Happy Easter - Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Praise the Lord that we have some good news to share once again.  The Good News is that the bad news is over.  The Lord Christ is risen and we can celebrate the day of His resurrection.

          We've seen His torture, so graphically portrayed on screen.  We've heard of, almost felt, the guns of war blasting away in Iraq until the fragile peace there has disintegrated.  We've sat through the driest winter for decades and heard of the gloom & doom that supposedly lies ahead.  Even the week of rain and snow haven't stopped their cries of impending disaster.  Candidates lob their mortar bombs of shaded truth on us until we have no idea what is real and what is not.  Newspapers are filled with nothing but headaches and heartaches.  And it's apparent this Easter that we need some good news!

          Well, we have it!  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  In the eternal scheme of things this war will be old news in a short while.  In a relatively little while the limpid economy, the water shortages, elections, terrorists and all things bad will come and go, arise and fade.  But the resurrection of Jesus Christ will never go away.  Its effects last eternally.  The empty grave will never go out of date.

          Yesterday while it snowed, I was scanning the page of funerals, checking to see if I recognized any names and wondering what a grieving family would feel like at Easter time.  If they were Christians, a funeral now would seem rather fitting.  If the family believed in Jesus Christ, the resurrection could bring them strength.  Some funerals are sad because of no hope, and others are times for smiles amid the tears.

          One of the funniest funerals I recall was when family members in the service recounted the practical jokes of the deceased.  One of the saddest funerals was at the death of Jesus.  It was a short and quick funeral.  He was removed from the cross, wrapped up and put in the tomb.  No songs, no eulogies, just a burial.  We can't really grasp the tragedy of His death.  Imagine Mary, the mother of Jesus watching Him die, recalling the angels and wise men at His birth, remember how she nursed her firstborn, raised Him as a boy and into a fine young man.  Mary's love for her son grew and grew, and she came to believe He was the promised Messiah.  Now imagine Mary standing at the foot of the cross, looking at her son, brutally tortured and dead.

          Imagine being a disciple of Jesus.  For three years you had given up family and career and staked your entire life on Him.  Imagine believing that He would bring deliverance to Israel, and now here He was, dying the worst death possible.  You begin to think you were wrong, that you've only been following a dead man.

          Imagine being Satan.  It's been almost too easy.  In the ancient war against God, it looks like God finally made a fatal mistake.  Imagine his glee when he thought he'd finally defeated God.  Calvary was Satan's finest hour.

          Jesus' death seemed so final.  He died before His time, His mission not yet accomplished.  He was killed for taking a stand, and now there's nothing left but a body, a scattered group of followers and a grieving mother.

          Jesus was dead, but not for long.  Every Christian eventually has to face the question: what does it mean for our world if Christ truly has risen?  Suppose you had a friend who died, perhaps a man named Fritz, a retired man in excellent health, who fell over dead one day after singing in church.  What would it mean for us if Fritz rose again?  How astonishing would it be to attend his funeral, close the casket with his body inside, bury the casket in the graveyard, and then walk to the parking lot, and there, to your amazement, stands Fritz.  Your friend is alive, with his big grin and his clear, gray eyes.  That's a little of how Jesus' disciples felt that first Easter.  They had grieved since Friday, but on Sunday everything changed.  He's alive again!  He's risen!

          What a note of hope and faith they could sing.  Satan had not won after all!  Mary did not have to grieve her lost son.  The disciples did not have to mourn His death or be afraid of His anger.  He was alive!  The cross was not the end of the story, but a new beginning for the world.

          Our text tells us just a small detail:  When the women arrived at the tomb, "They found the stone rolled away from the tomb." (Luke 24:2)   The body was gone and angels were there.  What a surprise!  What would they tell the others?  Who would believe them?  What a day!  So what should we do about it?

          First, we should never lose our wonder and amazement over the Resurrection.  We should never take it for granted, or become so accustomed to the Easter story that it's just another "Ho-hum!" church service.  Every year at Easter, we should be so startled by the resurrection that it should make us believe in Jesus again.

          Can you imagine the excitement around here if the Rockies won the World Series this fall?  Or if one of our members won the lottery - then gave us enough to build a new church?  How could we not be moved if something like that happened?  Then how can we not leap out of bed on Easter morning and shout, "Hallelujah!  Christ has risen!"  We should never lose our wonder over the resurrection.

          The second thing is that we should make the resurrection our central point of faith.  The resurrection already is the central doctrine of the church.  It's not that the world will end, or how to apply water in baptism, or whether women should be ordained.  It's that Christ is risen.  If you don't believe in the resurrection, you're not a Christian.  When the early disciples preached the Gospel, their messages were all centered on the resurrection.

          Friends, we need to focus our lives on the resurrection.  It's the central doctrine of the Christian faith, more important than who wrote the Bible, which hymnal we use, or even more important than who can come to communion in the Lutheran Church!  Again, if you don't believe in the resurrection, you're not a Christian!

          The third thing I want us to remember is that we all should look forward to our own resurrection.  Recently, I watched the movie, "Glory," all about the amazing 54th Massachusetts regiment during the Civil War.  The night before their greatest battle, many of those valiant black soldiers were singing about the Lord, and one of them spoke about being ready for that "Great Gettin-Up Morning."  That's our resurrection!  One day we all will be raised, some to heaven and the rest to perdition.  We all need to be ready for that day, ready by trusting in Jesus.

          In one of his lighter moments, Benjamin Franklin wrote his own epitaph.  He didn't profess to be a Christian, but he must have been influenced by Paul's teaching of the resurrection of the body.  Here's what now is written on his grave: "The Body of B. Franklin, Printer.  Like the Cover of an old Book, Its contents torn out, And stript of its Lettering and Guilding, Lies here, Food for Worms, But the Work shall not be wholly lost: For it will, as he believed, Appear once more In a new and more perfect Edition, Corrected and amended by the Author."

          For the Christian, there's really no such thing as a sad funeral.  Yes, there are tragic deaths and sad losses, but at that time we can also echo the words of St. Paul:  "Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting? ...  Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:55,57)

          Dear friends, Jesus is alive today!  He was dead only a few days.  He's our living Savior.  On this wonderful day, let us all be filled with amazement and wonder and joy over this incredible fact.  Let us make Christ's resurrection the cornerstone of our faith.  Let us with joy, look forward to our own resurrection, knowing that because He rose from the dead, we too, will be raised.

          And dear Lord, if there are folks here who have not made the resurrection the cornerstone of their faith; if they've not yet believed, help them make this be the day!  And help every one of us here today trust in You, always!  Thank you, Jesus, and make us all ready for that "Gettin-up Morning."  Amen

Copyright © 2004 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.