[MN] Easter 2006
Pr. Todd Peperkorn
peperkorn at higherthings.org
Sun Apr 16 17:22:40 UTC 2006
Begin forwarded message:
> From: BlogSCL Subscriptions <blog at higherthings.org>
> Date: April 16, 2006 11:22:51 AM CDT
> To: toddpeperkorn at mac.com
> Subject: BlogSCL: Easter 2006
>
> The Lutheran Logomaniac
>
>
> Pastor Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
> Pastor, Messiah Lutheran Church, Kenosha, Wisconsin
> Publications Executive and Editor, Higher Things: Dare to Be Lutheran
> Easter 2006
>
> Posted At: April 16th, 2006 at 11:22am by Rev. Todd Peperkorn
>
>
>
> TITLE: “He is risen!”
>
>
> Easter Morning (April 16, 2006)
> Mark 16:1-8
> For an audio MP3 file of this sermon, please CLICK HERE
> Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
> Messiah Lutheran Church
> Kenosha, Wisconsin
>
> Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
> Christ. Amen. Our text for this morning is from the Gospel lesson
> just read from Mark chapter 8. We focus on the words of the
> angels, He is risen!
>
> The beginning of this picture from St. Mark’s Gospel is one of the
> saddest pictures in all of the Scriptures. Jesus has died on the
> cross, paid for the sins of the whole world with His own death. He
> became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God
> in Him. But he died. They buried Him. He rested in the tomb. It
> is finished, h e cried out from St. John’s Passion, and so he
> rested in the grave until the Sabbath rest was over.
> That great enemy, death itself, seemed to have won. How is it that
> Jesus could die for the sins of the whole world and not come out
> victorious in the end? Where is the great comeback, the happy
> finish, the switch to tell us that it was all a mistake, that He
> didn’t really have to die? That is what sorrowed the women who
> came to His tomb. They came to take care of Him one last time,
> even as they had served Him in life, so also they came to serve Him
> in death.
>
> We, of course, can relate to these women, coming to Jesus’ tomb.
> It seems sometimes as though death itself is a fantasy, a dream
> which we can wake up from and everything will be as it should.
> When someone dies, or even in the face of death and severe
> sickness, it can all take on a great sense of unreality, of
> falseness about it. This can’t be happening, is one of the first
> responses people have when someone they love has died, or at the
> news of a dark an impending death. The wages of sin is death, and
> we all receive our just wages in time.
>
> This is what the women are thinking about as they bring the spices
> and ointments to Jesus’ tomb. Their Lord is dead, so they go to
> give Him a proper burial, hopeless as it may seem. They went, but
> in their grief they forgot about the stone at the entrance of the
> tomb. Who will roll the stone away, they wondered in sadness. But
> behold! The stone was gone! An angel was at the entrance to the
> tomb, and told them, Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of
> Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See
> the place where they laid Him.
>
> Their grief in the face of death is now joy in the face of
> indestructible life. Only God Himself could roll away the stone.
> Only Je sus could face even death itself for your salvation and
> come out victorious. The cost was great. He suffered death itself
> for you. He died the death of a common criminal. Everyone
> abandoned Him. God Himself abandoned Jesus on the cross. As
> Jesus’ Himself cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken
> me? All of God’s wrath for sin was taken out on our Lord at the
> cross. Paul rightly said that the wages of sin is death, BUT the
> gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus
> is risen from the dead, and that changes everything. You no
> longer have to fret and worry over your sins. They went with Jesus
> to the cross and to the tomb. And that’s where they shall stay
> forever.
>
> God’s gift to you is nothing less than eternity for the sake of His
> crucified and risen Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Saint Paul in our
> epistle lesson calls this a mystery.&n bsp; That is the same word
> for sacrament. It is a mystery that only God can unravel. We may
> not understand it all. We may not be able to piece it together or
> explain Jesus resurrection, as we would like. But it doesn’t
> matter. It is a mystery. But it is a mystery that we may rejoice
> in for all eternity.
>
> For this mystery is not only about Jesus resurrection from the
> dead. Our text says He is risen, and so too shall we rise from the
> dead. One of the chief doctrines of the Christian faith is what we
> call in the Creed the resurrection of the body. Jesus died on the
> cross, and He was buried. And He rose bodily from the dead. This
> is no mere spirit or ghost that has come back to haunt the living.
> No, Jesus came back from the dead, body, soul and spirit. And so
> will you.
>
> This mystery, this sacrament of the resurrection came to each one
> of you in the waters of Holy Baptism. God once again gives His
> Church the gift of eternal life poured out on the cross. As Saint
> Paul said, Death is swallowed up in victory. Now you are in God’s
> kingdom. Now you are God’s adopted sons and daughters, and heirs
> not to death, but to eternal life.
>
> When we celebrate Easter, we are not simply remembering an event
> that happened 2000 or so years ago. This isn’t a history lesson,
> my friends. Every time your hear the Gospel, every time the waters
> of life are poured out on a new child of God, every time you hear
> His Word of absolution or eat His body and blood, every time God
> comes to you in these many ways, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead
> becomes yours. It truly is a mystery. This is why we call every
> Sunday the Lord’s Day. This is why every time we gather together
> in the divine service, all of God’s work of salvation becomes yours
> once again.
>
> This resurrection, of course, w e know and believe by faith. With
> Job in the midst of our sorrows we cry out, and though worms
> destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. One day, dear
> friends, one day you will be in another garden, like unto this
> Easter Garden. One day you will rise from the dead, along with the
> whole of Christendom, and God will remake the world. A new heavens
> and a new earth. The Garden of Eden, perfected in Jesus Christ
> forever. It is all yours now, and one day along with Job and all
> the other saints of old and of late, we shall see God face to
> face. This is the feast of victory. This is God’s triumph over
> sin and death. This is your eternal life in Him. In the words of
> an ancient pastor:
>
> Yesterday I was crucified with Christ; today I am glorified with Him.
> Yesterday I died with Him; today I am given life with Him.
> Yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise again with Him.
> (Gregory Nazianzus)
>
> Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.
>
> The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your
> hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn, Pastor
Messiah Lutheran Church
2026 22nd Ave., Kenosha, WI 53140
(262) 551-8182 Church
(262) 551-9081 Parsonage
Peperkorn at higherthings.org
PARISH: http://messiahkenosha.org/
ACADEMY: http://www.christlutheranacademy.com/
HIGHER THINGS: http://www.higherthings.org/
http://blog.higherthings.org/peperkorn/
"The sect cannot wait; it must have everything at once, for it has no
future. The church can wait, for it does have a future. We Lutherans
should
think of that" (The Lonely Way, Volume II, 328).
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