[Machine transcription]
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.
Amen.
Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, looking at the second lesson, St. Paul’s letter to the
Corinthians for the text, please be seated.
He is risen.
He is risen indeed.
I know Lutherans have kind of wrote that we do that and we don’t always do it on every
Sunday in the church year, mostly during Easter, but that is a good greeting for any Sunday
in the church here because every Sunday is like a little Easter and today it’s
very fitting because in that second reading of Paul he talks a lot about the
resurrection and the importance of it and the vitalness of
the resurrection. Paul spoke about the resurrection a lot and in fact it’s why
he was on trial and in trouble a lot of times because he was talking about the
resurrection from the dead. Resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian
faith but really what does it mean? I mean Lutherans that’s a good good
question we always ask. What does this mean? If Jesus is risen from the dead
Okay, so what?
For Jesus, the resurrection, the dead is the affirmation of His divine nature and His victory
over death and our sins.
And no other religion has this.
No other religion has its central figure dies and is resurrected.
it. No other religion has it that the dead body of this leader of their
religion gets back up, starts breathing again, and walks around and promised
several times in their writings that this was going to happen. It’s the only
religion, Christianity is the only religion where the central figure was
promised to die and rise again, but also that the central figure promised that
this was going to happen said that was going to happen to them several times
Jesus told his disciples I’m going to die and in three days and rise again and
at his tomb on Easter Sunday his empty tomb the disciples go there and the
angel is there and tells them why are you looking for him here he’s risen he’s
not here just as he said but for us what is the
resurrection of Jesus mean? For us it means that we are forgiven of our sins
and given eternal life because Christ’s death and his Christ’s death was in our
place, taking on our punishment, paying our price for the punishment of our sins
and we now enjoy the benefit of the first fruit of Christ’s death and
resurrection, as Paul pointed out in the reading today. But the whole eternal life
thing, to be resurrected to eternal life, what does this mean? To think about
eternal life and eternity is kind of mind-blowing for us as human beings, but
what does it mean to be resurrected to eternal life? Well, in Christianity the
the usual thought of eternal life is of going to heaven where our souls go there
after we die and that’s true that’s part of the great hope and comfort and joy
that we have in the Christian faith that we live forever that we we die and our
Go to heaven again. That’s true, but it’s only part
Because eternal life and being resurrected to that means more than that
It’s actually better, and if you’ll allow me some humor to help illustrate this I will do that there was a Texan a
Guy who always liked to proudly and loudly
Proclaim the virtues of the Lone Star State
You know what I’m talking about, okay, one of those guys.
And he was out to dinner with some friends at a restaurant
where he was proudly and loudly proclaiming
the virtues of the Lone Star State,
much to the chagrin of his friends
and everybody else in the restaurant.
So much so that one of the customers
pulled a waiter aside and said,
look, can we do something about this guy?
And the waiter says, yeah, we can, goes in the back, gets some sleeping pills, puts them
in the Texan’s beverage, brings it to him, he drinks it, boom, he’s out.
So the people in the restaurant say, let’s have a little fun with this guy.
So they load him into a car and drive him over to a nearby cemetery, they find an open
grave and put him in it and take off.
Well, eventually the Texan wakes up, comes to, and he stands up and he looks around and
he notices where he is and he says, Glory, Hallelujah, it’s Resurrection Day and this
Texan got up first.
you see there’s gonna be a resurrection day for us where our bodies rise up out
of wherever they are and whatever form they’re in and we’re given new and
glorified perfect heavenly bodies bodies rejoined with our soul to make us
complete beings again. You see, as human beings, we’re made up of bodies and souls. God gave
us both. He created both for us. We need both, even in eternity. No, I can’t explain what
that body’s going to be like. I don’t know. Just think of it this way. It’s going to be
better than what you have now. I just want my hair back. This bodily resurrection, it’s
the real hope and joy and comfort of the eternal life promised and given in Christ. And maybe
in Lutheran churches we don’t emphasize that enough, but it’s a great truth and great promise
We have from our God that death is not going to have the final word on us soul or body in
Eternity we have both and again. Maybe we don’t we don’t think about it enough, but we even confess it in the creeds
Maybe you don’t notice it and and sometimes I kind of forget about it, too
because it comes near the very end of the Nicene and Apostles Creed where we confess that we believe in the
resurrection of the dead and the resurrection of the body between the
two creeds that say that. Sometimes we’re kind of thinking beyond the
creed, you know, it’s almost done so we’re thinking about what’s coming up next. I
know sometimes I am because I got to be prepared for the next thing in the
liturgy, but to help settle that down for me, whenever we get to that part of the
creed and we confess it, but we believe in the resurrection of the
that I smile because that’s the great promise
and hope that we have,
that one day we’re completely recreated,
soul and body in eternity.
