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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
This image depicting Luke 24:1-12 is by French painter and illustrator James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902), rendered in opaque watercolor over graphite on gray wove paper, owned by the Brooklyn Museum, and used from this site.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
As some of you know, our Good Friday service concluded with the singing of the hymn “O Perfect Life of Love” (Lutheran Service Book 452), which apparently was intended as a meditation on Jesus’s next‑to‑last “word” from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). As we sang the hymn Friday night, I especially reflected on its second stanza, which reads as follows:
No work is left undone / Of all the Father willed;
His toil, His sorrows, one by one, / The Scriptures have fulfilled.
Indeed, our special midweek sermon series the past six weeks has had as its general theme “Passion Prophecies fulfilled for you!”, and we considered various examples of all that the Father prophesied, which Jesus’s toil and sorrows fulfilled. Yet, in speaking from the cross, what Jesus specifically said was finished was not yet everything. For example, He had not yet risen from death on the third day, ascended into heaven, been seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, or come again to judge the living and the dead—all of which were also prophesied and so needed to be fulfilled. So, in this morning’s Easter “Sonrise” Matins Service, the eighth and final sermon of our special series appropriately considers the prophecy and fulfillment of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, Who “Rose from death the third day”, even if that Resurrection is not part of His “Passion”. Your service folder has an accompanying illustration from J-J Tissot.
Your service folder also lists nearly two handfuls of passages related to this prophecy and fulfillment of Jesus Christ, Who “Rose from death the third day”, and no doubt more passages could have been listed. Right now I will mention just a few. In Psalm 16, which both Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the New Testament say pointed to Jesus Christ (Acts 2:25-31; 13:35), the Holy Spirit inspired David to speak prophetically of Jesus Christ Whose flesh dwells secure, Whose soul was not abandoned to Sheol, Who did not see corruption, and Who experienced fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore in God’s Presence, at His right hand (Psalm 16:8-11). Similarly, in Psalm 30, David, who feared for his life, speaks of his own deliverance in words prophetic of Jesus Christ, Whose soul was, as it were, brought up from Sheol and Who was restored to life from among those who go down to the pit (Psalm 30:3). And, in the “Suffering Servant Song” that some of us heard read Good Friday, God through Isaiah prophesied of Jesus Christ, despite being crushed and put to grief, as prolonging His days, seeing, and being satisfied. But, as strange as it might seem, an in-one-sense more‑detailed prophecy of Jesus Christ, Who “Rose from death the third day”, comes—in the form of a “type” or “foreshadowing” of Jesus’s burial and resurrection—from the prophet Jonah’s spending, in the belly of a great fish, three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17)—a common Jewish way of referring to one full day and parts of two others.
During His earthly ministry, Jesus even compared Himself to Jonah in that regard. More than once, Jewish leaders were wrongly asking Jesus, despite all that He already was saying and doing, for an unnecessary sign. So, Jesus told them the “only” sign they would get would be the sign of Jonah: that, as Jonah was parts of three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man would be parts of three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (for example, Matthew 12:38-40; 16:1-4). The Jewish leaders understood what Jesus meant, as is clear from when they asked Pilate to seal Jesus’s tomb (Matthew 27:62-66).
For about a month now, there has been a movie out with the title “God’s Not Dead”. The movie has very little to do with Jesus’s death and resurrection and more to do with popular culture’s loss of faith and the rise of atheism, going back at least to the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, who in two works wrote that “God is dead”. One of the theological problems with the movie is that it presents the view that one can reason another person into the Christian faith, as if the right argument will convince a skeptic to assent to Christianity, much like the Jewish leaders wanted from Jesus an overpowering marvel, an irresistible sign. On the basis of the Bible, we believe, teach, and confess that we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit calls and enables us to believe in Jesus Christ and come to Him. Apparently the movie “God’s Not Dead” does not even present the Spirit’s call to repent and believe, to have a right relationship with God through faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Whether or not you and I seek some sort of “overpowering marvel” or “irresistible sign” that would convince us once and for all that God is real, by nature you and I need to repent and believe, as much as anyone else. Jesus told the Jewish leaders that those from Nineveh who heard Jonah’s preaching and repented would rise up at the Judgment and condemn those who do not repent (Matthew 12:41). At the Judgment, one’s refusal to repent and to believe will bring certain condemnation and the eternal torment apart from God that one deserves, the very suffering and death that, as we heard on Good Friday, Jesus took on Himself in order to save us from it. However, the Judgment will bring no condemnation to those who repent and believe that Jesus Christ died and rose for them.
Because of God’s love, mercy, and grace, both Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection were prophesied, and both were necessary for our salvation. For example, Isaiah said the Suffering Servant would make “many” to be accounted righteous by His bearing their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11). Although Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection obviously inter-relate, they are distinct events, each with its own importance. Jesus’s death on the cross removes our sin from us, and His resurrection from the grave declares the world objectively justified. The resurrection gets its significance from the crucifixion, but the resurrection gives significance to the crucifixion. Just as Jesus Christ descended into hell and proclaimed victory there, so He rose again from the dead to proclaim victory here. We might could say that without the resurrection, we would never know that Jesus Christ had won the victory for us!
While the angels pointed the women at the tomb to Jesus Christ’s own words foretelling His resurrection (Luke 24:6), Jesus Christ Himself pointed His disciples to His own words that all of the Old Testament had to be fulfilled, and He opened their minds to understand Scripture’s teaching not only that it was necessary for Him to suffer and rise from death on the third day but also that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name (Luke 24:44‑47). Jesus Christ fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies for us, and He tells us what He has done for us and gives us the benefits of what He has done for us, through His Word and Sacraments. Forgiveness of sins is given to those who are Baptized in His Name. Forgiveness of sins is given to those who are individually Absolved in His Name. Forgiveness of sins is given to those who Commune in His Name. At this Altar and its rail, the Resurrected Lord makes Himself known in the breaking of bread that is His body and in the drinking of wine that is His blood (Luke 24:30‑35). One cannot reject the means by which Jesus Christ gives us the benefits of what He has done for us and still be saved (see Luke 16:29-31).
God the Father in six days finished His work of creation and rested (Genesis 2:1-3), and God the Son on the cross finished His work of redemption, even though in neither case did you and I yet exist. Now that we do, God the Holy Spirit is finishing His work of sanctification—through Word and Sacrament making holy all of us who believe. All of Scripture’s Passion Prophecies have been fulfilled for you! As prophesied, Jesus Christ also “Rose from death the third day”. All of Scriptures other prophecies pertaining to you and to me, likewise will be fulfilled. In Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, already now, even as we wait for our deaths and resurrections, we have the forgiveness of sins, and so we have peace and joy.
Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +