The Resurrection of Our Lord

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!

Neither the disciples nor the women were having a good Easter. Jesus had risen. His grave was empty. Sin, death, and hell were conquered. The head of the ancient serpent had been crushed. Jesus had redeemed humanity, and now every believer would follow Him out of death and into eternal life. All that was spoken by the prophets concerning the Christ had been fulfilled. The eternal plan of salvation had been carried out, and yet, none of that mattered to Jesus’ followers.

Neither the disciples nor the women were having a good Easter. How could they? The day of the Resurrection of our Lord? It’s not that they didn’t believe in the Resurrection. The very idea that there could be a Resurrection had not even entered their minds. They weren’t unbelievers, at least, not in the sense of “I refuse to believe that this could be true.” They had never conceived of the possibility of the truth. How could they? It is appointed for man to die. This is the way of all flesh. Every man goes down to the grave, but no man ever returns in triumph.

If only Jesus had thought to tell His disciples that He would be raised. If only He had prepared them for the events of the last three days. But He had told them in no uncertain terms. On at least three separate occasions, Jesus had spelled out exactly what would happen: “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days He will rise again” (Mk 8:31–33). How did the disciples respond? Peter rebuked Jesus, James and John petitioned Jesus to sit on His right and on His left, and all the disciples began to argue about who would be the greatest. Jesus told them what would happen, but they didn’t hear it. They couldn’t hear it. And so, they were utterly unprepared for the events of Holy Week.

Neither the disciples nor the women were having a good Easter. That morning as the sun rose, the women were on their way to the tomb, trying to figure out how to keep a dead body from stinking in the hot, Mediterranean climate. And where were the men? Too afraid even to do that. They were sheltering in place, hiding behind locked doors, afraid not of death, but of the possibility of death. Give the women credit. They didn’t have a good plan. They knew that their mission would probably be fruitless. They had no way to roll away the stone, and that was a very big problem. St. Mark tells us as much—it was very large—but at least the women were brave enough to try something, even a pointless and hopeless task.

The disciples could not have imagined the possibility of the Resurrection. And even if they had, would this have changed anything? None of them wanted to face Jesus again. Not after what they had done. At the Last Supper, every one of the disciples promised to suffer death rather than fall away from Christ. Peter said, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples (Mt 26:35). But those promises had not lasted the night. As soon as the mob showed up in the garden to arrest Jesus, all the disciples forsook Him and fled. Except for John, none of them were even with Him at the crucifixion. What might it matter if their Master had been raised? They were not worthy to be His disciples. They could not face Him, not even in death. Perhaps this is the reason none of the men came to the tomb with the women. And so, as the most glorious day in the history dawned, the day of victory and triumph, of forgiveness and new beginnings, the day that God had prepared since the beginning of the world, neither the disciples nor the women were having a good Easter.

Jesus is about to change all that. He sends His angel with a message, and not a generic message, but a very specific one. “Go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He said to you” (Mk 16:7). Jesus had promised His disciples that He would see them the following week in Galilee. But then, the disciples had promised to be loyal to Jesus. They had broken their promise, so, of course, the deal was off. What’s more, Jesus had gone and died over the weekend. Naturally, the plans for the following week were gone with Him.

But unlike the disciples who break their promises, Jesus always keeps His. “Go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He said to you.” Imagine what goes through the disciples hearts when they first hear this good news. “Jesus will meet us where He said He will meet us? But we forsook Him. We’ll see Him in Galilee, just as He promised? But He died!” None of these things are a problem for Jesus.

In fact, He takes it one step further. “Go, tell the disciples—and Peter.” Why does Jesus single out Peter? Isn’t that redundant? Peter is already a disciple. Why say, “Tell the disciples—and Peter”? Because Peter is having a particularly bad Easter. You see, when all the other disciples forsook Jesus and fled, Peter did something far worse. He denied Christ, but before he did that, he publicly threw the other disciples under the bus: “All these might forsake you, Lord, all these might be made to stumble, but I will never be made to stumble” (Mt 26:33). And then he did exactly what he said he would never do, and he did it in the worst possible way. He didn’t just forsake Jesus. He denied his Lord with oaths and curses.”

So while the other disciples are mourning the fact that they forsook Jesus, do you think Peter had fessed up to his greater sin? I think not. While they are thinking, “We’ve been poor disciples,” Peter is thinking, “I’m not even a disciple.” The others are thinking, “We Christians are poor, miserable sinners in need of forgiveness,” but Peter? Is he even a Christian anymore? What’s the point of Easter if Jesus’ disciples don’t know of it? What’s the point of the great sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins, if the disciples—especially Peter—don’t believe that their sins can be forgiven?

Jesus won’t stand for that. And so, He sends His messenger with a very specific message: “Go tell the disciples—and Peter.” This is the Easter message. Jesus didn’t suffer, die, lie in the grave for three days, and rise from the dead in order to purchase a generic forgiveness. The message of the gospel is not that Jesus died for sinners in general. If it is, then you too aren’t going to be having a good Easter. The message that Jesus commands His messengers to deliver is: “Your sins are forgiven.” Jesus isn’t here to talk about forgiveness for all the sins of all the people of all the world. It’s true. He did accomplish this. But the Easter message is: “Go tell my disciples—and Peter.” Insert your name here. Go tell Sandy, and Joe, and Emily, and Tony, and Susie. Go tell Peter—your sins are forgiven. The promises I made to you in your Baptism are still in effect, no matter what you’ve done. I will see you where I promised to be, just as I promised to be there.

Jesus says to you this Easter morning, “Death and hell could not keep me away. The grave could not hold Me. And do you think your sin, that I have already paid for in full, will separate you from Me? God tell My disciples—and Peter—I will be among you, just as I promised!” This is the message of Easter, and it is spoken to you. Your sins are forgiven—especially that one that torments you and keeps you up at night. That sin in particular is forgiven. You are forgiven. And this is very first order of business on Easter morning. Jesus sends His messenger expressly for this purpose.

The word angel means messenger. I’m no angel, but I am a messenger from God, and I have been sent to deliver these words to you, “Jesus did not suffer the torments of sin, death, and hell to leave you in doubt this Easter morning. He did not purchase a generic forgiveness. He purchased your forgiveness. He paid for your sins. He forgives you.”

And if your doubting heart is still having trouble believing these words, then Jesus bids you this morning, “Come and see. Taste and see. Come taste the wafer on your tongue. Come feel the wine slide down the back of your throat. Eat My Body and live forever. Drink My Blood and receive the forgiveness of all your sins.” And when you hear and believe these words, suddenly you and all the other disciples are having a very good Easter.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!