The Guards (their false story) - Easter Morning - April 24, 2011 - Matthew 28:11-15

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! And so we greet each other on this wonderful Easter Morning, celebrating the fact that we worship, not a dead person nor a dead God as do all the other religions of the world, but we worship a living God. This year as we have been following through the Lenten season, getting ready for Good Friday and this morning, we have been following through some of the Facts about Lent and Easter. This morning we will conclude our facts about Easter by looking at the Guards from the tomb; at their being startled by Jesus’ resurrection and the stories, the false stories that they told to cover their own skin, so to speak and we will debunk their stories so we can know the truth of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Several theories persist even today concerning what the Bible tells us as fact, Jesus’ resurrection. This morning we will look at six such theories and immediately debunk them. These theories are presented in detail in Paul Maier’s book, In the Fullness of Time, which I referred to during Advent this past year. The main theory, from the Bible itself is that the body of Jesus was stolen. We might call this the “Stolen Body” theory. You might recall that after the resurrection the frightened guards ran to the chief priests and elders and announced to them the resurrection of Jesus to which they responded, not hallelujah, but tell everyone the body was stolen and we will cover for you.

The problem with the “Stolen Body” theory is that Jesus’ disciples did not have any overpowering motivation to steal the body, especially as we saw that they had all run away frightened at His arrest and really, were no where to be seen at His crucifixion. And besides the tomb was secure with guards. And there is the problem of timing, when would they have been able to pull off a stealing of the body.

Another theory is the “Wrong Tomb” theory. This theory suggests that the guards had the wrong tomb and so when the tomb was found empty it really never had a body anyway.

The holes in the “Wrong Tomb” theory include the fact that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary directly observed the burial so when they came to the tomb, which was empty, it was not the wrong tomb, rather it was the tomb in which Jesus’ body had been laid and now was empty because He rose.

The next theory is the “Lettuce” theory. “The “lettuce,” or “salad,” theory introduces a note of humor and nothing more. The “Lettuce” theory suggests that the gardener did it. Yet, “for the versatile gardener (who evidently transplanted bodies as well as lettuce) would have had some answering to do to the owner of the sepulcher, to say nothing of having been prevented by the guards in the first place.”

Some people espouse the “Swoon” theory. The “Swoon” theory suggests that Jesus was not really dead, but having taken some drug His body was simply in a low metabolism sleeping mode. The “Swoon” theory, though very inventive, ignores the evidence. Remember, Jesus had been beaten so that He was bleeding, to death. Jesus had been nailed to the cross so that suffocation took its toll, killing Him. His rib cage was pierced by the sword of the soldier at the cross and out came blood and water, the sign of a broken heart.

The “Psychological” or “Hallucination” theory suggests that none of the disciples, nor anyone else, truly saw Jesus, rather they were hallucinating, they were in a psychological stupper so that they only thought they saw Him. Or they had taken some herb to put them in a trance so they believed they saw Jesus alive. This theory falls short of the fact that the disciples were hardly a hallucinogenic group, and it would have had to be a group hallucination.

Finally, for our purposes this morning, there is the “Twin Brother” theory. This theory suggests that Jesus had a twin brother who suffered and died on the cross so that when Jesus later appeared, it was not the brother who was killed, but Himself. Now, certainly if Mary had given birth to twins and not to one son, this would have been reported. Also, why would a twin brother give his life and finally, what about the scars that Jesus presented?

All of these are interesting theories, but all can be explained and dismissed fairly easily. Truly, there is only one true and reasonable, as well as only one logical and factual explanation which of course is what we are celebrating today and what we celebrate every year, and truly what we celebrate each and every Sunday, Jesus’ bodily resurrection.

What does this mean for us today? I thought it would be good to look at some of these theories, because actually some of these theories continue to persist even today. Why do these theories continue to persist even to today? For the simple fact that they attempt to bypass accountability to God. Much like the theory and religion of Darwinism or Evolution was proposed so that life can be explained apart from God, so that humanity is not responsible to nor accountable to a god, so these theories persist so that we do not have to be held accountable before God, which we know will happen, whether we believe it or not.

As for these theories, we may rest assured today that just as these theories were proven false then, they continue to be false today. There has been no new evidence to prove any of these theories. As a matter of fact, when looking into the field of archeology, rather than ever disproving what God has told us in His Word, archeology time and again reaffirms and supports what God tells us in His Word. Time and again we are confirmed and reaffirmed in our commitment to believe the Word of God just as He has given it to us and just as He has spoken to us so we can believe the words for what they mean.

Thus, the evidence is certain and is interpreted rightly when it is interpreted according to Scripture. Remember, the mind and thoughts of humanity, even the will of man, has been tainted by sin. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, we as fallen humans living in a fallen world attempt to explain the world from a fallen worldview and so we often get it wrong. Instead, we have God’s Word which is faithful and true and through which God tells us what happened and also, imparts faith in our hearts to believe all that happened according to what He tells us in His Holy Word.

