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“They saw a young man in a white robe.”
Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
᛭ INI ᛭
They didn’t see Jesus. Well, they did, but not in Mark’s Gospel they didn’t. They only saw a young man in a white robe. They didn’t see Jesus risen with there eyes. (Well, they did, just not in Mark’s Gospel.) And yet, they did see Jesus risen from the dead in Mark’s Gospel. It’s just they saw Jesus risen from the dead in Mark’s Gospel with their ears and not their eyes.
Their eyes saw a young man in white robe on the right side of the room, and that young man was telling them, preaching to them, “You’re looking for Jesus who was crucified. He was raised! He’s not here. See the place where they laid Him.” That’s the announcement of a new day. The day where the dead no longer stay dead, because Christ isn’t dead. He’s the “firstborn of those who’ve fallen asleep.”
You’ve got a lot in common with those women as Mark portrays his Gospel. It’s not about seeing the risen Jesus with your eyes but with your ears. Mark conveys Peter’s preaching, “Though you have not seen Jesus, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” (1 Pet 1:8–9) A joy that began at His empty tomb. It’s a joy that’s sustained and strengthened only through the message that the angel preached to the woman at the tomb. In fact, you’ve got even more in common with those women, because the preaching of this white-robed messenger is basically the same as the angel that first Easter. The message I’ve got for you today is the same as it’s always been:
CHRIST THE CRUCIFIED IS RISEN; COME, SEE THE PLACE WHERE HE LAY FOR YOU!
Christ was crucified. Laid, nailed down, on the cross for you! There He hanged for all your sins. He is forever the Crucified One. He is the Lamb that forever looks like He was slain. Before our eyes He is still visibly portrayed as crucified. I’m not talking about art or the crucifix. No, He’s portrayed as crucified before your eyes through your ears! “We preach Christ crucified,” for that’s “the power of God” “unto salvation for all who believe.” And “faith comes by preaching, and preaching from the Word of God.” (Luther)
Christ the crucified is your salvation, “for He Himself bore all your sins in His own body on the tree, that you might die to sin and live to righteousness, by His wounds you’ve been healed,” (1 Pet 2:24) forgiven. “[He was] slain, and by [his] blood [he] ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Rev 5:9) You can never ever be where they crucified your Lord. You can’t see, can never see, Jesus Christ crucified like the women did, with your own two eyes. But you still can, you just do it with your ears. There you see Him “suffering, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone cold tomb”—all for you! But the preaching doesn’t end there…
CHRIST THE CRUCIFIED IS RISEN; COME, SEE THE PLACE WHERE HE LAY FOR YOU!
He did lay there for, buried in the tomb, for you. But He didn’t stay there—didn’t stay dead! Yes, He died, but “now Christ is risen from the dead,” “never to die again,” “the firstborn of them that sleep,” for “death no longer has dominion over Him.” (1 Cor 15, Rom 6) He’s the living Lamb who only “looks like He was slain.” Because He came back to life after being pierced and crucified, His body has the “glorious scars” of your redemption. His body shall bear them forever and ever! He’s always the same Jesus. “See My hands and feet, that it is I Myself” (Lk 24), He told His disciples. You don’t see Him that way now, but eventually you will on the Day that’ll never end.
He took your place in the grave. Where you’re afraid to go, where you’re sad to visit, and the scary path you’ve got to take to get there—Jesus went through it all! The scary trek through deathward suffering was His in your place. He took your place in the grave! “In death no friendly tomb But what a stranger gave. What may I say? Heav’n was His home But mine the tomb Wherein He lay.” (LSB 430) He lay there for you, that your grave out there, or wherever it may be, would not be a permanent place, but rather your death and your grave are the gateway, a doorway, to resurrection and life immortal. You’ll see that doorway open on the new Day that never ends, when Christ opens it and you’re resurrected.
But until then, the message of the angel continues. The preaching doesn’t end there…
CHRIST THE CRUCIFIED IS RISEN; COME, SEE THE PLACE WHERE HE LAY FOR YOU!
On the altar for you. There His body will lay, there His blood will be. The bread and wine, according to Christ’s institution and blessing, are His body and blood for you to eat and drink for the forgiveness of all your sins. That “is” is the exact same “is” as “He is not here”! He wasn’t! CHRIST THE CRUCIFIED IS RISEN! So, “this bread IS My Body,” “this cup of wine IS the new testament in My blood”, then that’s what you’re eating and drinking: His body and blood for you for the forgiveness of sins.
His crucified and raised flesh and blood are for the forgiveness of your sins and the resurrecting of your flesh, too. As Christ says, “My flesh IS true food and My blood is true drink Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will resurrect him on the Last Day,” (Jn 6) You btter believe it! But the Lord isn’t just on the Altar, but also at the Font baptizing, in your Bible reading, in the Pulpit preaching, in the Office that exercises the Keys absolving. In all these ways He’s making the promise that you will rise from the dead and live forever with Him on the Day the never ends.
CHRIST THE CRUCIFIED IS RISEN; COME, SEE THE PLACE WHERE HE LAY FOR YOU!
He lay on the cross, crucified for you and your sins. He lay in the tomb, dead for you and your death. But now risen! Risen for you! See the place where He lay for you! See it? Hear it! You see Him right now with your ears. And when He is here with His body and blood, this isn’t just any hill that you ascend to commune at. No, “you’ve come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable angels in festal gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. [You’ve come] to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Heb 12:22-24) “Angels, archangels, and the whole company of heaven.”
One day you’ll see what your loved ones who believe in Jesus see. That’s not today, but it will be so on the Day that never ends: “After [your] skin’s been destroyed, yet in [your] flesh [you’ll] see God. [You’ll] see Him for yourself. [Your] eyes’ll see Him, not another [pair of eyes].” (Job 19) All because of what Jesus did. The angel told the women what He, and I’m telling you the same message:
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