Searching for Life in All the Wrong Places

[00:00:02] Christ is risen. [00:00:04] He is risen indeed. Hallelujah. [00:00:08] Why, I never get tired of saying that. [00:00:12] I never get tired of hearing that, of speaking, that response, that call and response back and forth between us. And not just because it's true, which it is, but because every time we say it, we're poking the devil in the eye with a sharp stick of our confession of faith. [00:00:34] We're mocking the mocker. [00:00:37] We're trouncing the trouncer. [00:00:40] Christ is risen. [00:00:42] He is risen indeed. [00:00:45] He lost. [00:00:47] He lost. [00:00:48] He's vanquished forever. [00:00:51] The war that began in Eden, the attack that. That came of sin and death, has now ended with the victory at Jerusalem, the victory over sin and death. And the Prince of this world has been defeated. And the Prince of life reigns immortal. [00:01:13] He is not here. [00:01:15] He is risen indeed. Hallelujah. [00:01:22] You're not tired of it either. [00:01:26] Nor should we be. Those faithful women who went to the tomb that early morning, well, they went because they had a job to do. This was an important job. [00:01:37] And they were tired and weary, and they had to have been frightened because of all that had been taking place. [00:01:45] But it was exhausting to prepare a body, exhausting to prepare those burial spices. [00:01:55] They went to the tomb. [00:01:58] Much had happened over the last couple of days, but life had to go on. [00:02:07] You ever think about it that way? [00:02:10] Life had to go on. [00:02:16] Well, that's exactly right. That's exactly what Mary discovered. Mary, who we heard about this morning, she got to the tomb, she discovered. [00:02:27] Well, not death. [00:02:32] Life, life. That had to go on because sin had been atoned for by the Christ on the Cross. [00:02:40] And if there is no sin, there is no death. And if there is no death, there is no grave. [00:02:46] And if there is no grave, well, then life. [00:02:54] Life victorious life. [00:02:57] And the angels, they preach the resurrection. [00:03:08] Mark's gospel exposes to us that those women went on their way and their biggest concern was who will roll the stone away? They found it. It had already been done. Mark, his gospel also supplies to us the angels saying, you seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. [00:03:27] He has risen. [00:03:29] He is not here. [00:03:31] You guys are the best. [00:03:34] It's a great line. [00:03:37] It's a great line. He has risen. He is not here. That says it all, because it announces a whole new reality that we cannot find life in a world of death. [00:03:56] So the question is, why do we keep trying? Why do we keep looking for life in all the wrong places? [00:04:03] In the things of this world that do not last, in the things of this world that, well, leave us that decay that run down, that evaporate, that die. [00:04:24] Two reasons, I think we keep looking for life in all the wrong places. First of all, because even though Satan lost, he's got a really big mouth. [00:04:35] He's always trying to convince us that death is all you've got. [00:04:40] It's all you can count on. You know the old saying, only two things you can count on, right? Death and taxes. [00:04:48] Look around. What do you see? [00:04:53] Death and taxes. [00:04:59] Now, when we're little, we get our first taste of death. [00:05:03] Maybe when a pet dies or maybe a grandparent passes, we feel its sting. [00:05:13] When we get a little older, death seems to expand its reach into other areas of our lives as careers die, or hopes and dreams die, or relationships die. [00:05:30] Pretty soon, we're so used to death that we attribute it to objects that were never alive in the first place. Like when my car dies, or when my computer dies, or when the dishwasher dies. [00:05:48] And have you noticed this one I just learned about lifetime. Warranties aren't really for a lifetime like your lifetime or mine. [00:06:00] It's only for the expected lifetime of that particular product. Did you know that? [00:06:06] And when it dies, that's it. [00:06:12] There's that stinking heap of dead trash in my neighborhood on Monday mornings. [00:06:19] I could keep going on, but I think you get the point. We are steeped in a world of death. It's all we know. [00:06:27] And we're so desperate. [00:06:30] We're so desperate we're even looking now to put life on the moon. [00:06:37] Really. [00:06:40] Which brings me to my second reason why we keep looking for life in all the wrong places. And that reason is we don't know where else to look. [00:06:51] So we try to find life by making the most of what we got. [00:06:56] We try to resurrect our careers