(Matthew 27:57-66) Mark 16:1-8

No Imposter Here!

            So, I have to start off with a confession. I messed up your bulletins. Indeed, in the haste of putting everything together, I missed that we had the wrong Gospel reading for tonight. Thus, I’d like to read a little exert from our true Gospel reading, Mark 16:

And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” Mark 16:5-7

Once Jesus told us that we had to keep watch, stay awake, for no one knew the day or hour of his coming. For while the world was sleeping, the world waited with baited breath for his coming. But no one saw him. No one anticipated his coming, even though he told them all about it. From creation until now, death and the grave have reigned over us. No one has been able to pierce that veil. Yes, we’ve followed Jesus. We watched him suffer. We watched him die. Some of his own people were even responsible for placing him in the grave. There didn’t seem to be any coming back from that. So, why wait? Why watch if there’s nothing to watch for? But that’s why we’re here tonight. We must keep the vigil, that is, we must keep watch. For it was in the dead of night, when no one was watching, our Lord returned! Jesus rose from the dead as a thief in the night! 

            So, here we sit on the day of his Sabbath rest, waiting, watching for our Lord’s return. For on the day when death seemed final, on the day when all hope seemed lost, Jesus came to show us that death no longer has the final word. By his resurrection from the tomb, Jesus has inaugurated a new day. Here he brings us into the eighth day, the day of new creation where death reigns no more! For let us learn tonight:

THE GRAVE IS SECURE NO LONGER FOR JESUS ROSE FROM THE DEAD!

I.

            What should be fascinating to us on this Easter Eve is that the same Jewish leaders who put Jesus to death, were so afraid of him rising from the dead. Or perhaps, that the disciples who had already scattered to the wind might manufacture evidence to suggest he rose from the dead and deceive others. Although it’s not our true Easter Gospel, I want you to consider what the Pharisees said to Pilate, “Sir, we remember how that imposter said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first,” Matthew 27:63-64. It’s almost as if the Pharisees were showing how they would deny any true resurrection whether it happened or not. But we all can also understand the mindset, for it’s a purely human mindset. They believed that death was final, so any “resurrection” would have to be a scam. And since there’s no way anyone can come back from the dead, Jesus was an imposter for even suggesting that he would.

            For let us see that this same mentality is still alive and well today. As we come here and celebrate such a joyous event, there are those in our world that call us imposters, just as they called our Lord one. And like our Lord, we know the truth. We know that Jesus did rise and that all that he said and taught was true. But it still stings. Indeed, it stings because on some level, it’s true. We are the imposters. We who follow our Lord’s words and teachings. We’re even so bold as to admit it. We cling to holiness and righteousness while be anything but. “Imposter!” Yes, the very things I tell others are wrong are the same things that I do. And even in regards to his resurrection, we can begin to doubt it too… because the experience of our whole human lives has been the same. When death takes someone, when the grave shuts them in, there’s no coming back from that. There’s no need to guard the tomb, no lock needed on the door, no throwing away the key. For us, death has always meant the end.

II.

            Yet, here we are waiting for the impossible because our Lord who does the impossible is sleeping in that grave! For we know that if our Lord has told us something, we ought to believe that he’s telling us the truth. God does not lie, nor does God let himself be mocked by our human speculation and assumptions. If he says, he’s walking out of that tomb, we’ll wait and watch him walk right out of that tomb! For the evidence was there that morning! As the women came to find the body of Jesus, they encounter an angel who tells them, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here,” Mark 16:6. That’s right! Step out of the way death, open that grave, the grave is secure no longer! For my Lord has burst your bars and walked out of his grave! Jesus is risen from the dead so that we may live also!

            My Lord was no imposter. While all the world may hurl this insult at me, I won’t bear it anymore because Jesus lives! He who was crucified is dead no longer. Even in his resurrection, Jesus continues being the crucified one for me. He continues being my Lord who paid for all my sins, died my death, inhabited my grave… so that I may walk out of the grave also! For we are sure of this, just as Job was in his great confession, as he said, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another,” Job 19:25-27. Because of the certainty we have in Christ’s resurrection, we can have just as much certainty in our own. Despite what our eyes behold in this world, despite what experience tells us, we know this because our Lord has told us. 

            For let us not tremble in fear of death, nor at the awesome might of our Lord. For he fights on our side so that by his death, death may be undone, and by his life, we may live eternally! May this joy of the Resurrection give you peace and joy both now and forevermore! In Jesus’ name! Amen!