Church Sermon - March 27, 2005

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Epistle Lesson; Colossians 3:1-4
Historic Lesson; Acts 10:34-43
Sermon Text; John 20:1-18

Some years ago there was a young husband and wife by the name of Armando and Isabella. They lived in a little makeshift house that would have been about the size of a one-car garage, here in the United States of America. Its walls and roof were made of scrap pieces of wood and sheet metal that they had found. They lived in the huge city of Lima, Peru. They barely made enough money each day just to have money to put a little food on their table for the two of them and their three little children. So, there they were, these very poor people.

Nobody really knew about them. But, Jesus came and found them. A missionary came to their humble, little home. He told them that Jesus had died for their sins and their sins were forgiven. Armando and Isabella came to believe in Jesus, as their Savior.

Isabella got sick. Isabella came down with Tuberculosis. There was nothing they could do about it. And so, Isabella grew sicker, and sicker. She turned into nothing but skin and bones, as she was lying there, in their home.

Armando and Isabella knew that her days were almost over. When it appeared that it might be her last day, Armando ran to the missionary. Unfortunately, he was busy and could not come to their home. Armando asked the missionary, "What should I read from the Bible to my wife?"

The missionary said to Armando, "Go back to Isabella, get out your Bible, and read to her out of I Corinthians, chapter 15."

So, Armando ran back to their little shack. He sat down beside Isabella’s bedside. He took a hold of her hand. You can imagine his voice cracking, as holding hands; he read these words to his dear wife. "Listen. I tell you a mystery. We will all be changed in flash, in the twinkling of an eye, and the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable. And we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality then the saying that is written will come true. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, Oh death, is your victory? Where, Oh death, is your sting? Thanks be to God. He gives us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."

After Isabella died, the missionary came. Armando had Isabella dressed in a beautiful dress and he was combing her hair. Isabella looked beautiful. Armando looked at the missionary and said, "Doesn’t she look beautiful? She’s ready for the day that the risen Savior comes back and grants to her immortal life."

There, in the midst of their deepest sorrow and their darkest day, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, brought Isabella and Armando the deepest comfort.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is intended by God to bring you (no matter who you are, no matter how dark your days may be), the deepest comfort that we could possibly ever imagine.

Look what happened in today’s scripture reading. Perhaps Mary Magdalene was the follower of Jesus who was in the darkest hour. She may have been the one who was grieving the deepest. Mary Magdalene had just witnessed the cruel betrayal and denial of Jesus by her own friends, and Jesus’ own friends. Mary Magdalene had just witnessed the brutal torture and crucifixion of her friend Jesus.

Grieving is difficult, but it is especially difficult when death is very tragic. We can imagine that Mary Magdalene was grieving very, very deeply over what had happened. Grieving can be complicated greatly by other events. You may have never been at a funeral home, or at a cemetery, when things didn’t quite go the way people planned, but you see grieving heightened greatly, at that point. That is what happened this morning, when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. She was very distraught, because they hadn’t even had time to prepare Jesus’ body properly, and now the body that she went to anoint with spices was gone. And so, she was grieving greatly and weeping, there at the tomb of Jesus. It was a dark, dark hour for Mary Magdalene.

But, our dear Savior Jesus sees us in our dark hours. Of all the people He could have appeared to first, He stood behind Mary Magdalene. Mary turned around, from the tomb, and saw a man standing there. She thought it was the gardener. She asked the gardener where he had put Jesus’ body, so she could go get the body. And, with that, Jesus spoke in a voice and a tone that Mary knew. He said, "Mary."

In that moment, in her darkest hour, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead brought the deepest comfort. The old order of things had passed away and the new order had come. Death had been defeated. Death was no longer the master. Now there was a new master and that new master, with all authority, over all things was Jesus - risen from the dead! Mary was comforted.

Our Savior Jesus, the risen One from the dead, intends to comfort us with His resurrection, no matter how dark the hour may be in our lives. I want to focus on three dark hours that may come in all of our lives. The darkest hour that could come in my life is the day that the sun turns dark, the earth begins to quake, the dead begin to rise and God appears in judgment. The darkest hour that could come would be to hear the voice of God say, (which I fully and absolutely deserve), "Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and all his angels."

