Sermon - Easter Day 2022 - Mark 16:1-8

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?”” You would’ve thought that before buying and preparing spices for Jesus’ burial they would’ve first figured out who was going to roll away the 3,000 pound rock from the entrance of the tomb, but they didn’t. So here are these three ladies walking to the tomb wondering how they’re going to get it open.

But upon their arrival they saw that the very large stone had already been rolled back! With an earthquake, an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone and sat on it and terrified the guards. It turns out the women didn’t really have to worry about rolling back the stone, nor for that matter anointing Jesus’ body with burial spices, since He wasn’t even in the tomb anymore! God the Father had opened the tomb and raised Jesus from the dead.

Nevertheless, even though it turned out that they didn’t have to bother themselves with anointing Jesus’ body or opening the grave, at least they were asking the right questions! Who will open the grave for us? It’s a question we ought to be asking ourselves: Who will open our graves for us?

I know it’s a sobering question to ask, but the resurrection does presuppose that there will be a death from which we must be raised. So ultimately this is a question of who we believe has the power over death? Who and what do we place our hope in after death? Do we even believe that there will be a resurrection from the grave?

Many today have a purely spiritual view of what happens when we die. As if when we die and our soul goes to heaven, that’s all that eternal life will be like. Like we’re just a disembodied spirit floating around in the ether. While it is true that the souls of Christians go to the Father in heaven at death, that’s not all that happens. Job declared: “After my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” 

Or we heard St. Paul say: “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” Or even more importantly we see that Jesus was not raised only spiritually, like a ghost, but He was raised bodily. His body, which had been crucified and wrapped in linen cloth, laid in the tomb, had risen from the dead and went physically to Galilee where His disciples saw Him face to face!

The great promise of Easter is that on the last day when Christ returns He will raise the dead, bodily, from their graves! There’s a reason that old cemeteries were laid out so that the dead were laid on their backs with their feet to the East, so that when Jesus returned it would be simple enough for them to sit up and face Jesus, without having to turn around. Our Christian loved ones who have already died will be raised bodily! Their bodies which we’ve so lovingly placed into their graves will rise on the last day. Together we will be with Jesus bodily, with the ability to embrace one another with high-fives and handshakes, hugs and kisses! God has the power to raise the dead and open the tomb!

This significant truth impacts many aspects of our lives. For one, it means that there is hope beyond this life. Presently there’s a lot going on to disturb us: a war between Ukraine and Russia, which if escalated could significantly impact us; very very high inflation, which may last for some time yet, and will likely result in a bad recession; bizarre sexual perversions permeating our culture; and who knows what the rest of this year has in store for us. Depression and anxiety among us are worsening to a significant degree. 

Yet, with all of the anxiety inducing problems in this life, we have hope on account of the resurrection. No matter how bad things get here, no matter how much death surrounds us, “death is swallowed up in victory.” Because Jesus rose, the angel’s message is trustworthy: “Do not be alarmed.” When our hearts are troubled and everything looks like it’s doomed and falling apart, don’t be alarmed, fear not, Christ the crucified One has risen from the dead and conquered our foes!

Since Christ has risen and we know Him who will open our graves and bring us from death to life, this gives us great vigor and boldness, excitement even, because there is nothing more important in all the world than this news that Jesus rose from the grave. I know our Gospel ends with the women fleeing in silence, but they came out of that stupor and told the apostles and many others this great news! That good news spread across the Mediterranean and throughout the whole world because Christ rose from the dead. Since Jesus is our victor, St. Paul encourages us, saying: “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”

Let us heed that word with joy! Let us be steadfast and immovable in the good news of the resurrection! Let us always be Easter Christians with our eyes fixed on Jesus who died and rose for us. Most in our world don’t know and believe what you believe, they don’t have the same hope that you do, they don’t know who will open their graves. But you do know Who will open your graves, you do know that Jesus is living! So when this world is depressed emotionally and economically, scared of dying, constantly fighting, engaged in the grossest behaviors, don’t follow them. Instead, look to the crucified and risen Jesus, remember that you will rise from the grave, and be filled with hope in the darkest of days. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!