession that only the breath of the Lord can create. Our Lord did not condemn him. He gave him flesh and blood peace. Peace be with you, Thomas and all of us, his twins.

 

This is how our Lord works. He takes your doubt, your unbelief, your sin and death and He makes it His own.  He gives you the kind of peace that knows that no matter how great your sin, Christ’s love – His peace – is greater.  Jesus’ breath creates believing for you as he did for Thomas.

 

What Jesus did for Thomas and the disciples after the resurrection, He does for your every Sunday until He returns.  Jesus speaks peace.  This Crucified and risen Jesus still blusters His holy breath upon His church.  He calls and sends pastors to announce His holy absolution into your ears.  He pours out his body and blood from those holy scars to fill the chalice.  The Spirit hovers over the waters of Baptism to make you a new creation. In His Church, by His Spirit you get to see and touch and hear the Crucified and Risen Lord.

 

We’re not given to see or touch the way Thomas did. “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe.” But we get a beatitude from Jesus. Blessed are you. 

 

For these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:31)

 In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Sermon for The Resurrection of Our Lord: "Faith Founded On Fact"

 + The Resurrection of Our Lord – March 31^st, 2024 +

Series B: Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

 

In 1770, John Adams (future president, then, a lawyer) was called upon to defend British soldiers who had been involved in what became known as the Boston Massacre. One of his famous quotes from that trial… “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” 

 

In the 1950’s there was a weekly TV show that followed Sergeant Joe Friday around Los Angeles as he tracked down clues, interviewed eyewitnesses, and examined evidence. One of his famous quotes in the show: “just the facts, ma’am.”

 

Now perhaps you’re all wondering…what do John Adams and Detective Joe Friday have to do with Easter Sunday? I can tell you in two words: facts and faith.

 

Jesus’ death and resurrection for you is a matter of fact and faith. 

 

Jesus’ resurrection is a matter of fact because it is a fact of history. It is the pivotal fact of history. It is the hinge upon which all of human history pivots and finds its meaning. It is a matter of fact as any other fact of history, from the Egyptians to the Roman Empire. Jesus’ tomb is empty. The body of Jesus is risen from the dead.

 

Jesus’ resurrection is also a matter of faith because everything we believe in rests on the fact that Christ was put to death one Friday afternoon outside Jerusalem; he died for our sins and raised for our justification three days later. 

 

Think about it in the form of a question. What’s you’re the foundation of your faith in Jesus? Not our feelings – those come and go, and go up and down. Not our sincerity – we could be sincerely wrong after all. Our faith is not founded on our faith. And it’s not some kind of fairy tale we all each other and then nod in agreement like we’re all in on the joke. No, your faith is founded on facts: Christ died. For you. Christ rose. For you.

 

We believe because Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the foundation of your faith. Your faith is founded on these facts:

 

Fact: Christ died for your sins according to the Scriptures. Christ was buried. Christ was raised from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures.

 

Fact: The tomb was empty. The burial linens were folded and neat. The guards were bribed to say the disciples had stolen the body.

 

Fact: The women came to Jesus’ tomb expecting to finish the burial job. The angels bore witness: He is not here; he is risen…just as he said. 

 

Fact: The risen Jesus appeared in the flesh to Mary Magdalene. He appeared to Peter (Cephas) and the twelve disciples. 

 

Fact: Jesus was seen by Thomas who cried out in faith founded on fact: “My Lord and my God.” Jesus appeared to the two Emmaus disciples. He ate grilled fish on the seashore with seven more disciples. And sometime in those 40 days after his resurrection, Jesus appeared to over 500 brothers at one time, to James, and finally to Paul on the road to Damascus.

 

Fact: The good news of Jesus’ resurrection that was delivered to Paul, and which Paul delivers to us was not written down like one of those games of telephone played by a bunch of middle-schoolers hopped up on Mt. Dew. Not at all. The disciples and gospel writers are credible eyewitnesses (or close associates of them – Luke and Mark). They were sane, sober, rational people. They went from not believing that Jesus had risen from the dead (even though He had told them this would happen) – to believing. They had everything to lose and nothing to gain from their testimony. All but one of the 12 died professing and confessing the faith founded on the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. 

 

Fact: The people in power, the religious authorities, the Roman rulers, Pontius Pilate, the chief priests and scribes had a vested interest in a dead Jesus. They had motive. Means. And opportunity. To produce the corpse of Jesus and parade it through the streets of Jerusalem on Sunday night and Monday morning. But they did not. Why not? Because there was no corpse. Jesus had risen from the dead, just as He had said.

 

Facts indeed are stubborn things. But this fact – the death of Jesus on a Friday afternoon  and his bodily resurrection on a Sunday morning – this fact is not only stubborn. It’s true. And it saves you.

 

Think for just a moment of the opposite. If this is not true. If Christ did not rise from the dead. Then I’m wasting my time here and yours. Then our faith is in vain. Then the New Testament and apostles are all liars and so are we. If Christ isn’t raised, our faith is futile, worthless, a waste of time. And worst of all, if Christ is not raised, we still have sin and death to deal with all on our own.

 

But, remember and rejoice this Easter morning that facts are stubborn things. Facts are saving. Your faith is founded on this fact: Christ died for you. Christ rose from the dead bodily for you.

 

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. 

 

And when you doubt or despair of these facts, or of your faith. Remember and rejoice that your faith is founded on these facts, not your feelings, not your sincerity, not your anything. Your faith rests entirely in the hands of Jesus who was crucified for you and who rose from the dead for you. Just the facts, ma’am. And here they are once more. 

 

Because Christ is raised from the dead we believe that we too shall rise with new and improved bodies. Jesus is the “first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep,” Jesus’ bodily resurrection is the preview and down payment of our own resurrection on the Last Day. 

 

Because Christ is raised from the dead, we believe that there is genuine bodily life after death. We don’t just float on in heaven as spirits or memories or some kind of force. What is buried a physical body will be raised a spiritual body designed for eternal life with God.

 

Because Christ is raised from the dead, you are justified before God. His sacrifice is sufficient to cover all your sins. His “it is finished” from the cross holds. His word is true, His promises are certain. When He says, “Whoever lives and believes in me will never die forever,” this is as certain as Jesus risen from the dead is certain.

 

Because Christ is raised from the dead, Death has lost its power. On the cross, Christ became the sinner for us all. And now in the resurrection, He is the cure, the antidote, the medicine, the anti-serum to the sting of Death.

 

Because Christ is raised from the dead your faith today, tomorrow, and every day, is founded on this fact: Christ Jesus died for you. Christ Jesus rose from the dead for you.

 

Alleluia. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

 

A blessed Easter to each of you…

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.