The Women - April 12, 2020 - Easter Morning - Text: Matt. 28:1-10

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! This morning we meet several characters around the cross. This morning we meet the women who were so important and supportive in Jesus’ life and ministry.
 

The last time we met we stood with the women and the rest of the crowd and we left with Jesus’ death and burial. That was on Friday. On Good Friday we watched Jesus die. We watched our God die. We watched as the soldiers nailed the already beaten, stricken, smitten and afflicted Jesus to the cross. We watched Him hang there suffering physical suffering. We watched Him suffering eternal death, hell for us in our place. We watched Him for what seemed like an eternity, an eternity of death and hell which should have been ours to suffer.
 

We watched as the soldier pierced Jesus’ side to make sure He was dead. We watched as they gently took Him down from the cross. Because He was already dead they did not break any of his bones which was the usual thing in a crucifixion, that is to break their bones lest they crawl off from their grave. We followed along with the women and we watched Jesus being put in the tomb.
 

Then, with the women we left to mourn, but we had hope. Of course, as Christians, we understand that our hope is not an iffy, maybe hope. As Christians we had hope, that is we had certainty. We knew the promises. We knew that Jesus was who He said He was, the Messiah, the Christ. Last Friday we left and as we left we left looking ahead to this morning and our day of celebration.
 

Today we do celebrate. We celebrate because our God rose. He did not stay dead. Death and the tomb were no match for Him. He rose and He is alive. How significant this resurrection is to the Christian faith. Our Christian faith is grounded in history, in Jesus history. Our Christian faith is grounded in the fact that although our God in the person of Jesus in human flesh suffered and died on the cross, He did not stay dead, but rose from the dead. We worship, not a dead God, but a living God. And to make sure we know He is a living God He showed Himself many times to be alive.
 

Jesus showed Himself to the women. Early on Sunday morning, just as the Sun was rising, they were on their way to the tomb, in their minds, to complete the preparations of Jesus’ body for burial. Their discussion was about who would role the stone away to open the tomb. They went to show their last respects and love to their Lord. And yet, when they arrived they found that He was not there. At this point the stone was no problem. The stone was already rolled away, not because the stone had to be rolled away for Jesus to rise. He rose and an earthquake, and act of God moved the stone away from the opening of the grace. The stone was rolled away in order to show that He had already risen. The women looked in the tomb and the angel reassured them, “do not be afraid.” “Look the tomb is empty.”
 

And to reassure them even more, Jesus showed Himself to the women. They could see Him, they touched Him. They did not want to let Him go, because of their love and devotion to Him. Jesus also showed Himself to many others. We are confident that He rose from the dead, as He said He would.
 

Today we celebrate. We celebrate that Jesus was and is God. We celebrate that He gave up the glory that was His in heaven. We celebrate that He came down to earth and took on human flesh and blood, that He was born as a little baby in Bethlehem.
 

We celebrate that Jesus lived perfectly for us in our place. God’s demand has always been perfection, be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect. Yet, we cannot be perfect. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, we are conceived and born in sin. Every intention of our hearts is evil all the time. Indeed, we are not and cannot be perfect, no matter how hard we might try. Yet, what we cannot do, be perfect, Jesus did for us. What a whole nation, what a whole world cannot do, Jesus did for us. Jesus was born so that He might live perfectly for us in our place. We might say that the fullness of the Gospel is in this fact, that Jesus lived for us in our place.
 

Even more, we celebrate that Jesus fulfilled all the Law perfectly. He did not come to abolish the Law, but He came fulfilled the Law, all the Law. He did everything that was required by God. And He did everything He did for us, in our place, because we cannot.
 

We celebrate that Jesus took all our sins upon Himself. He took our sins of commission, that is the sins we sin by doing what we are commanded not to do. He took our sins of omission, that is our sins of failing to do what we should be doing. He took our sins of thought, word and deed. He took all our sins even those of which we are not aware. And so we celebrate that He suffered and died the eternal death penalty of hell for us in our place. He died so that we might have forgiveness of sins, all sins, not just some sins, not just the big sins or the small sins, but all sins. And not just for our sins, but for the sins of all people of all places of all times. Yes, even the sins we have yet to commit have been paid for by Jesus on the cross. Nothing more needs to be done.
 

On Friday, last Friday, what we call Good Friday our God, Jesus, God in human flesh suffered and died. Yes, God died. This statement should not be a surprise to us. Just as we humans have a body and a soul and when we die our soul separates from our body, so too with Jesus. When Jesus, God in flesh died on the cross, His soul, His deity separated from His body. He died as we die, yet as we know, with Jesus, being truly God, He also had the power we do not have.
 

And so we celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead and that because He rose we know that we too will rise. Being truly God, death had no hold on Jesus and because Jesus defeated death, so now death has no hold on us. Because Jesus rose, because the Father raised Him from the dead, He has promised that He will raise us.
 

We celebrate that Jesus promised to return to take us to heaven be with Himself. He is there now, preparing a place for each one of us. He is in heaven watching over us, ruling over us and interceding for us. And at the same time that He is in heaven, because He is true God, He continues to be everywhere present as well. Indeed He is with us as He is present with His body and blood in His Holy Supper. But, again, He has promised that He will return to gather us and all the saints in order to take us to be with Himself in heaven. And as He has kept all of His promises, we know that He will keep this one as well.
 

We celebrate that He sends the Holy Spirit to bring us, strengthen us, and keep us in faith. The Holy Spirit is with us today, working through the means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments, The very Word of God read and proclaimed, Confession and Absolution, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Holy Spirit works through these means as we make regular and diligent use of them, again, bringing us, strengthening us, and keeping us in faith.
 

We celebrate that He gives us the authority to tell others. The great commission is the great promise. The disciples were afraid. We may be afraid. Jesus says, “All authority is mine and I give it to you.” We do not have to be afraid to tell others the good news of Jesus, because He is with us to help us. As a matter of fact, because we have such great news, our desire, as we are filled with the gifts of God, we overflow and cannot help ourselves, but bubble up and share the good news of our living God with others.
 

Jesus showed Himself to the women, alive. He shows Himself to us, alive through His means of grace. Thanks be to God that Jesus came, that He lived, that He suffered and died, that He rose and that He will come again to take us to be with Himself in heaven. To Him be the glory. He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen.