23 March 2008 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
The Feast of the Resurrection
Vienna, VA
“He Sat On It!”
Text: Matthew 28:1-10
(Jeremiah 31:1-6; Colossians 3:1-4)
Grace, mercy, and
peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Christ is risen! [He is risen
indeed! Alleluia!]
An angel of the Lord descended from
heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. That’s what St. Matthew tells us. The angel sat on it! It seems like such an insignificant little
detail in such a tremendous story. But
with those words we see that all the strength and might of man in sealing the
tomb and posting a guard and making it as secure as they knew how (Mt 27:65-66), was reduced to a
chair. How right the psalmist was
when against all the plotting and raging of man, he
simply states: He who sits in the heavens, shall laugh. (Ps 2:4) And today we can add, He who laid in the tomb shall laugh! For Christ is risen! No stone could hold in the Lord of life.
For what is a stone – no matter how big
– against the One who took upon Himself the crushing
weight of the sin of the world? What is
a stone against the One who came to do battle again satan
and his minions? It is unbelief that
says a stone can hold God in a tomb. But
when sin is atoned for death loses its power and the grave must give up its
prey. And so today our cry of Christ
is risen! means that sin
is forgiven. Christ is risen! means satan is now a
toothless foe. Christ is risen! means death is defeated,
and that just as Christ is risen, so too we will rise to live with Him
forever. For Christ is risen! means Jesus, our
Saviour, has won!
And so of course the angel sits
on the stone. For as we just sang: The
Strife is Over, the Battle Done. (LSB #464) There is no more fighting to do. Now there is rest and peace and joy.
But something else happened on that
stone that first Easter morning. Not
only did it become a chair, it also became a pulpit. It is the place where the first Easter sermon
ever was proclaimed, as the angel told the women that Jesus had risen
from the dead. And then showed them.
For the angel rolled back the stone not to provide a way of escape for
the Lord, but to show the world that the Lord had already risen. He rolled it back to help his fellow servants
believe. He rolled it back for the sake
of faith, that the women, the disciples, and all the
world might believe. That we know that
Jesus’ resurrection was no mere spiritual resurrection, but that Jesus was
wholly and fully alive. Not just part of
Him, but all of Him. Body
and soul. Anything less
would not have been a victory, or even a partial victory, but no victory
at all. Anything less would have meant
that death had not been defeated, but had won after all. And if death is not defeated, then sin is not
defeated. And if sin is not defeated,
then we are still in our sin. And if we
are still in our sin, then we have no hope (1 Cor 15:14), and Easter is not
the most joyous, but the saddest, day of the year.
But the angel is sitting on the stone! The grave is not only open, it is empty. And the angel opens his mouth to proclaim
this good news. For regarding the life
of Christ, do not angels always bring good news? Christ is conceived, Christ is born, Christ
is risen!
And that is the cornerstone of all
Christian preaching. For the stone upon
which the angel sat is not only his pulpit, but the pulpit from which all
pastors preach. For without the death
and resurrection of Jesus, the Christian religion is just like any other
religion in this world – a religion of moralism, intellectualism, or
mysticism. A religion of what we can do
for God, or what we can do to get to God.
But that is not the preaching of the
angel! For the angel has told us that
God has come to us in the person of Jesus Christ. The angel tells us what God has done for us
in Jesus’ death and resurrection. The
angel tells us the good news that our forgiveness, life, and salvation is not
dependent upon us, but has been accomplished by our Saviour, and is given to
us. Given to us by our Saviour who is
not dead, but risen and living, and still coming to us – like to His disciples
then – to dispel our doubts, calm our fears, and forgive our sins.
And so of course the angel sits
on the stone, for Christ is our cornerstone.
The rock on which the Church is built.
And this is what the prophet Jeremiah
also proclaimed to the people of Israel and Judah, even some 600 years before
Jesus was born. For even then, the
preaching of what God had promised to do for His people in their coming
Saviour was the cornerstone of all prophetic preaching. And so from Jeremiah we heard this morning: “Thus
says the Lord: . . . I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I
have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be
built, O virgin Israel.”
Those are important words – for Israel then, and for us today.
For when Jeremiah spoke those words, God was about to punish His people
for their sin; for their idolatry. The
Babylonian army was at the doorstep, and they would soon completely conquer God’s
people, destroy their land and their cities, and haul most of them off as
prisoners of war to Babylon. And there
they would remain, weeping and mourning, for 70 years. It is a picture not unlike Good Friday,
when because of the sin of His people, Jesus is besieged by His enemies, slain
on the cross, dies, and is laid captive to death in the tomb. And there was weeping and mourning.
But Jeremiah then proclaims words of
comfort and promise! That God would
destroy, in order to make alive. That
though the nation would die, God loves His people with an everlasting love,
will remain faithful to them, and bring them back alive! He will again raise them up and build them up
. . . and then the most astonishing word of all: He calls His people “O
virgin Israel.” Israel, who had committed spiritual adultery against her God. Israel, who had prostituted
herself with many and various gods.
Israel, who was anything but a virgin – is called by her God a
virgin again. She is forgiven! And not only forgiven, but restored. It is as if her sin had never taken place at
all!
For that’s what forgiveness is, and
that is what our God has done for us this day, this Easter Day, with the
resurrection of Jesus. For He who was
slain for our sin on the cross is raised and made alive again, and in Him, God
is bringing back all His people. He is
building us up as His new Israel, His Church, in His everlasting love and
faithfulness. And risen and living, He
now comes to us too with this most astonishing word of all: I forgive
you all your sin. For us who are
unfaithful. For us who turn to our own
ways. For us who in our sin are anything
but pure – now in Christ our sin, our regrets, our pasts that haunt us, are
gone! And we are as virgins in our
purity again. Washed clean and restored,
as if our sin had never happened at all!
And so of course the angle sits
on the stone. That is what Easter is all
about. Resting on the
cornerstone of the completed work of our Saviour. Relying not on ourselves,
but on Him as the source of our joy, our proclamation, and our strength.
You know, the women who went to the
tomb that first Easter morning had a pretty big obstacle to face. No, not the stone, or death, or the
grave! That had all been taken care of
for them, by Jesus, just as He had promised.
Their obstacle was their unbelief. What they needed was faith. And so it is for you and me. What stones are holding you down, holding you
in, holding you back? What stones are
causing you sadness and struggle and fear?
What stones seem insurmountable?
Is your problem the stones, or unbelief?
Do we need strength, or do we need faith? Is the problem our Saviour, or our failure to
believe His promises?
Today the angel sits on the stone
and proclaims to us: Christ is risen! Whatever you need has been provided; whatever
you fear has been defeated. Christ is risen, and you are risen with Him. Joined to Him in His death
and resurrection in Holy Baptism.
And because He lives, you live as well.
His victory is your victory.
And that is a victory proclaimed not
only by the angel, but also by Jesus Himself, who came to the women in their
fear and joy, so that they fell down before Him in worship and threw their arms
around His feet, not wanting to let go.
And yet again, so it is today for you as well. For you who have not only heard the proclamation
of the angel, but you for whom Christ comes today in His very same body and
blood, that you take hold of Him here, eating His body and drinking His
blood. Receiving from
the Lord Himself the joy of forgiveness, the strengthening of your faith, and
the promise of life. For He knows
that is what you need. And as often as
we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim His victory over death,we celebrate His triumph, and we mock the old, evil foe.For
he could not stop Jesus then, and he still cannot stop him today.The Strife
is Over, the Battle Done!
So let us too rejoice this Easter
day! Let us too sit on His stone, and
laugh with holy joy! For Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed!
Alleluia!]
In the name of the
Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Amen.