Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! On the first Easter Sunday, the women came to do their duty. Jesus had a rush burial Friday evening because the Sabbath was coming and there was no time to bury Him properly. So the women bought spices and they were on their way to anoint Jesus' body and do the carry out the proper burial duty. But, instead of coming to do something for Jesus, they arrived to learn that He had done something for them! He had risen from the dead! He had conquered sin and death! How many of you are here this morning thinking that you have some sort of duty to do? Some sort of obligation to fulfill? How many of you have come to prove that you're a Christian because you've shown up? Brothers and sisters in Christ, if coming to church is nothing more than doing something to check off on your To Do list, then you're no better than the women who came to properly bury Jesus. Oh, sure, they had good intentions but they hadn't paid attention to His Word! They came, thinking they were doing something for Jesus. Maybe some of you have come thinking to do something for God by showing up. But that is a faith that serves a dead Jesus. A Jesus who just lays dead while you put on some spices to make Him smell better. Just like Easter comes and we all get fancied up. But, brothers and sisters, when the women got to the tomb, there was no Jesus! Only a man dressed in white who told them that Jesus was risen. That He was alive. So today, let the man in white tell you all about what happened to Jesus and where He is now, for you!
Listen closely as the man dressed in white at the tomb speaks. He tells the women first of all who Jesus is and what He has done: “Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified! He is risen. He is not here!” Then, the angel tells them where they may find Him: “Go and tell His disciples—and Peter that He is going ahead of you to Galilee where you will see Him.” Jesus was crucified. He is risen. What does that mean? It means that the sins of the world have been paid for! It means that the Son of God has accomplished His work. Jesus took our sins upon Himself. The sins that condemned you before God. The sins that earned you eternal death and punishment. The sins that separated you from your heavenly Father. The sin with which you were born. The sins against God whom you are to love with all your heart. The sins against your neighbor whom you are to love as yourself. All of these have been laid upon Jesus and the crushed Him into death upon the cross. Death comes because of sin. So our Savior Jesus dies because he's soaked and covered with our sins. Dead and laid into a grave. But today, Christ is risen! He is alive! He is not in the grave! The sins have been wiped out. He has taken care of them and therefore He is alive again. Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you ever, even for a moment, think you have some sin that is too big, then go to the grave and look for Jesus. If your sin is too big for Him, then He'll be there, dead and rotting! But He's not in the grave! He is alive! And therefore there is no sin that was laid upon Him that is not forgiven! They have all been cast into the depths of the sea. They are gone as far as the East is from the West. Christ is risen! He is not here! Sin, death, devil, and hell have all been conquered by Jesus for you!
But you won't find Jesus at the cross. They took Him down and buried Him! But you won't find Him in the tomb because He rose from the dead! So where will you find Him? Where He has promised to be. The angels tells the women to go to Galilee where Jesus had said He would be. Where does the man in the white robe tell YOU to go to find Jesus? Right here in His church. Come to the font, where He has promised to wash away your sins! Come to hear the absolution declared and the Gospel preached by the man in white! Come to Jesus' altar where His body and blood are given, just as He said. Brothers and sisters in Christ, THIS is what Church is all about: Jesus being here to forgive your sins. Not about you coming to give Hims something but coming to receive what He has for you: the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Think about this: Why did the angel tell the women to go and tell His disciples AND Peter? Why is Peter singled out? Because Peter, above all the other disciples, boasted how much he was for Jesus until he denied his Lord three times! So when the angel tells the women to tell Peter, He is teaching us: the resurrection of Jesus IS the forgiveness of sins. Because Jesus is alive, the sins of Peter are wiped away. When you are baptized, the risen Jesus is making you God's child. When you are absolved, the risen Jesus forgives you your sins. When you feast upon His body and blood, the risen Jesus is giving you Himself and forgiving you your sins. Is that why you are here today? Seeking Jesus who was crucified for your sins and raised from the dead? He is here, at the font, in the preaching of the Gospel, at the altar: just as He said He would be! And that means your sins are forgiven. That means all that you have done against God is wiped away by Jesus.
And this is our repentance on Easter Day, brothers and sisters: repent of seeking some kind of Jesus other than the one who takes away sins. Don't go looking for Jesus the Buddy or Jesus the Pal or Jesus the Guy-who-does-whatever-I-want. No, you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified and is risen! And don't go looking for Him off in the woods somewhere or in outer space or in your heart or in the success or failure of your life! Don't go trying to find the cross or the grave or the garden or some spot in Galilee even. He's not in those places! No, come to receive Jesus where He has promised to be: in His church. If you go looking for Jesus apart from and outside of His church, you won't find Him. If you think you can have Jesus apart from His Word and apart from eating and drinking His body and blood, you're only looking for a dead Jesus. But the true and living Jesus leaves us no doubts: He is here, now, for you, in His gifts, to forgive your sins and raise you from the dead on the Last Day! That's what the man in white told the women. That's what the man in white is telling YOU today.
You may have come to church today for lots of reasons. But I want you to leave here today knowing the only reason that you really are here: Because this is the place where Jesus is. The Jesus who died for you. The Jesus who rose for you. The Jesus who washes you. The Jesus who absolves you. The Jesus who feeds you. Any other Jesus is no Jesus at all. Any other reason for walking in these doors today is no reason. All that matters on this day is that the Lord who was dead is alive. And that means all of your sins are taken care of. Don't hang on to those sins! Don't take them back with you and hold on to them until next year! Cast them upon Jesus who has taken them all away. The man in white tells the women that Jesus is risen! The man in white tells them He's going to Galilee. The man in white today tells you the same thing: He is risen. Your sins are forgiven. As St. Paul tells us, all the old leaven is out! All the old reasons for coming to church are done away with! Now we keep the feast in sincerity and truth! And that means being here where Jesus is, the Jesus who was crucified and is now risen, who washes and feeds you and forgives your sins. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!