Sermon: 1.Cor.15,1-11: Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you-unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
Dear friends of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ take note: The Lord our savior IX has risen – he is risen indeed! That is the miracle and wonder the Christian Church celebrates today, because with him living we will live too!
St. Paul received this gospel directly from the Lord, when Jesus Christ the crucified appeared to him on the road to Damascus – not as the dead, but as the living Lord. This glorious resurrection from the dead by our Lord Jesus Christ is a central part of our faith. Jesus Christ’s bodily resurrection from the grave is the beginning of God’s new creation. You are too are meant to be part of this new creation. In your baptism you already have been joined into Christ’s death and resurrection so that just like he was raised from the dead you too shall live the new life in Christ by the grace of God. That is why Easter is not just a holiday like others, but rather it is the central celebration of the Church – celebrating God’s victory over death, sin and devil and rejoicing in the new life, the new Jerusalem, the new kingdom and the new people gathered from all ends of the world that Jesus Christ has brought us to. Therefore let us rejoice and be glad in it together with the entire Church on earth.
This gospel of Christ’s resurrection was already anticipated by Hannah, who sings the praise-song many centuries before Christ lived in Palestine. She sings: “The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.” Well – and that is what God did in Jesus Christ after the night he was betrayed, denied, tortured, crucified and finally brutally murdered amongst robbers and villains. Today on Easter we sing and praise to God’s glory, because he raised this same Jesus on to the heavenly throne and has him sitting at his right hand wielding all power and authority, might and glory. Therefore don’t be troubled or afraid anymore, don’t cry and tremble anymore, don’t sorrow and despair, but rather rejoice – he was dead, but now he lives forever and ever and he does that to your benefit, so that you too will live forever and share his divine life abundantly together with the one holy Christian church. Join Hannah and sing: “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in the LORD and … I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”
Today we again hear and celebrate and praise the truly amazing message: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” One quote may stand for many. Hear the prophet Isaiah, who writes in the name of the Lord: Surely he [Jesus Christ] has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned--everyone--to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:4-6 ESV)
After he suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified and died Jesus was then buried in a new grave by Joseph of Arimathea (Joh 19:38 ESV) and Nicodemus. But then he was “raised on the 3rd day and appeared at first to Cephas [the rock/St. Peter], then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me” writes St. Paul to the Corinthians. That is quite an impressive chain of witnesses, it’s the cloud of witnesses which today comprises the church triumphant, the saints around the lambs throne already joined in the eternal praises of the Lord together with seraphs and cherubim, with angels and archangels, prophets and apostles: Worthy is the lamb, who was crucified, died and was buried, but on the 3rd day rose again – lives and reigns eternally!
The last witness is perhaps the greatest of them all because he was the most unlikely witness to start off with. Even St. Peter, who denied him before, might not be such a surprise witness to acknowledge the risen one – nor the twelve or even the 500 – as St. Paul was. He was an entirely different case. He was no friend of Jesus, but his sworn enemy and in absolute opposition against those of the new way of the gospel proclaimed by Christ. Saul was out to suppress Jesus history and to get his followers by hook or by crook caught, chained, deported and imprisoned before flogged and stoned. With intense pleasure he witnessed Stephen’s martyrdom – thinking this was pleasing to God in the highest. The living Christ, the risen Lord, Jesus crucified, buried and risen stops this Saul – his sworn enemy and persecutor of his Church in his tracks, converts him and grants him a u-turn of 180 degrees. He reveals himself as the crucified Jesus who is not rejected by God, but rather installed at his right hand and as the living head of his body here on earth - the church. He converts him, turns, changes and transforms him into a friend and apostle. Proving once again that our conversion is not our doing, but rather God’s – it’s his gift by grace and quite unmerited from our side. That should comfort all of us. If he could change Saul into Paul, he can do the same to anybody even today. Nothing is impossible with God, who converts the ungodly to be his children, who raises the dead to life, who calls that which is not into being! Praise be to him – our Lord and our God, Christ Jesus the King of Kings, who lives and reigns forever and ever for your benefit. It is not by our own power, strength or might that we come to IX our Lord and Savior, but rather only through the workings of the HS in the saving gospel.
Now this message has been preached to you many times before. This congregation has heard it for 110 years. Praise God for that! The church has proclaimed, heard and believed this gospel for 2 thousand years. Praise God for that! It’s God’s message to his people on this world – people like Mary and Martha, people like Peter and John, people with big names like Bishop Ambrose of Milan [who died on the 4th April in 397 and was a teacher of St. Augustine], but also people we don’t even know – hundreds of them, thousands of them, yes millions of them. Well, they all attest the truth of this divine gospel: He is risen, he is risen indeed! And whoever believes this gospel is saved from death to eternal life, from sin to righteousness, from the old to the new, from destruction to glorious completion and consummation with the Lord.
However as long as we are on earth we are called upon to witness about this glorious resurrection of our Lord to those, who don’t yet believe. You do so with your church attendance, you do so with your beautiful hymns of Easter, you do so with your presence at the graves on our cemeteries – playing the brass instruments – and proclaiming that death is not the final message, but rather Life with Christ! He is risen, he is alive, and you too shall not stay in the grave, but rather rise again and live happily ever after. Therefore we sing the praises of our God, who has given us a new hope through our “Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2Ti 1:10 ESV) Amen.
Bishop Dr. Wilhelm Weber+
Ohlangeni 2010
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