Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia.
When God created Adam, He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). So Eve was created from Adam shortly thereafter. They were, quite literally, made for each other.
And from there He commanded them to be fruitful and multiply. He commanded humankind to have children, to build families. But that orientation toward one another, is not simply about marriage, husbands and wives, and families and such. It goes much beyond that. We are made, we are created to be in communion with one another and, ultimately, with God Himself. We were meant to fill the earth with the holy community of God’s people.
God, you see, has created us to be together, not apart.
But sin separates. It divides. It twists us and turns us inward so that we do not look out for one another but look out for ourselves. That fundamental selfishness, that “me-ness” means that you have been torn away from the very life that God made you to have. And ultimately it means death and hell. When sin separates us from the life of God, what other outcome can there be?
We see this beautifully expressed in the Byzantine iconography. There are many different version of this image…but they all have a fundamental similarity. On the one side is heaven and the other is this broken world where we poor sinners suffer and die. And between them is a chasm…a separation.
There is nothing worse than separation. Separation means loss. Separation means that things are not as they are supposed to be.
Don’t we see that in our texts for today? Pharaoh marches toward the people of Israel. He is angry. He is selfish. He wants to be in control and to force the people of Israel and their God to do as He desires. Never mind that it has already nearly destroyed him, and his family, and his entire nation. He will fight and fight and fight. And it will kill him.
And so it with you and with me too. Oh we think we know best. We rationalize and explain away our sins. We pretend that everything is ok with us; and meanwhile we ignore the gossip and the lust and the slander and the greed, and every other sin that entangles us.
In today’s culture we even go so far as to call all this evil good and to mock and berate those who would stand firm in the confession of the one true faith; and who would uphold the Law of God as absolute…even knowing that it condemns all mankind with it’s holy goodness.
For You see God created us for a life in Him and with one another. And Sin, death, and hell have all tried their best to tear that away from us…tried to make us into ugly caricatures of what we were truly meant to be.
Yet all the while, God has sought us out, working to brings us back to Himself, and to make us His own once again. We hear in the book of Jeremiah, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued My faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3).
And God’s faithfulness to you in life continues past death itself, even into a new life in His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. For Jesus has triumphed over the grave.
So it is that Paul can write in the book of Romans:
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38–39)
So good and loving and powerful is our Lord, Christ, that He has gone to battle against all our enemies and defeated them on the cross, rescuing us from death and hell, forgiving our sins, and giving us life and immortality. And nothing can separate us from this great love of God in Christ.
We see it in this image…who is that bridges the gap, who is that pulls the poor sinner out of the grave and into heaven? Jesus. Jesus the risen one, grabs the sinner by the hand and pulls him into heaven, even as the Father lovingly grips His only begotten Son, drawing back to His place at the right hand of Majesty.
Alleluia Christ is Risen! He is Risen, indeed, Alleluia
Yes He is indeed risen from the dead. He has defeated even this enemy for you. And this great truth was first discovered on that Easter morning by Mary Magdalene. She came, the text says in the dark.
In the DARK.
It was more than the darkness of the early hour. It was the darkness of his holy innocent, bitter, suffering and death. It was the darkness of his betrayal by a friend, and His brutal treatment by the Jews and the Romans. It was the darkness of Peter’s denial and the shame shouts of Crucify Him. It was the darkness of Good Friday and Holy Saturday, when he lay in the tomb. The darkness of the death of Christ, the King; the Holy One of Israel. It was the darkness that tried desperately to overcome God’s goodness and His perfect will. It was the darkness of sorrow so deep that it blinded Mary and stole her hope, even as the Risen Lord stood there before her.
Yet in the dark she discovered it: The tomb was empty. And in the dark she ran and told Peter and the other disciple. And in the deep darkness she stood weeping outside the tomb. And there in the dark she saw a man and explained to Him why she was weeping. And into the darkness the light of the Risen Jesus shone upon Her.
He said to her, “Mary.” And in that moment the darkness broke and the light shone brighter than ever before.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia.
He is Risen indeed. And now, even now, He pleads before His heavenly Father on your behalf.
So make no mistake, beloved. Jesus Christ, both God and Lord, has triumphed over all the forces arrayed against Him in this sinful and broken world. And His foes are your foes. Now that He has won the victory for us, He gives us the spoils of His victory. He gives us the feast of victory because Jesus’ triumph is our triumph. He gives us life because Jesus’ resurrection is our resurrection. His resurrection from the dead means that we will never be forsaken or separated from Him ever again.
This love reaches beyond the grave for all eternity. This love is the very nature and character of God. We do not understand it; all we can do is rejoice in it and know that the God of our salvation has given His all to us because Jesus died and rose again. As we sing and pray in the Easter hymns:
Sing we to our God above. Alleluia. Praise eternal as His love; Alleluia!
Who could imagine that His love for us would be so deep, so high, so broad that it encompasses the whole world? Who could believe that this love is for us?
This is the miracle of miracles. We are loved by God because of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. It is no side thought. There is no “Yes, but . . .”
God’s deep, high, broad love is for you. Yes, You!
Dear friend do not every imagine that your sin is beyond the reach of God’s love in Christ. Do not every let the devil convince you that the cross enough for you. Remember, instead, the Apostle Paul who gladly takes on the title “Chief of Sinners.” He does this neither to brag nor to wallow in self-pity. Rather he takes the title so that you know that you can’t take it. If God’s love has reached this man Paul, who, he reminds in the epistle this day, was unworthy because he persecuted the church even to the point of approving of the imprisonment and murder of Christians. ..If God’s love has reached such a man as that…if the love of Christ can cover and forgive such a sinner, then surely you too are within the grasp of God’s love and forgiveness. There’s no doubt about it. Jesus died and Jesus rose for you. He has grabbed ahold of you to pull you of the grave and into His kingdom, which has no end.
So what does that change for you? What is different on this Easter side of the grave? What is different now that we live in the glow of the resurrection?
The difference is that when you love, your love does not simply come from you. It’s not based on your wisdom, power, goodness or strength. No your love, your service to those around you, is shaped in you by the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So now when you give and sacrifice and love and suffer, you can do so in freedom because Christ has freed you from the suffering of eternal death. Now that Christ is risen from the dead for us, we can live with eternity on the horizon.
And in fact, eternity is really here and now. You see, you are here today together with the whole church in heaven and on earth. That’s what we confess. We believe in the communion of the saints. That means the saints and angels, prophets and priests, Mary, Anna, the apostles, and all the Christians of old are gathered here today with you. They along with all the dead in Christ…our mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, husbands, wives, children, all who died in the faith are with us here at this altar. For where Jesus is, His Bride, the church, is there. And His Bride, the church, is always whole, always complete. We are not separated by sin, Satan, or death.
So dear friends, dear Christians, come here to the altar of God, to the altar where Christ, who was sacrificed for us, gives Himself for the forgiveness of sins, for life and salvation. Come and rejoice with all the heavenly host. Sing and rejoice, for your King has come. He has come for us. For you. And now we celebrate this feast of victory, which has no end!
So come this day, dear Baptized children of God. Come and take of His body and His blood and be fed by Him. For He has taken hold of you and He will never let go. He is your King, you Savior, your Lord, your friend, who has welcomed you to His table and promised you a place in His Kingdom, forever. And you can believe every word He says, for He lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen
Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia.