EASTER, C – April 4, 2010

SCRIPTURES – Isaiah 65:17-25; 1 Cor. 15:12-26; Luke 24; 1-12

Today’s the day to tell you of an amazing man, a man who was known for cheating death. His name was Jack Lohrke. Jack was a baseball player who was playing in the minor leagues in 1942 when he was drafted into the army. He fought at Normandy and faced enemy fire which killed two soldiers next to him, but he was not wounded. In the Battle of the Bulge an artillery shell landed near his foxhole and killed the two soldiers who were on each side of him, but he wasn’t even scratched. After the war ended, Jack was preparing to board a military transport for the trip home to California when, shortly before takeoff, a higher-ranking officer showed up and bumped him from the flight. So, he missed that plane – which ended up crashing, killing all those on board. In 1946, after he resumed his baseball career, Jack was traveling with the Class B Spokane Indians on a bus trip across the state of Washington. During a stop for food, he found out he had been promoted to Triple A, so he grabbed his gear and hitchhiked to Spokane. Hours later the bus he had been on crashed into a canyon, killing nine of his former teammates. He was called Lucky Lohrke from that point on. Lucky, indeed! How he cheated death! Then, on April 27 last year, Lucky Lohrke suffered a stroke. Could he be lucky and cheat death again? He died two days later.

No one was really surprised by this. Jack Lohrke was old, and everyone dies. Lucky or not, Lucky Lohrke could not cheat death forever. No one can; except for Jesus, right?

Wrong. Jesus did not cheat death. He defeated it. He was planted into it like a bulb that is planted into the ground to lie buried and hidden throughout the cold winter months, only to burst forth in the spring and thrust aside the ground that is covering it. Jesus entered into death with a confidence and hope that is more certain than that of the gardener who plants a bulb into the ground. The gardener knows that bulbs sprout and grow. But, will this bulb that he plants grow? That is not certain. Jesus knew with certainty that His death for sinners would be accepted by the Father, that because of His death God would not count their sins against them. He knew that God would therefore raise Him from the dead. He was certain of this, for God had promised it in His Word. Where? Isaiah 53:10, which says of the Messiah’s death:

“It was the will of the Lord to crush him; He has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

Or, Psalm 16, for instance, which says:

“I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to the grave, or let your holy one see decay. You make known to me the path of life.”

God had promised!, and God never fails to keep His promises.

Do you believe this? Do you have reason to believe this? Do you know and find comfort in God’s great promises, and above all in the death and resurrection of His Son for you? I hope so, for your resurrection from your death and life with Christ are contained and given in His words. God’s Word is the foundation of our life with Him.

I heard a very disturbing comment on a news program last week. Judge Andrew Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge who recently wrote a book called “Lies the Government Told You” was talking about his book. He said that the biggest lie leaders in our government tell us is that they believe and uphold the Constitution. They have taken an oath to uphold and defend it, and yet so often they just plain ignore it and make whatever laws and take whatever actions they want! This is so disturbing. If our leaders do not follow our Constitution, then how can we have any confidence in the future of our country?

 

Then, the most disturbing thought hit me: how many Christians there are who do the same thing with the Bible! We call it the Word of God, we swear that we believe it and will follow it, but then we go and mostly ignore it when considering issues and making decisions! This was the case that very first Easter, which began, really, in a rather disturbing way: at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. What is so disturbing about this? That they went to anoint the dead! That they did not expect Jesus to have risen from the dead! Had Jesus not told them that He would be crucified, but then would rise from the dead on the 3^rd day? Yes, He had. Several times in the days before it happened He had bluntly told His followers this. And yet, there they are at the tomb on the 3^rd day, with spices in hand, ready to anoint a dead body! “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” the angel says to them. “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you!” Ah, but surely His chosen apostles, Peter and James and John and the rest, would be different! They were just as unbelieving. In fact, when the women ran back and told them the wonderful news of Jesus’ resurrection, “these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” Shocking! How can we have any confidence in our own resurrection when we die, how can we as Christ’s people have any impact, how can we burst forth and bear fruit for God if we do not pay attention to and believe His words?

1 Corinthians 15 says: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins… If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied… But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” Pay attention to this! Listen to Christ – not just today, but continually!

For He is the firstfruits: not only the first flower to burst forth, anticipating the blooming of others, but the first seed to have germinated and grown, from which will come other seeds and plants and crops. Your life as God’s child, living now in His love and blessing; your resurrection to life again after you die; your life forever with God in heaven – this is all yours in Christ, because Christ lived, died, and rose again for you. he is the firstfruits, and from Him comes your life with God.

The Bible tells us this and gives us this life in Him. Because of its teachings we know that Christ died for our sins, that we might be forgiven and not be condemned to hell for them. We know that He rose from the dead on the 3^rd day, “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” We know, then, that death will only be a sleep for us, from which God will awaken us when Christ returns from heaven. I hope that you know this and are convinced of this – not because I say so, but because God says so, because He has told you so in His holy Word!

In Christ sin and its fruit, death and hell, have been, not cheated, but defeated. None of this depends upon luck, upon being in the right place at the right time. It depends upon Christ, the Son of God who in truth came down from heaven, truly became a man, gave His life for us by truly dying on the cross, and on the 3^rd day truly rose from the dead. The defeat of sin, death and hell in your life depends upon your being planted in Him in baptism, in which you are buried with Christ in His death and raised with Him in His resurrection. It also depends upon your being nourished – fed and watered, like a plant – with His Word, by hearing it, learning it, believing it, and relying upon it.

“Remember how He told you,” the angel said to the women at the tomb. Let us all remember! Let us all listen! Let us all believe! Then, we will all rejoice when Jesus, the firstfruits, returns from heaven to gather us, His crop, the fruits of His labor, to His Father’s home in heaven!