The Wednesday of the First Week after Easter

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In our Gospel text for today, St. Mark continues his anticlimactic telling of the events of the first Easter. The resurrection of our Lord is the singular most important event in history. It grants us the glorious hope of life after death and a reunion with our loved ones who have died in the faith. For we who believe in Christ, the resurrection changes everything. But still, the resurrection does not change everyone. There are many who don’t believe.

We heard on Easter Sunday the first part of St. Mark’s Easter account where the women come to the tomb. A young man, whom the other evangelists call an angel, is present to announce the resurrection of our Lord. He says to the women:

“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. But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you” (Mark 16:6-7).

But then the evangelist records what happens next. And, as it turns out, the women don’t do what the angel instructed them to do. We are told:

So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid (Mark 16:8).

What follows in the conclusion of St. Mark’s Gospel continues this anticlimactic theme. First, in our Gospel for today, the Lord appears to Mary Magdalene separately. She believes, but when she goes to tell the others, “…they did not believe” (Mark 16:11b). After the resurrected Lord’s appearance to the two disciples on the Emmaus road, they went to tell the others: “but they did not believe them either” (Mark 16:13b). And then, in the conclusion of the Gospel, which we will hear on Ascension Day, the Lord appeared to the eleven and “He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen” (Mark 16:14b). And this, of course, is not even to mention St. John’s account of the “Doubting Thomas” narrative from Sunday’s Gospel. Weakness, unbelief, and sin permeate the Scriptural accounts of Easter. And so, Holy Scripture would have us know that the joy of Easter is real. But for now, the joy of Easter is still subject to the effects of sin.

Now, when we Christians think of Easter, we tend to think of the smell of Easter lilies and a church filled with people. We think of singing songs of alleluia and the joyous proclamation that Christ is risen from the dead. When we Christians think of Easter, we think of the climactic day of the church year which is recognized and celebrated by so many. We think of Easter as a victory over sin—which it is—but what we often forget is that until Christ returns on the Last Day, sin will continue to reign in this world. And all the things that Christ promises will not fully become reality until sin is destroyed once and for all on the Last Day.

But notice that the fact of Christ’s resurrection does not change based upon people’s response to it. Whether or not the disciples believed Mary Magdalene’s account does not change the fact that Christ is risen from the dead and appeared to her. Whether or not the Emmaus disciples’ account was taken to heart by those who heard it does not change the fact that the resurrected Christ walked with them on the road and opened their eyes to the Scriptures and to His presence. Whether or not your Easter celebration was all that you hoped it would be does not change the fact that Christ is risen from the dead.

And so, on Easter if you were mourning a loved one, if you were grieved that your child or family member refused to come to church, if you were or are overwhelmed by conflict, disease, or life struggles, know this: The resurrection of Christ is not dependent upon you. Whether or not you feel it, whether or not others share in the living hope that we have in Christ does not change the objective fact that Christ is risen from the dead. And if Christ is risen from the dead, then our victory over sin is assured and we have the hope of eternal life. To be sure, sin will still mar our lives on this side of eternity. Because of sin, the gap between expectation and reality will often be heartbreakingly significant. Though our joy at Christ’s resurrection is never as full and complete as we would like for now, still we sing songs of alleluia, we proclaim Christ’s resurrection, and we trust that He will make all things right in His time.

Until the return of Christ at the Last Day, we Christians live in hope. Christ is risen from the dead, and that means that what we see is only temporary. The unbelief, the suffering, and the pain around us will not last forever. It all must give way to the resurrected Christ when He returns in glory to make all things new. So it is that the Apostle instructs us in today’s Epistle to pray for each other, especially for those who are tasked with the public proclamation of the Gospel. For the good news of Christ’s resurrection is not received by all. Even our own sinful flesh so often wants to resist the lordship of Christ and to live in our sins. But we are to submit to our leaders (cf. Hebrews 13:17ff), not because they are greater than we. We are to pray for and submit to our leaders because they are seeking to lead us into the resurrected hope which Christ offers—a hope which we so easily resist and despise.

And so, dear friends in Christ, let us cling to the hope that we have in Christ. Let us submit to the divinely established means by which our Lord continually offers us forgiveness for our many sins. Let us daily receive His gifts for the strengthening of our faith in this life. And let us trust that even when the joy of Easter is not what we would like it to be, even when sin and suffering harm us, let us hold firm to this confidence: Christ is risen from the dead. He will right all wrongs in His way and time. Though the joy of Easter is subject to the effects sin for now, this will not always be so. For the Day is coming—in just a little while (cf. John 16:16)—that the resurrection will consume all things and our joy will be both full and complete.

Until that day:

May the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen (Hebrews 13:20-21).

In Jesus’ name. Amen.