Text: Luke 24:36-49
Grace and Peace to you from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Easter Sunday we heard the
good news that the jaws and fangs of the grave could not hold Jesus down. We heard that the grave was worthless,
powerless, and unable to keep Jesus contained.
We heard that the grave was and is empty.
With that stated, an empty
tomb for some people is not enough. For
some, an empty tomb simply means that the disciples allegedly stole the body of
Jesus. Whereas, for others, an empty
tomb simply means that Jesus may not have died but only appeared dead. And there are some who believe that the empty
tomb is a figure of speech or a clever metaphor at best. Indeed, there are persons who insist that an
empty tomb is not enough.
Even though it is truly
great news to hear that Jesus is not in the tomb that He is not among the dead,
the reality is that doubting mankind is prone to staunch pessimistic unbelief, just
as the Apostle Thomas was.
In the face of Thomas’
unbelief and all the skeptics throughout the ages, Jesus presents Himself before
the disciples and an additional five hundred people.[1] He reveals Himself after the tragic events of
Good Friday as alive.
But how did Jesus present
Himself? Did He appear to them in a
dream? Did the spirit of Jesus hover and
float before them? Did Jesus appear to them
through a hologram, a three-dimensional image reproduced from a pattern of
interference produced by a split coherent beam of radiation?
In today’s Gospel reading we
hear that Jesus appeared and revealed Himself to the disciples bodily—in the
flesh. Yes, bodily: speaking, touching,
walking, eating, casting shadows, and making noise as He trampled across the
floor. No ghostly figure. No spiritized ethereal being. No hologram.
No mystic dream. But rather,
Jesus stood in their midst, body and spirit joined together.
The fact that Jesus
resurrected bodily and appeared bodily to the disciples is of great
importance. It is not a finer point of
theology that should be overlooked.
You see, in our Gospel reading
from today we hear that Jesus is alive beyond the cross and tomb. He lives—unlike Bigfoot, the Loch Ness
Monster, or the Abominable Snowman. That
is to say, He is not alive in spirit only without a body or without verifiable
proof. Because of Jesus’ physical
appearance before the disciples and some five hundred other individuals, Jesus
is not to be considered as a myth or a legend or a mysterious story, but to be
considered the God-Man who is actually alive in Spirit ‘and’ Body! Undeniably, the very same God-Man whose cold,
lifeless body was laid in the tomb before the Sabbath began at sundown, came to
life again and stood right before the disciples in their midst.
Unlike a ghost or a fantasy
or a legendary myth or a dream, the physically glorified Jesus, with all the
crucified scars, not only made the assurance of the disciples doubly sure, but
makes our assurance doubly sure as well.
The fact that Jesus ate in front of the disciples shows that there was a
real resurrected body before them, a body that functioned as their did.
Again this is important for
us. The reason why? If Christ is not raised from the grave bodily,
our preaching, the church’s foundation, and your faith are all in vain and you
are still damned in your sins. If this
Jesus in not raised from the grave bodily it also means that those who have
fallen asleep in Christ have died forever with no hope. If Christ has not risen bodily, nothing has
changed, death still rules the age. If
Christ has not risen bodily, then all the best sympathy cards, all the
prettiest flowers, and all the best sappy compassion slogans will not cheer us
up when we must struggle at the end of our lives or when we painfully put our
loved ones in the grave. Frankly put, if
Jesus wasn’t raised bodily, what makes us think we will rise bodily? The grave would be the end, with nothing
beyond.
Jesus lives, not because He
appeared as a ghost. He lives, not
because He came as a spirit only. He
lives, not because He appeared in a hologram or dream. He lives, not because He lives in your heart. This is all foolish and nonsense! He lives because the wounded, crucified body
that mankind abandoned on Good Friday was resurrected. He lives because Jesus walked, talked, ate
food, cast shadows, and was able to be touched.
Make no mistake at all, He was resurrected and is alive. He showed the wounds that make for
peace. He breathed out the Holy Spirit
on the disciples through human speech.
He is alive because it is His true body.
There are further
implications of Christ’s grave being empty and Christ being bodily resurrected
as well. Dear friends, the bodily
resurrection of Jesus from the dead not only means that our savior lives
victorious over death, hell, and the devil, but it also means that we who will
be put in the grave will not remain their forever. It means that the dark valley of death, the
deep tomb, and the heavy tombstone are not your final word. In other words, the resurrection of Jesus means
that the day will come when neither death nor the grave will keep you, but you—like
Jesus—will be bodily raised again.
We
confess this central truth each and every Sunday in The Apostles’ and Nicene
Creed when we say, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.” That is to say, when you face your death, you
will not face it alone. Another will
stand by your side, one who is stronger than death. Through Him, through Jesus Christ, the sharp
sting of death, which is sin, is washed away.
No one can bring an accusation towards you, not even Satan. Thus, you will pass through death into
life. You will go into the direct presence
of your dear Lord where there will be no pain or fear anymore.
But
this is not enough of a victory. Christ Jesus is not satisfied with merely
giving you immortality as a spirit. You
will not be some floaty spiritized mist bouncing on the clouds cuddling
ultra-soft Charmin paper rolls, but you will be resurrected bodily. Yes, Christ loves you too much to leave your
body behind in the cold grave. So Christ has also redeemed your bodies. Christ
died for all of you: mind, body, heart, and soul. Although your bodies will
sleep in the grave when you die, it will awaken on the last day. Your spirit
and body will be reunited as Christ raises you on the Last Day.
It
will not be the same kind of body though. Your body here was subject to pain
and illness and sin and death. But the Lord will raise your bodies far better
than it was before. The physical difficulties will never touch you again. You will
be raised imperishable - nothing will ever go wrong with the new body that
Christ will give you. You will be full of strength and health. No signs of age, physical defeats, or suffering,
since all of these are the consequences of sin.
Our bodies will be like Jesus’ body: raised, imperishable, spiritized;
the same body, yet better.
Blessed Saints, Christ Jesus
has won this victory for you. He won that victory by His perfect life and His
innocent suffering and death. He won that victory by crushing Satan's head. He
won that victory by smashing to pieces the power of the grave. The wonders of
the life that you have received and will receive are beyond our comprehension.
When we remember that Christ purchased all these things for us by dying on the
Cross and rising on the third day, how can we put a limit on the value of what
He has done? There is no limit to the value of the Cross or the Empty Tomb.
There is no limit to the preciousness of the Blood shed on Calvary. So the
value of the life given to you is limitless and endless and perfect.
Jesus is alive bodily. Death is swallowed up. Death is defeated.
Thanks be to God, who has
done all this for you and for me through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The peace of God, which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] See 1
Corinthians 15:6
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