He Is Risen, As He Said
Matthew 28:1-10
On this glorious Easter morning, our greeting to one another as we heard it in the opening words of the service is, “Christ is Risen” and the response is “He is risen indeed.” What a wonderful way to start off an Easter celebration and remind one another of the good news that goes out to all the world through our proclamation of resurrection and our songs of praise. As we hear the Easter Gospel, we can hear the words of the angel who greeted the women at the tomb. The angel’s greeting was similar to our Easter greeting but it was a little bit different. “He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.” There is great meaning in the words of the angel. As we think about them this morning, may we praise God for the great victory that has been won for us through the resurrection of Jesus and may we find hope in those words for our lives now and for our all the Easters that God gives us in this life.
“He has risen, as He said.” Just as He said He would, He rose from the dead. There was no doubt on Friday afternoon that Jesus had died. His lifeless body was placed in the tomb that had been provided by Joseph of Arimathea. But the Old Testament prophets, particularly David in Psalm 16:10, had said that the Lord would not let His Holy One see corruption. Jesus, Himself, spoke about His death and resurrection to His disciples several times. It should not have been a surprise to them that the tomb was empty on that morning after the Sabbath. It was just as He said. When the angel said, “He has risen, as He said,” they should have looked at one another and said, “So that’s what He meant.” Yet we are told that they were filled with fear and locked themselves up, not knowing what was going to happen next. Only after they had seen Him with their own eyes did they finally believe.
Before you get too down on the disciples for their lack of faith, you have to admit that you are no better when you are faced with difficult or seemingly impossible tasks in your life, especially when it comes to your life of faith. Faced with a challenge, your first reaction is often, “Oh, I could never do that.” “What would I do?” “There is no hope for that project.” “I’m left with no hope of ever getting past this.” I’m sure the disciples felt that same way after Jesus died on the cross. “What are we going to do now?” “We had such hopes for Israel and the Kingdom of God
But His resurrection shows that His promises are sure. “He has risen, as He said,” was the truth. It was just as He said it would be. That also gives us a sure hope that the rest of what Jesus said was the truth. Think of some of the other things that Jesus said during His earthly ministry that are recorded for us in the Gospels. Just in the last weeks of the Lenten season, the Gospel lessons included statements by Jesus that are identified as the “I AM” statements. We heard, “I am the light of the world.” He brings the light of God’s love to the darkness of sin and unbelief. We also heard, “I AM the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” You can also recall the words of Jesus before He ascended into heaven, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Each one of those words and promises of Jesus gives the believer hope in this world of sin. When the world around you seems to be closing in on you and the temptations seem like too much for you to endure, you can be reminded of Jesus’ promises that are true. Because He kept His promise to rise from the grave, you have a sure and certain hope that He will continue to be the light of your world. He is still the resurrection and the life and through His resurrection, you too will have life, new life now and life forever with Him in heaven. He will be with you throughout your life. Think of what that means for you. You are never alone. With that hope in your heart, you can face any challenge in your life.
When I use the word hope, you have to understand that this is a certain hope. The things that you hope for, the things that you need in this life and in the life to come are yours. There is no doubt about it. Too often today we use the word hope when there is some doubt in our minds. You might say, “I hope the Indians can turn things around and win the World Series.” Are you saying that with certainty. Probably not. When you talk about the hope you have in Jesus for those things that He has promised to you like the forgiveness of sins, strength for your faith through the power of the Holy Spirit, eternal life in heaven, you can be sure that His promises are the truth and He will do what He has said. His resurrection assures us that His promises are true and because of that, there should be no doubt in your mind that you will receive all the blessings that He promises to His people.
That sounds great and it gives you hope and peace but you still have to deal with your sinful nature. There will be times in your life when you may begin to wonder if God’s promises to you are as sure and certain as you thought they would be. When you face trials in your life, and you can be sure that you will, your sinful nature will want you to question God’s goodness. “Why is this happening to me?” “What did I do to deserve this?” It is usually those who are strong in their faith who have to struggle with this kind of temptation. That shouldn’t surprise you when you think of who the devil is after. He is after those who are strong so that he can try and get them to doubt. The other folks he doesn’t need to worry about. The devil wants to destroy all hope in those who are faithful. It is a time like this that you can be reminded of Jesus’ resurrection and the fact that it was just as He said it would be. His promises are sure. He is always for us. Nothing can separate us from His love.
There will be times when your faith is challenged. The world around you is constantly sending out messages that challenge what you have learned from the Bible. Perhaps like never before in your life, you are bombarded with propaganda that tells you to think for yourself, question authority, trust no one but yourself. When your sinful nature is selfish anyway, that kind of message can be appealing and can tempt you to give up hope in the promises of Jesus. That can lead you to lose your faith altogether. When that temptation comes, it is good for you to remember that Jesus rose from the dead, just as He said. All the other promises are sure as well. There is hope in things that you can not see. That is what faith is. It’s given to us by the work of the Holy Spirit working through the Means of Grace. That is where true hope is found.
It is that hope that comforts you and gives you real peace when the end of your earthly life is near. Even though you may think that you have lots of time in this life, the hope in the promises of Jesus for eternal life keeps you strong in the faith. Whatever time you find yourself in this life, you can expect to find temptation, but you also will always have the assurance of the resurrected and living Lord Jesus to bring you comfort, peace, strength and hope. That’s one of the reasons why we celebrate all the events in the life of Jesus every year. That is why we make the Easter celebration so special. Easter reminds us of new life. Because Jesus lives, we shall live also. We live for Him now and we live with Him forever in heaven. Easter brings us that sure and certain hope. Amen
Rev. Gerald Matzke
Zion Lutheran Church
Painesville, Ohio
Easter 2014
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