There is no darker hour that could come to anyone, than the Day of Judgment, when the voice of God, finally comes down with all of its weight and condemns us to an eternity in Hell.

However, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is intended to give us comfort in the darkest hour, because Judgment Day, (that Judgment Day I just spoke of) has already happened.

Only, He didn’t speak it to me. He spoke it about me. He spoke it to His own Son, Jesus.

That was my Judgment Day.

Today, the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is Jesus’ Judgment Day. This is the day that God, the Father, pronounced His judgment on Jesus Christ. This is the day, as scripture says,

"He was put to death for our sins,

but raised to life for our justification."

This is the day that God made the public judgment to the whole world, "Because my Son was condemned for you, I have accepted His full payment for all your sin. There is no punishment left. The last bit has been paid. I accept my Son’s payment for your sin. I am satisfied. You are not guilty. My Son has defeated your sin. It lies buried in the grave for all eternity. Now my Son has victory over your sin. And, because He has victory over your sin, He has victory over all things, including death itself."

That is the Judgment Day for Jesus Christ. God has declared to the world that our sins are forgiven now that Jesus has risen from the dead. What comfort that brings to us! So, when Judgment Day does come, the darkest hour, we need not fear.

We have already been judged years ago,

on the cross.

The payment has already been made years ago,

on the cross.

There is no payment for sin left.

There is no punishment for sin left.

Now we share in the mighty victory of Jesus, our Savior, by grace!

The next dark hour that will come to us all someday is our own death. Death is a dark hour. And yet, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we have the deepest comfort, even in our darkest hour. The Bible says that death no longer has mastery over Christ. Jesus is my Savior. He is my friend. And so, death no longer has mastery over me. Jesus said,

"I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live,

even though he dies."

Death has been conquered. Death does not hold the victory. Death has lost its sting. That is why we sing in one of our hymns,

"Teach me dear Lord,

that I may dread

the grave

as little as my bed."

We do not dread our beds. In fact, we lay down on our beds in rest. And, we wake up in the morning refreshed. And so we say, "Oh Lord, teach me to dread the grave as little as my bed."

We know that because Christ has risen from the dead, the first fruits of those who rise from the dead, He will come back. That is why at funeral services, at the committal service we say these words, "We now commit this body to its resting place. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certainty of the resurrection of the body from the dead."

And then we say this, "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 own, keep these remains until the resurrection of all flesh."

The Bible tells us, "The Lord will come back with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet call of God. And the dead in Christ will be raised. We who are still left will be caught up with them in the air, to meet the Lord in the air. And so, we will be with the Lord forever."

That is why Isabella and Armando found their deepest comfort, even in their darkest hour, in the resurrection of Jesus. We too, will rise from the dead, someday.

No matter what the dark hour in life may be (and, lots of dark hours come in our lives), our ultimate comfort is found in Christ, raised from the dead. St. Paul went through a lot of dark hours. He explained them in II Corinthians. He said,

"These all have come

so that we may not rely on ourselves,

but on God who raises the dead."

All of those dark hours that come into our lives teach us that we don’t rely on ourselves, but we rely on God, who has so much power that He got up out of the grave. He defeated death itself. He will one day get us out of the grave. And, if He has the power to raise the dead, He certainly has the power to be with me in this life, no matter what the trouble. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, even in our darkest hour, gives us nothing but the deepest comfort. And that changes us.

Mary Magdalene, in her hour of darkness, found the deepest comfort in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And, that put her into action. Jesus commissioned Mary, (although I am sure she didn’t need to be told this by Jesus), "Go to my brothers and tell them."

Mary Magdalene ran back to Jerusalem, and found those who were still grieving. She said, "I have seen the Lord!"

You and I have the greatest comfort that anyone could ever have - that is the death and resurrection of Jesus, our Savior. We should not need to be commissioned to go out and tell that Good News to anybody. And yet, Jesus has given us that commission. "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." As we leave here today, may we run out into this world.

As scripture says,

"God has comforted us in our sorrows

so that we can comfort others in their sorrows

with the comfort that we, ourselves,

have received from God."

There is no greater comfort than to know that Jesus died for me. Jesus rose for me. He shares that great victory, with all of us, by faith.

Amen.

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