and resurrect our cars and our relationships. [00:07:06] We try to ward off death with exercise and medicine and surgery. [00:07:18] None of it works. [00:07:21] So we're either like sad, weary women who go to the tomb on that morning, or we're like the apostles who thought that their only hope was in hiding out. [00:07:32] And then, worst of all, so surrounded by death and our own failures at life. [00:07:38] Some stop seeing death as the catastrophe that it is, as a very anti creation, and start seeing it as a friend, as a release, as an escape, as it's just part of the circle of life. If you can't beat them, join them, as the old saying goes. And so people who are dying for life, well, they're just dying. [00:08:03] But it is in the preaching of the resurrection by the angels. Today that brings us out of our stupor. The word of God is like a spiritual defibrillator. [00:08:13] Defibrillator. I can't say that Word. [00:08:22] Brings us back to life with that simple but profound declaration, he has risen. He is not here. [00:08:35] He has risen, indeed. Hallelujah. [00:08:38] And honestly, that changes everything. [00:08:42] For there is life in this world of death and not just a resurrected Jesus as some historic event that happened some 2,000 years ago, and not just some future event that, well, it's going to happen someday when the graves will all open up. [00:09:04] Both are true. But that leaves a lot of time in between. What about making it through the here and and now, dealing with the problems and the struggles and all kinds of death that we face now? Look, if Easter is just past or future, then for many people, it's just irrelevant. [00:09:27] And they wind up looking for life in all the wrong places, places where it just cannot be found. It's here today, and I'm here today. [00:09:41] And we are here today to witness to one another that Easter is not just past or future, it's now. [00:09:52] By the way, since we're identifying all the wrong places to look for life this morning, did you ever notice that in all the Easter stories, no one ever finds Jesus? [00:10:09] It's always Jesus who finds them. [00:10:13] Jesus comes to them just like he did with Mary in our Gospel lesson today. And when he finds them, he brings life. Life for Mary, life for the apostles, life for us. [00:10:27] Easter it is. Where Christ is. And where he is, life is as well. Real life, everlasting life, life from the dead. [00:10:39] So don't go looking for life in all the wrong places. [00:10:45] Remember what those pesky angels asked Mary. We heard it. They said, why are you weeping? [00:10:53] Jesus asked the same question. [00:10:57] And it's as if to say, wow, are you ever in for a big surprise. [00:11:04] Obviously, Jesus was not there in the tomb, you know, where Mary supposed him to be. [00:11:12] Rather, he was where he promised to be risen. [00:11:17] He was in the here and now of Mary's life. He was where he promised to be risen and coming to bring the past and the present and the future all together in one place, just like he comes to us in Holy Baptism. [00:11:35] For when we are baptized, we're not just washed, but we're changed. Jesus comes, and he joins us to himself in his death and in his resurrection, that as he rose, we too shall rise to a new life in him. [00:11:54] St. Paul, when he wrote his second letter to the Corinthians, chapter five, he says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation the old has gone, the new has come. [00:12:15] And he's also going to take us to the future. [00:12:18] You know that. For in baptism, the gates of heaven and eternal life are open to us with the forgiveness of our sins, which we hear about regularly in His Word in this place. [00:12:32] For when the word of God is spoken here, it's as if we are hearing it from Christ's own mouth. His word is for all people, for all times and in all places. And the word of forgiveness and life that we hear today is the same word that we will hear eternally in heaven. [00:12:54] And so, if Easter is where Jesus comes and brings life, then Easter is here, now, today. [00:13:06] And resurrection means forgiveness of sins and salvation. And we no longer need to seek the living among the dead. For the living one seeks us who are dead and makes us alive with him. Alive to live a new life. [00:13:24] Alive to live with purpose and meaning. Alive to live without fear and anxiety. [00:13:33] Alive to see his hand at work in this world. [00:13:39] Oh, people of God, look no more for life in all the wrong places. [00:13:47] Look for Jesus, the one person we cannot possibly live without, because he is the life of the world and he's not to be found in tombs. [00:14:02] Christ is risen indeed. [00:14:06] Hallelujah.