Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ has overturned death! This is huge! This is salvation! That's because death is something we can't defeat on our own and yet we spend our time and money trying to prepare for it or else avoid it. Think how death tries to rule our lives! We need to make wills. Pick out caskets and put money down on our plots. We hear a doctor tell us that it won't be long. We call hospice to help us prepare. There is so much to do to get ready for death. And yet we also try to avoid it. When we're young, we just ignore it, thinking it can never happen to us. As we get older, we put off those wills and funeral packages in the hopes we won't have to think about it. We try to exercise, eat right, take the right medicines, and on and on, hoping we can squeeze out just a few more years. Death is funny like that. We either get gloomy preparing for it or we try to falsely ignore it. But that's us. That's our approach to death. Our Lord's approach to death is to face it head on at the cross and then on Easter to rise from the dead and by doing that, throw it down, stomp all over it and kick it out of the way!
Christ has overturned death on Easter! Those poor women! They went to the tomb expecting death. Sadness. A corpse. A stone they couldn't move. But the Lord's already taken care of all that! Jesus alive! Stone rolled out of the way! And angel ready with the Good News that He is alive. The angel lays it all out: “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here!” On the cross, Jesus suffered with our sins. Our sins killed Him. But now He is alive! What does that say about our sins? They are gone. Forgiven. Paid for. Left buried in the tomb. And if our sins are gone, then death has no more power. Death comes because of sins. So if our sins are gone, death's power is destroyed. Death can't hold Jesus. Therefore death is defeated. Done for. It's lost its sting.
Christ has overturned death for your life now! St. Paul says that now that Christ our Passover has been sacrificed, we can put away the old leaven and eat the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Christ's resurrection isn't just for death. It comes rippling into our lives as the antidote to death that surrounds us every day. See how often we live as if we're dead. No hope. No joy. Grumbling against others. Living like death is the end so we have to grab all we can in this life no matter how it hurts others. You only pass this way once, so you better do all you can to make yourself happy. That's death talk! That's old leaven! Treating others like we can dispose of them, as if we'll never see them again. Worrying about our illnesses and problems as if they can ruin us forever. That's living as if death is in charge! But Paul reminds us that death has been thrown down! Christ has been sacrificed. His death gives us life and His resurrection overcomes death. Christ has risen for you! No more living like death has any power! No more living like you have no Savior! Away with that life! Life now is in Christ, and Christ is life. That's life and love for you and for your neighbor in Christ.
Christ has overturned your death! Even Job knew this. Job says that he's going to die and his body will rot but EVEN SO he will stand in his flesh and see God. Job knows that there is a resurrection of the body. We say so in the Creed too. Why? Because they put Jesus' body in the tomb and He came back out on the third day! That means that you will be laid to rest, but when the Lord comes back, you will be out! Up! Alive! Your body is back. Changed. Glorified. Risen! Christians don't believe that we just spend eternity as ghostly spirits! We believe in the resurrection of the BODY and everlasting life in our BODIES. Sure, you might get sick. It might be terminal. You might die early in a tragic accident. You might live a long life and die in your sleep. But one way or another, death will come. But now that Christ has risen, we can laugh at death! Despise it! Scorn it! Slap it in the face and say, “You can't hold me! I'm going to be raised and then what will you have, Death? Nothing! Where is your victory, Death? Where is your sting! Jesus is alive, Death! Neener, neener, neener!” Oh, the devil hates nothing more than to be reminded that you aren't scared of death. For the same Lord who threw down death has thrown down Satan's power too.
Now what is it that overturns death for those women? Yes, Jesus is alive, but what turns them from sadness to joy? It is the preaching of the young man in the white stole. That's right. Now I may not be so young but I've got a white robe and a stole and so I'm telling you: Christ is risen! He is risen for you. Remember how the angel told the women, “Go tell His disciples AND Peter?” Remember what Peter did? He denied His Lord. Three times! But the the Lord wants to make sure that even Peter knows his denial has been overcome by Jesus' resurrection. That's my job. It's why you come to church. Because out there in the world, death keeps taking swipes at you, sin keeps stabbing at you, Satan keeps attacking you. And I'm here to tell you, with my white stole on, that Christ has risen FOR YOU. His death has taken away your sins, no matter how big or small, no matter if everyone's seen them or no one has. Whatever your sins, they are wiped out by the death of the Son of God and the proof that they are wiped out is that He is risen! When you come to church, that's what's in it for you: a risen Christ bestowing upon you the power of His resurrection. By Baptism, snatching you from the jaws of death. By Absolution and preaching, proclaiming that His death and resurrection are even for someone as sinful as Peter and you! By His body and blood, telling death, “If you want this one, you've got to come through Me, and you're already failed at that, Death!” Yes indeed, Christ has overturned death and has overturned your death!
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the resurrection of Jesus is what cinches the deal. The cross is the center of our faith, but the resurrection is what proves to the world that Christ, as true God and man, has truly beaten sin and death. If Christ is not raised from the dead, it's all a bad joke and a waste of time. But Christ IS risen. He was seen by His disciples. That means that Christ has overturned death. Thrown it down. Stolen its power. Removed its sting. His death was for you. His resurrection was for you. His gifts of forgiveness and life are for you. For your life now. And for the eternal life that is yet to come. Alleluia! Christ is risen! Amen.
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