Matthew 28:1–10

March 23 2008 Easter Sermon

¹Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

²And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

⁴And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

⁵But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

⁶He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you."

⁸So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

⁹And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

He is risen; he is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The grave is empty, the tomb is vacant. The Bible tells us so. This is the angel's proclamation. No dead body is in that carved-out grave!

But what does this mean? What does an empty tomb mean for you and me on this most glorious day of the Church Year?

That's what Mary Magdalene and the other Mary wanted to know too. They had come out to the tomb early in the morning with spices to anoint the body of Jesus. On the way they were wondering just how they would get into the tomb with the boulder blocking the entrance and Roman soldiers guarding the tomb. But when they arrived, the tomb was opened. The boulder had been rolled to one side and the guards had fled. On top of the boulder was a young man sitting, dressed in dazzling white clothes that gleamed as the sun. They were frightened and confused. What was the meaning of all this?

The empty tomb appeared like any other empty tomb. But this was not just some empty hole in the ground. There had to be a story behind it. Why was it occupied on Friday and on Sunday it was empty? Why did the Roman guards fall to the ground like dead men in their fear? Why was there a strange man sitting there on top the very stone that had been rolled away from the entrance? We could say this morning that there was an empty tomb, and we can believe that with our heads—some sort of intellectual agreement, but what was the meaning of that empty tomb. Just some historical event about a tomb does not get to the true meaning. Historical information about a mere empty cave is not what the angel intended, nor was it the intent of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God sent an angel that day to point the women to an empty tomb. But that empty tomb preaches far more than a mere absent body of a man born in Bethlehem. The empty tomb preaches the fulfillment of all of God's promises of salvation directed to his own people. The empty tomb preaches the completion of the Father's plan to provide a way back to him. The empty tomb preaches that God has forgiven your sins. The empty tomb preaches that we are reconciled to God. The empty tomb preaches the absolute truth that death—God's set wages for sinners (Romans 6:23) has now lost its sting. "Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?" (I Corinthians 15:55). The empty tomb preaches that the old creation is over and that the new creation has already begun in Christ by his victorious death and resurrection. "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more."

God preaches through Isaiah: "He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth." (Is 25:8). Also in Isaiah, God preaches: "He poured out his soul to death and was numbered with transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (53:12). In Jesus' own words: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." (5:24)

The empty tomb preaches what the Scriptures preach: death is done, death is over, and death is no more because of Jesus, God's only begotten Son. Jesus' resurrection makes death and the grave miniscule, insignificant for every believer. The empty tomb preaches that Christ is the resurrection and the life and that whoever believes in him, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in him shall never die. The empty tomb preaches this. Do you believe this?

The women were stunned at the angel's preaching. They could hardly take it all in. You would be too if you had seen the bloodied and shamed Jesus three days before suspended midway between heaven and earth on a cross. It would have been difficult to take in what it all meant. But the Lord had the angel sit on the very stone that had sealed the tomb. The angel's posture on that very stone that had closed the tomb preached a loud sermon to the women, reinforcing the oral Good News, saying, "All is well; death is defeated, Jesus is alive, the grave can't hold you in." All is well for you, people of God. The empty tomb is empty.

But if Jesus' tomb is empty, it means that your tomb is empty. That's the sermon the empty tomb of Jesus preaches to us loud and clear. Louder than this sermon that I'm preaching. "Those of us who have been baptized into Christ have been joined to him in his death, and if we are joined to him in a death like his, we shall also be joined to him in a resurrection like his." That's the sermon that Paul preaches in our Epistle reading. He points out that you, having been raised with Christ in baptism are already seated at the right hand of God with Christ. By pouring water on you and speaking his name at your Baptism, God placed you already in heaven beyond death, the tomb, and this life. There you are dressed in white robes, singing unending praises to the Lamb who was slain. Every believer's sin, death, filthiness, and shame are roadkill, viewed through the rearview mirror! You are on the road to heaven; no, you are already in heaven! Do you believe this?

In this glorious resurrection text we find not merely the Lord's message to the women, and by extension to the disciples, as the women ran to tell the Good News, but we find the Lord's message to us today. In this text we are to see ourselves there at the empty tomb. Sitting here in the pew, we are in fact, sitting at the feet of that first white-clothed Easter preacher. He tells us: "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen."

And then, like the women, we depart in some confusion, only to run into Jesus himself a few yards away, as he greets us graciously, and oh, so tenderly. "Greetings!" he says. We embrace Jesus, falling down on our knees, worshipping the very One who owns us by his blood, who holds nothing against us.

Today the risen one is no less present as the white clothed Easter preacher points us to his empty tomb; to his risen body and blood in the bread and wine given to us in the Communion. There in the Holy Supper is the real presence of the very body that was missing from the tomb. There, in his body and blood at the altar, Jesus greets us in words of pardon, grace, and comfort, and then he directs us to go tell others. "Go, make disciples of all nations." There He directs us to strengthen one another with his Good News, not only you, but all. Go tell all, as he told his disciples at the end of Matthew's Gospel. With his tomb empty—and yours—we cannot help but speak to everyone by the Spirit's power of him who is our very life!

That glorious empty tomb! Oh, what a story it tells! It tells the story of the Father's pardon, the risen Christ, sins forgiven, death defeated, and all is well. No more fear for those who are his. Jesus' empty tomb preaches an empty tomb for everyone who is His.

He is risen; he is risen indeed. Alleluia!