Therefore, we can always count on and believe God’s Word and His interpretation of the evidence. As we read in our text for this morning, God does not hide in the imagination of the hearts of men. God tells us in His Word the plan and plot of those who would seek to destroy His Church. God tells us the plot so that when we hear it we can know it for what it is a plot, a plan, a lie to lure others away. And yet, we know that we can believe the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.

This morning, then, we rejoice in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus for us. We rejoice again as we are reminded that it was because of us, because of you and me, because of our sins, along with that sin born in us, that sin of Adam and Eve that God had to promise to send a Savior. It was because of our sins and the sins of all people, of all places, of all times that Jesus came to live perfectly, according to God’s command to us, to be perfect. It was because of God’s great love for us that He created us and recreated us through the waters of Holy Baptism, in order to love us. It was and is because of God’s great love for us that Jesus took our sins upon Himself and suffered and died to pay the price for our sins. It was because of love that Jesus died and yet, as we celebrate this morning and every Sunday morning, Jesus did not stay dead, but He rose from the dead, victorious over sin, death, and the power of the devil.

No more needs to be done. Jesus has accomplished our eternal salvation. We do not have to do anything, as if God needs or requires anything from us. The chief doctrine which sets us Christians apart and truly which sets us Lutherans apart from all other denominations is this teaching of justification, that is that we are justified, we are made right and just in God’s eyes, by His grace, through faith in Him, faith given through the means of grace so that rather than believe we have to do something to justify ourselves or to give back to God, instead we simply are moved, again by God as the prime mover to be given to, to be given faith, to be given forgiveness, to be robed with His robes of righteousness and to be given to to respond that is to live lives of faith, to live as priests in the priesthood of all believers, to live lives as living sacrifice to the Lord. And as we live in such a way, being justified by God and being moved to live as His people, so our lives do say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. He is risen! He is risen, indeed, Hallelujah! Amen.

The (Empty) Tomb - Easter Sunrise - April 24, 2011 - Text: John 20:1-18

He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Paul tells us, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Those are pretty tough words. If Christ had not been raised from the dead, then we would have no reason to be a Christian. If Christ had not risen from the dead, we would still be sinners and eternally lost. If Christ had not risen from the dead, then why would we be here this morning? The heart of our Christian faith is this matter of Jesus’ resurrection. Did Jesus rise from the dead? How do we know? This morning we want to take the time to look at the evidence, to look at the claims and counter claims, the other explanations of the evidence so that we can know for sure, that we can have the confidence and security that in fact, Jesus did rise from the dead and as He rose from the dead, by His grace, through faith in Him, faith He has given to us, we know that we too will rise again to eternal life in heaven.

So, let us look at the evidence. As we look at the evidence for Jesus resurrection we want to make sure that we understand that evidence does not speak. If you have been in our Adult Bible Class on Sunday mornings, especially as we have looked at a lot of evidence for creation, over evolution, you might remember that we talked about this very issue, that evidence does not speak. Evidence does not speak, but it must be interpreted and it is interpreted according to one’s presupposition or world view. In other words, we interpret what we see either from the starting point that there is no God or as Christians, we believe the Bible’s interpretation is the best and truest and so we look at all the evidence beginning with God.

The main evidence we want to look at this morning is the evidence of an empty tomb. Dr. Paul Maier in his book, In the Fullness of Time, states, “. . . an empty tomb does not prove a resurrection, although a resurrection would require an empty tomb. Its occupancy, indeed, would effectively disprove it.” So, we have the evidence of an empty tomb and this evidence cannot and is not denied by anyone. It is the explanation of this evidence that we will want to examine. How can there be an empty tomb?

There are basically two explanations concerning the evidence of an empty tomb. The first explanation is the Jewish claim which is that the body was stolen. Matthew details this explanation when the guards admitted that the tomb was empty and this explanation is still propagated even today. So, one explanation of the empty tomb is that the body was stolen. This claim cannot be substantiated, however as we look at the evidence and as we seek to explain the evidence what cannot be overlooked is that this explanation is still a claim of a body not in the tomb.

According to Roman law, grave violations were strictly prohibited with strict penalties. If someone did steal the body of Jesus, there would be a hefty price to pay. Thus, if the body were stolen, there would most certainly be a search party, questions would be asked, and an explanation would have been forthcoming. Yet, as we look at the evidence we see that no one was accused or convicted of the crime of robbing the grave, thus this negates the explanation that the body was stolen.

The best explanation of the evidence is what happened in and around Jerusalem over the next seven weeks or forty days, that are the best proof of the resurrection. It was reported over and over by many and various people that Jesus was seen to be alive. It was reported by Jesus’ own disciples, to Peter, to James, to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, to the disciples without Thomas and to the disciples with Thomas, by various women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, Salome, and so forth, and even by over 500 witnesses mentioned by Paul in first Corinthians. All these witnesses saw Jesus alive. Even Thomas placed his fingers in Jesus’ hands and side. They watched as Jesus ate.

