X Jesus Christ, the Son of God X
Mark 16,1-8
Ostersonntag 034 weiß
Egbert, priest, † 729. Johann Walter, Kantor, † 1570
24. April 2011
1. O Lord Jesus Christ, grant that the festival of Your glorious and gracious resurrection which we celebrate this days may indeed be for all of us a true Easter festival, a festival of resurrection, of life, of liberty, of grace, of forgiveness, of righteousness, and joy. And grant that today no one of us may leave this house, dedicated to Your glory, without recognizing, believing, and therefore rejoicing in the fact that also each one of us has long ago been truly reconciled through You to our Heavenly Father, and that in You all our sins have long ago been forgiven (Walther 229). Amen.
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to Mark where the holy evangelist writes: 1When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Jesus. 2And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3And they were saying to one another, „Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?“ 4And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back – it was very large. 5And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6And he said to them, „Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; He is not here. See the place where they placed Him. 7But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.“ 8And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. This is our text.
3. Jesus has done it; He is through (Nagel 118). But Mary Magdalene, Salome, and the other Mary didn’t know it yet (Nagel 118). While the apostles hid in fear, the women ventured forth at the break of dawn to Jesus’ tomb. They went to the tomb to finish burying Jesus. He had died so late on Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. The women, John, Lazarus, and Joseph of Arimathea had precious little time to place Jesus in a tomb before sundown. Permission needed to be granted by the Romans to remove His corpse from the cross, then a burial linen needed to be wrapped around the dead body, the tomb needed to be opened, Jesus placed therein, and the tomb resealed with a large stone. All this needed to be done by 6 p.m. Friday, for at 6 p.m. the Sabbath began and they had to be home resting in observance of the seventh day.
4. Jesus’ burial, therefore, had been done in haste. On Sunday morning the women would give Jesus a proper burial with deliberate respect, honor, and love. They did not expect Jesus to be risen from the dead, for the pressing issue on their minds was who would open up the tomb for them.
5. We worship the same God that these faithful women worship. Our God is a great and awesome God. God the Father sent an angel to roll away the stone from Jesus’ tomb. God met the need of these women.
6. These noble women were the first to hear the gospel. They were not only noble in stature, but noble in society. These women were prominent disciples of Jesus. Mary Magdalene (who is the only lady mentioned by name in all Four Gospel accounts of Easter Sunday) was a woman from whom Jesus had exorcised seven demons. She was a wealthy woman who supported Jesus’ ministry out of her means. And Salome was the wife of Zebedee, the mother of the apostles James and John, and (according to Christian tradition) the sister of the Virgin Mary. The other Mary mentioned here was the mother of James, and this other James was also an apostle of Jesus. These women traveled with the twelve apostles. They saw the miracles Jesus performed. They heard the teachings and parables. They ate and fellowshipped with Jesus. They supported the ministry of Jesus. Mary, Salome, and the others believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the King of Israel. These women were noble in their deeds, awakening early on Sunday morning to apply spices to Jesus’ lifeless body so as to complete the Jewish burial rite. The angel who appeared as a young man in a white robe changed all that.
7. These dear women look in the opened tomb and find a different man than the one they had expected to see. The women had expected Jesus to be a lifeless corpse lying on a stone shelf in the tomb. Much to their surprise, the women behold a young man seated on the right side, dressed in a white robe. Without a word from God, the sight of the empty tomb could be the effect of several different causes. God sends an angel to explain what the empty tomb means. This angel gives the women the straightforward facts: Jesus was crucified, He is risen, and He is not here at the tomb. The women went to the tomb expecting to find a dead Jesus, but instead they find an empty tomb and the proclamation of a living, resurrected Jesus.
8. Mark’s resurrection account is unlike the other Gospel accounts in that the Gospel according to Mark ends without anyone actually seeing the risen Jesus. In fact, Mark’s Gospel ends with the women trembling, astonished, and afraid at what the angel had told them. The shocking news was overwhelming. And so ends the Gospel Reading for Easter Sunday from the Gospel according to Mark.
