Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: 1. Samuel 2,1-2.6-8a. Easter Sunday

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

The Word of the Lord Endures Forever

se cwide þæs béaggiefan ábireþ ferhþ

1. Samuel 2,1-2.6-8a 2218

Ostersonntag 034

Hugo, Bishop of Grenoble, France. ✠ 1132

1. April 2018

1. О Christ Jesus the First-born from the dead, help us to realize the happiness that arrives from Your return to life, so that we rejoice and receive the promise of our resurrected life that is the result of Your resurrected life (Starck 86). Amen.

2. »And Hannah prayed and said: „My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides You; there is no rock like our God. The Lord kills and brings to life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and He exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them He has set the world.« »The fool says in his heart: „There is no God.“ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good« (Psalm 14,1).

3. The account of Easter morning in the Gospel according to Mark highlights a belief that had been in the Jewish faith from its beginning with Abraham. Made Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome were the first human beings to see and confess Jesus’ resurrection. This puts them squarely in the Biblical tradition as taught in the Old Testament. 1000 years earlier the Bible tells us about Hannah, the mother of the Prophet Samuel, who would one day anoint David as the king of Israel, who confessed her Jewish faith by saying: »The Lord kills and brings to life; He brings down to the grave [Sheol] and raises up.« The Holy Gospels tell us that the same faith in the resurrection was part and parcel of the Judaism of Jesus’ day. Martha affirmed this when she’s said to Jesus: »I know that Lazarus will rise again in the resurrection on the last day« (John 11,24).

4. Martha’s confession squares with ours: the resurrection will occur at some distance, future time went on the last day Jesus returns and raises up all the dead back to life with a physical body. The Prophet Hosea records this resurrection more poetically as he quotes the Lord Himself: »I will redeem you from the grave and rescue you from death. O Death, I am going to be a pestilence to you. O Grave, I am going to be a sting to you« (Hosea 13,14). Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome believed that on the last day the Lord would raise them and all people back to life, but they did not expect to see a resurrected Jesus when they went to His tomb. All they knew was Jesus would be raised, but that would be on the last day as the First-fruit of the resurrection. These women went to the tomb early Sunday morning to finish burying Jesus because He had been put in His grave with great haste on Friday afternoon as the Sabbath rest was fast approaching and they were unable to complete their task. They expected to see the corpse of Jesus in the cave still hastily wrapped with the shroud and the veil covering His head and face.

5. The expectation of these 3 women was no different from that of the other disciples and apostles of Jesus. The Holy Gospels tell us that these noble women are prominent disciples of Jesus. Mary Magdalene (who is the only lady mentioned by name in all 4 Gospel accounts of Easter Sunday) was a woman from whom Jesus had exercised 7 demons. She was a wealthy woman who had supported Jesus’ ministry. The other Mary was the mother of James, and this James was an apostle of Jesus. Salome was the wife of Zebedee and thus the mother of James and John, two more apostles of Jesus; according to Christian tradition, Salome and the Virgin Mary were sisters, and that makes the apostles James and John 1. cousins of Jesus and further explains why on the cross Jesus told this John, His cousin, to care for the Virgin Mary (ref). This is the very Apostle John who wrote the Gospel bearing his name, three Epistles and Revelation. These women traveled with Jesus as disciples, heard His teachings and saw His miracles. They confessed Jesus to be the Messiah and King of Israel; they expected to find at the corpse of Jesus still in His tomb.

6. What these women saw at Jesus’ tomb was both disturbing and exhilarating. First it was disturbing. Let’s examine what they saw using an example we are more familiar with. They arrive at Jesus’ mausoleum and notice that the lock has been broken and the door is swung open. Inside they find the body is gone and the suit He had been wearing has been left behind, but then they see a young man in a white suit who tells them Jesus has risen. Their disturbing feeling now becomes exhilarating for they rightly perceive that they are beholding angel’s work.

7. Just as angels were used to first proclaim the birth of Jesus so angels were used to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus: »Jesus was crucified, but He has risen. He is not here. Go to Galilee and tell His disciples« (Mark 16,6-7). Their response? The women fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had seized them« (Mark 16,8). Their response is nothing that should surprise or shock us. Trembling and astonishment seize people in the Bible whenever they draw near to the Living, Holy God (Wenz ¶ 11-12). These women experienced the aftermath of a Divine miracle and thus they rightly were afraid of God’s Almighty power. When Jesus Himself appeared to His apostles later that day their response was the same: they were startled and terrified (Luke 24,36-37). 3 years later when Jesus appeared to Paul near Damascus, Paul fell to the ground and those traveling with him stood speechless (Acts 9,4.7).

8. Christ’s resurrection first leaves us frightened of His Divine power, but then His resurrection gives new hope to those who were frightened and lets them now participate in eternal life (Wenz ¶ 3). Jesus has the power to lay down His life and the power to take His life up again (John 10,17). The Apostle Paul tells us: »Christ has been raised from the dead, the First-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as Adam brought death, so also Jesus has brought the resurrection of the dead. For as an Adam all die, so also in Jesus all we made alive« (1. Corinthians 15,20-22).

9. Mark ends his Gospel in a unique way: »The women fled from the tomb, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid« (Mark 16,8). Mark leaves the Easter narrative unfinished. The women have seen the empty tomb, but they have not seen the risen Jesus. They have only heard the preached Word that Jesus is risen and this proclamation is all that is necessary to create faith and believe. Mark leaves us with the glorious anticipation of the women yet to tell the disciples the gospel. We are in the same circumstance of these women at verse 8: we can go to the tomb of Jesus and see that it is empty; we only have the preached gospel that Jesus has risen. As these created faith in Jesus’ resurrection in them so they create faith in us.

10. Blessed Hannah proclaimed: »I rejoice in the Lord’s salvation. There is none holy like the Lord.« „Therefore, let no one fear Death, for Christ’s death has set us free. He who was taken by Death has annihilated it! He descended into Hades and took it captive! (Chrysostom). Christ has redeemed us from the power of Hades; He has redeemed us from Death; He has plagued Death and stung Hades (Hosea 13,14). „Death took a body and came upon Christ! Hades took earth and encountered heaven! O Death where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are overthrown!“ (Chrysostom) Mary Magdalene, Mary and Salome saw this with their eyes and heard it with her ears. We too have heard it again. Christ is risen! Our sin is forgiven and life reigns triumphant over the grave! Go, and tell this gospel to all you know. Amen.

11. Let us pray. O Risen Christ, who now holds the keys of Death and Hades; set us free from the fear of Death and unlock the gates that imprison us, so that we believe in You and take comfort in the certainty of salvation (Heilsgewißenheit) which we have in Your Resurrection from the dead. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

Gode ealdore sy se cyneþrymm

✠

All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sunday, April 1, 2018

1. Samuel 2,1-2.6-8a. Easter Sunday

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