And we hear this affirmation of our bodies and souls
in the post-communion blessing.
You’ve probably heard it a million times
and maybe you don’t think about it,
but we finish communing,
you’re back in your seats and I’m up here and I say the body and blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life
everlasting Christianity is the only religion again where the central figure
promised to bodily die and rise again but also promised that his people would
bodily die and rise again too because humans get we’re living beings we’re
supposed to be alive God created us to be alive not to die sin ruined
everything and now we have we have this death thing but we’re not supposed to be
dead Jesus comes and dies for us and in our in in that place gives us eternal
life. We’re not supposed to be dead. I always kind of cringe a little bit
whenever somebody says death is just a part of living and I’m like no it’s not
it’s the exact opposite. Death is the enemy of life and God is life. We’re not
supposed to be dead, soul or body. Christianity hinges on this. It is that
vital. In fact, as Paul put it in the reading, which would be verse 17, he says,
if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith
is in vain. You hear that? If none of this is true about Jesus rising again, this is
all a sham your faith is in vain basically you’re here wasting your time
on Sunday morning and my preaching is in vain which basically means you’re
paying me for nothing that was supposed to be kind of funny guys yeah if Jesus
isn’t risen then none of this makes any sense but praise be to God he has he is
risen now something else what Paul says in verse 19 he says this if in Christ we
have hope in this life only. We are of all people most to be pitied.” That’s some
interesting stuff here and I want to refer to this little handout that you
had, a little insert here. First of all, this is not good stuff, okay? Don’t take
this home, put it on your fridge, and make this your creed in life. This is an
example of something that is bad thinking, okay? I pulled it off of
Facebook a friend of mine posted this meme some time ago. She’s not a Christian. I’m not exactly sure where she is at
but she put this and and
How sad?
There’s nothing
Affirming or comforting in this for our human life or our death
First of all, it’s just a false delusion that they don’t they that they think they don’t do anything wrong
Yeah, I’m not evil. I’m not fallen. I’m not a sinner. I am NOT an abomination
Well, if you really look at yourself, yeah, there are times when you do some evil things.
If you look around this world, it is sure fallen.
Proof of that?
Watch the news.
Or read the comments section on any article on the internet.
Not a sinner, not an abomination, don’t do any damage.
Yeah, we all do damage to people sometimes.
Even with our bodies.
us. We sin, we fall, we do some evil things. No, maybe not some things that are blatant,
but with our words, with our thoughts, our bodies do some damage. But Jesus died and
rose again to forgive that, and to pay for that, to change that, to make things right
eternally. And again that’s the beauty of Christianity. Christianity deals with
the human condition of evil, of fallenness, of sin, and of abomination
and of death. Christianity takes it head-on. Not like this picture, not like
this. It just simply kind of denies the whole idea about evil and
death and just kind of candy coats with something cutesy like, you know, I want to
be recycled back into the universe. What, like flushed on the toilet?
Really, what does that even mean? There’s no hope in that. There’s no
great comfort in that. It really just denies this idea that we have this death
and that we’re supposed to live.
How sad this is, and to be pitied.
And I don’t bring this up because it’s not necessarily antagonistic
toward Christianity, but this is what we’re dealing with out there in the world,
people. People who believe this stuff.
Maybe you kind of think in this way, or you know people who are thinking that way,
and we have good news for them. Something far beyond
recycling or even repurpose we have resurrection we have something more for
them we get the we get the chance to tell them that that good news we get to
tell them that this says this this says that your matter right this says that
your your existence is just matter to God we matter soul and body you matter
because Jesus gave his soul and body to die and be resurrected to give you the
exact same thing to give you eternal life because we’re not supposed to be
dead that’s the real hope and joy and promise we have in the Christian faith
that God takes fallen evil abominable sinners like you and me and gives them a
a new soul and a new body.
Not just to die and go to heaven,
but to be a new you.
Sometimes people ask me,
give a description of your job,
you know, a job description.
And I’ll say, it’s basically this.
I prepare people for their death
and their resurrection.
What does the resurrection of Jesus mean?
It means eternal life for us,
body and soul.
May you look forward to that and know that great promise of one day is coming
recreated, resurrected, made new body and soul. Amen. He is risen! Hallelujah.
Now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