9. What makes this Gospel account so compelling and powerful is the fact that the women did not see the risen Jesus. The only evidence they have for His resurrection is that the tomb is empty and the angel proclaims to them that Jesus is risen. Like the women, we are seated here this morning hearing that Jesus is risen. The Gospel according to Mark proclaims it. The pastor preaches it. And like the women, we hear the gospel message and believe that Jesus is risen.
10. The Gospel according to Mark begins with God’s messenger announcing what God was about to do (1,2-8); it closes with God’s messenger announcing what God has done [16,-8] (Garland 613). In Mark 1 the way is to be prepared; in Mark 16 the way has been prepared and the disciples are to follow, going to Galilee, where Jesus has gone before them (Garland 613). The angel gives them the task of proclaiming Jesus’ resurrection to Peter and the disciples. The women are not to dilly-dally around the empty tomb but to make haste and go straightaway to the disciples and proclaim the gospel. Jesus is on His way to Galilee, and that is where the women and the disciples can see Him in His resurrected body.
11. The Apostle Peter gets special mention here for at least two reasons. First, Peter is the first and last disciple named in Mark’s Gospel (Garland 614). Mark wrote his Gospel around A.D. 43[1] (Eusebius 50). Eusebius, advisor to Emperor Constantine and Church historian, says that Mark’s Gospel is based on what he heard Peter preach in Rome. This year’s Easter date is also important because tomorrow, 25. April is the liturgical day set aside for Mark the Evangelist who was martyred in A.D. 68. in Alexandria, Egypt. That is the same year when both Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome. Second, Peter is singled out because he had three times denied knowing Christ on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Peter is still an apostle and a disciple, and the angel wants him to especially know this. Jesus does not give up on His disciples, no matter how great their failure or how many their faults (Garland 614). That good news is the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection. The risen Christ and His empty tomb proclaim that Jesus has triumphed over death. Sin and the devil have also been conquered. Hell hath no fury for those who are in Christ Jesus.
12. „Jesus lives, and by His words and Spirit He puts His death and His life into you. You are baptized. „Your life is hid with Christ in God“ (Colossians 3,3). Go, tell, live that. There is angel’s work to do. Jesus has done it, crucified and risen, but some don’t know it yet“ (Nagel 120-1). Go and proclaim Christ’s resurrection.
13. The Early Christians used to greet each other at Easter with this salutation in Greek: Cristo~ anesth! Alhqw~ anesth. Hallelujah! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed. Hallelujah! He is risen and we are redeemed back to God the Father. He is risen and our sins are all forgiven. He is risen and death has been conquered. He is risen and Satan has been defeated. He is risen and we now have everlasting life. Jesus is risen and He does not give up on you, His disciples. Rejoice, and be glad, for Christ has triumphed over death and the grave. He is the Resurrection and the Life: He is our Resurrection and our Life, now and eternally. Amen and amen!
14. Let us pray. O Lord, Most Merciful and Gracious God! The power of Your resurrection makes it clear to us that we are redeemed from the fear of death, and that we are no longer shaken and horrified by our life on this sinful earth. O Lord, make us joyful of Your resurrection and fill us with delightful hope so that we whether we live or are awaiting death we are nevertheless assured of the resurrection of the dead. O Lord Jesus, You were once dead but have become alive again so that You have the keys of death and hell so that we sing our Hosannas and our Hallelujahs for You are our propitiation both in the hour of our parting and in our resurrection! By Your death and Your resurrection, we live! Amen. (Löhe 6 §7).
Christus ist auferstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig auferstanden.
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Mark © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
Eusebius. Ecclesiastical History. Copyright © 1998 Hendrickson Publishers. Garland, David E. Mark, The NIV Application Commentary:. Copyright © 1996 David E. Garland.
Löhe, Wilhelm. A sermon preached on Mark 16,1-8 on Osterfeste. Translation © 2011 The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind.
Walther, C. F. W. The Word of His Grace. The Evangelical Lutheran Synod Translation Committee, translator. Copyright © 1978 Graphic Publishing Company, Inc.
[1] Many conservative theologians date the Gospel according to Mark between A.D. 50-60. See Garland 26-28 for details about Papias’ dating of the Gospel.
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