Yet, there is more evidence that Jesus rose. The Christian movement is probably the greatest evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. What was formerly important, one’s Jewish roots, became unimportant as the fulfillment of the work of the Messiah was complete and fulfilled. For those of Jesus’ own people, for those whose birth connected them to the covenant of the line of the fulfillment of the Messiah, for the believing Jews their birth heritage was no longer important instead what was important was to be known as a Christians. And thus, contrary to what secular history might tell you, this was not the birth of the Christian religion, but rather the birth of Judaism. The Christian religion goes back to the Garden of Eden and God’s promise to send a Messiah, a Savior. Jesus’ birth as the Messiah, as the Savior, was the fulfillment of the promise in Eden and so those who refused and rejected Jesus truly began their own religion, Judaism.

What does this mean? Today we celebrate an empty tomb. We celebrate the best explanation for the empty tomb is that Jesus rose from the dead. We celebrate the witnesses who saw Jesus alive. We celebrate the disciples who bore witness, even to death of the resurrection of Jesus. We celebrate the change in the world, especially in the church, that is that because of the fulfillment of the promise of a Savior given in the Garden of Eden, was fulfilled, one’s physical line of descent was no longer important, as Jesus Himself said, God can raise children of Abraham from stones. We are indeed God’s children, children of Abraham, children of the promise, not by birth, but by God’s grace, through faith, given to us.

Because of Jesus’ resurrection, because we know that we have forgiveness of sins, of all our sins, so then we confess our sins. We are bold to confess that we are conceived and born in sin, that every inclination of our heart is evil all the time, that we sin in thought, word and deed, that we sin sins of omission, not doing what we should be doing and sins of commission, doing what we should not be doing. We confess our sins because we know that our sins have been forgiven and to fail to confess is to refuse the forgiveness that Jesus earned for us. Actually, this is what separates us Lutherans from so many other denominations, our understanding of justification, sanctification and true Christian spirituality as it is called today. We are not spiritual because we have to do something for God. We are not made right before God because of what we do or do not do. Rather, we are spiritual, we are justified because of what God has done, does and continues to do for us and in us. Thus, we rejoice that we live lives as sinner/saints, sinful yet forgiven.

And so we rejoice in Jesus’ life, for us. The fullness of the Gospel is that Jesus lived for us. Remember God’s command is that we are perfect as He is perfect. Because we cannot be perfect, Jesus came to live in perfection for us, and He did. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, so He was conceived in perfection and He lived perfectly, obeying all God’s Laws; ceremonial, moral and civil. He fulfilled all God’s promises perfectly.

After living perfectly, Jesus took our sins upon Himself, our sins and the sins of all people, of all places, of all times. Thus, we mourn Jesus taking our sins and suffering. We mourn that Jesus had to suffer the eternal spiritual death penalty, hell, for us, in our place.

And we mourn Jesus’ death. Death was never and still is not a part of God’s plan. Death is a result of sin. Because we are conceived and born in sin, because we actually sin ourselves, the result is that dying we will die. Yet, Jesus died for us. He paid the eternal punishment so that although we may suffer the temporal consequences of our sins, we may die a physical death, we will never have to die an eternal spiritual death.

Then, we rejoice in His great love and substitution for us. We rejoice that God created us to love us. We rejoice that He does love us and that He has shown His love for us in this, no greater love can someone have than they would lay down their life for another, and that is what Jesus did for us. And He continues to love us and show His love for us in His constant forgiving us for our sin.

This morning and most greatly, then, we rejoice in His resurrection. Again, as Paul says, if He had not risen our faith would be in vain and we would, of all people, be most pitied. But, as we look at the evidence, as we explain the evidence, especially, as we start with God’s explanation of the evidence in His own Word, we know that His Word is faithful and true in all aspects and so we know that Jesus has risen from the dead, and that He lives and reigns to all eternity.

Finally, we rejoice in and await fulfillment to return to take us to be with Himself, either at His return or our going to Him and we have confidence in our eternal salvation. Our lives on this earth are short and often difficult, yet we know that even at a hundred years, our life on this earth is nothing. We understand, then, the importance of maintaining our faith, of looking forward to and being ready for our passing on from this world or our Lord’s return, knowing neither the day nor the hour.

What a great God we have. What a God of love we have. What a gift giving God we have. How can we not rejoice and celebrate. He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

Readings for Holy Week - Easter Sunday

What was Jesus doing on Easter Sunday?
The earthquake: Matthew 28:2-4
The coming of the women to the tomb to anoint the body: Matthew 28:1-7; Mark 16:1-5; Luke 24:1-2; John 20:1
Mary finds the tomb empty: John 20:2
Mary Magdalene tells Peter: Mark 16:10; John 20:2
Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene: Mark 16:9; John 20:11-17; 1 Cor. 15:4
Jesus appears to the other women: Matthew 28:8-10; Ps. 16:10
The report of the guards: Matthew 28:11-15
His appearance to Peter: Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5
His appearance to the disciples at Emmaus: Mark 16:12-13; Luke 24:13-35
His appearance to the disciples, Thomas absent: Luke 24:36-48; John 20:19-25; 1 Cor. 15:5

Readings for Holy Week - Holy Saturday

What was Jesus doing on Saturday of Holy Week?
Day of Waiting