St Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Pastor Mark Gartner
Sermon for Easter Sunday – April 11^th, 2004

Dear children of God,

Last summer, I was minding my own business as I was traveling along Concord Avenue here in town on my way over to see my Doctor by the Hospital. I had just passed the place down by the dam on the Rock River and was coming around the little bend in the road and noticed a police car parked about 100 yards ahead on my side of the road. As I passed his car, I noticed that his lights began to flash and he pulled up behind me. I pulled over to the side of the road, and the police officer got out of his car. He came over to me and asked me, "Do you know how fast you were traveling?" He didn’t need to say anymore. The point was made. I didn’t even really need to answer that question, because no answer would have made things better. I should have known better. That little question which contained a slight rebuke hit home. I was traveling a little too fast. He proceeded to tell me to slow down a bit and let me off with just a warning.

As we look at the words for our Easter meditation we are going to take a look at the very straightforward question that the angels placed before the women who went to the tomb on that first Easter morning. It wasn’t a question that really needed to be answered. The women realized what the answer was. Their Savior was not in the grave. He had risen, just as the angels had told them, and just as Jesus had promised them while he was alive. So this morning lets meditate on that question that the angels asked of the women on that first Easter morning:

"Why do you look for the living among the dead?" Those words have an edge to them. There is a rebuke in those words. Truly the women were looking for someone who was dead, not someone who was alive. Think about them on that first Faster morning. Because they did not have enough time to properly prepare Jesus’ dead body for burial on the first Good Friday, these women had purchased spices with which to finish the task once the Sabbath ended. So early on Sunday morning, the women got up and, carrying the spices they had purchased, set out for the tomb. As they walked, they began to talk about the stone that had been placed in front of the tomb and sealed with Pilate’s own seal. Who would take it away? they wondered. They arrived, and with great grief they looked into the tomb. Then, to their great surprise, an angel greeted them and asked them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" In other words, "Why do you act as though the ! Savior were still dead?" The words contained a rebuke, a rebuke of their lack of faith, a rebuke for living as though Jesus were still dead.

We too deserve this rebuke. Like those women, we carry around needless burdens. We often carry around needless burdens of guilt and shame because of our sins. We act as though Jesus were still dead and, therefore, we are still in our sins. Like the women, we worry and fret about things when we really have nothing to worry about. The women fretted about the stone and who would roll it away. How many of us don’t worry about the stones that lie ahead of us and how we will move them and roll them away? We live as though Jesus were still dead. The women came to the cemetery with great grief. They came expecting to find a dead body. We too often stand in the cemetery and think only of the deaths of those we love and of our own deaths that are to come. We act as though Jesus were still dead.

And there is also another way we act as though Jesus were still dead: when we permit sin to rule and dominate our lives. Then we act as though Jesus were still dead. Why do you look for the living among the dead? When he sees us bearing needless burdens, fretting and worrying our way through life, grieving over loved ones who have fallen asleep in Jesus, and when he sees us letting sin get a foothold in our lives, the Lord asks us too through his angel, "Why do you live as though I were still dead?" We have a risen Lord! Jesus, who was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised again for our justification. Jesus has risen, and as he was with Mary though she didn’t know it, so he is with us always to the end of the age. We have a risen Lord who has broken the power of the grave so that we can look forward to rising from the dead with our loved ones one day. We have a risen Lord who gives us the power to say "no" to sin. Let’s not live as though! Jesus were dead; we have a risen Lord.

"Why?" the angel asked. Why do you look for the living among the dead? There was an answer. The angel had it. He said, "He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again"’ (Luke 24:6,7). The angel knew why. It was because the women had forgotten Jesus’ words and his promises. Jesus had told them all that was to happen to him in Jerusalem. He had predicted his betrayal and suffering and death. They had witnessed all these things, but they forgot that Jesus had predicted still one more thing: on the third day he must be raised again. The women forgot. That’s why they were bearing unnecessary burdens, worrying and fretting about things that turned out to be no problem at all, grieving over a loved one who had died -- they had forgotten the words of the Savior. That’s why they were living! as though Jesus was still dead. But he had risen from the dead and was alive again.

That’s what we need to remember. We need to remember that Jesus is alive and stop living as though he were still dead. When the angel asks us "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" let us remember that Jesus has risen from the dead. Instead of carrying around an unnecessary burden of guilt, let us remember that Christ Jesus, who died and was raised to life again, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. When we find ourselves worrying and fretting about the obstacles that confront us in life, let us remember that Jesus has risen and has promised, "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Mat. 28:20). We have a Savior who has also promised, "Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand" (Isaiah 41:10). Jesus isn’t dead anymore; he lives and rules forever. When we come to the ce! metery and grief wants to take over and drive away hope, let us remember that Jesus is not dead anymore. God raised him from the dead and has promised to raise from the dead, with Jesus, those who fall asleep in him. And when sin wants to rule our lives and dominate our hearts, let us remember that Jesus isn’t dead anymore and let us stop acting like he is. Jesus died and then was raised in the glory of the Father, and we who are united with him in Baptism have also been buried with him and have been raised to live new lives. Why do you look for the living among the dead? Why do you live as if Jesus were still dead? He has risen let us depend on his reliable Word.

About nine hundred years before Jesus died and rose again, a prophet named Elijah became discouraged with his work for the Lord and ran off to the desert, hid in a cave, and waited to die. The Lord found him there and asked him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:9). The question contained a reminder for the prophet. It said, "You are a prophet of God; what are you doing here in a cave in the middle of the wilderness?" The angel’s question to the women contained the same reminder. "Why are you looking for the living among the dead?" The question was a reminder to the women that they had good news to tell others. They had a living Savior, and they needed to stop poking around like Jesus was still dead and, instead, go and tell the good news. The women got the message. We are told that they remembered Jesus’ words and then left the tomb and told Jesus’ disciples everything that they had seen.

Why do you look for the living among the dead? The question is still asked of us when we are tempted to poke around in our lives as if we really have no purpose here and no reason for living. Jesus has risen; we have a reason for living: it is to glorify him in all that we do. And one way that we glorify the Savior is by going and telling others about our Savior. Our Savior is alive; he lives to comfort us in life’s troubles, to give us peace in life’s turmoil, to walk with us, and to help us carry our burdens. So what are you doing here? Why do you look for the living among the dead? We have good news to tell others. Let us begin with the members of our own families and those in our neighborhoods, and then let us remember to participate in the work of telling the world about our living Savior by supporting our synod’s missions with offerings and prayers. No, it won’t always produce immediate results. The prophet Elijah was frustrated by the lack of expected results. On E! aster morning, when the women went and told the disciples, we are told that at first the disciples did not believe the women because their words seemed like nonsense. But then we are told that Simon Peter got up and ran to the tomb to look for himself. That’s the way it goes with us too. Perhaps our invitations seem to fall on deaf ears. But St. Paul reminds us that our labor in the Lord is not in vain and urges us to give ourselves fully to doing God’s work. Why do you look for the living among the dead? We have a responsibility in the world. Let’s go and tell all that we have seen and heard. Amen.