Easter Day Sermon, 2008

Easter Sunday Sermon

Immanuel Lutheran Church, Easton

Pastor Paul Demant

Three weeks ago, a friend of mine, about my age, died. He died by his own hand, but it was drug addiction that killed him.

I mourn his loss, as do many, many of his friends and, of course, his family, especially his father and his son.

He left a note that has brought comfort to me.

I can’t live this way.

My head and my heart can’t take the pain of my past.

I pray that the Good Lord can forgive my sins and the pain I have caused my family and friends.

Drug addiction and what it does to people is hell.

I pray for peace and good will and that love will never die.

I pray the Good Lord will walk me home.

Then he took his life. His last thoughts were, “I pray the Good Lord will walk me home”.

And then he learned the truth, what he hoped would be true, what he prayed for became a reality: The Good Lord walked him home.

That is the message of Easter, of the empty tomb. Death has been conquered. We don’t have to die.

Jesus had tried to explain this to his disciples one day, he said:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s home there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.”

I guess that I would like to translate that, this morning,

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and walk you home, so that where I am, there you may be also.”

Jesus was trying to explain this to Martha when Lazarus was in the tomb. He said:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”

He was trying to explain this to us when he said:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned;”

That’s amazing. That’s grace. God’s response at Christ’s expense. G R A C E God’s response to our sin.

God’s response to our walking away.

God’s response to our ignoring his will for us.

God’s response to our lack of faithfulness.

God’s response to our treating him like a 911 operator.

Since the creation we have been insulting God.

We don’t want God to be god.

We want to be god.

I am in charge of my life.

I will decide what I am going to do.

I will decide what is right and wrong.

Since the creation we have been sinning against God’s children.

Let them starve.

Let them suffer.

It is their own fault.

Am I my brother’s keeper?

Charity begins at home!

I have to take care of myself first.

And God’s response to that?

He loved us so much that he sent his son to die for us.

That is grace.

God’s response at Christ’s expense.

…everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Everyone?! Surely Jesus must be kidding. Not everyone is a good as I am!

Everyone?! Surely Jesus meant just people like me.

Everyone?! What if someone believes and is a real crumb?

Everyone?! What if someone does not believe very much? What if their faith is more doubt than surety?

Everyone.

…everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

What about all those people who are not as good as I am?

My sins are small compared to them.

My sins are understandable.

My sins are manageable.

Surely someone with big sins (translate “big” as the ones that are not mine) won’t get in.

I think that we should have a test to get into heaven.

Everyone who is as good as I am, or better, gets in.

Be real, Jesus says, Do you really want to get into heaven based on your own merit?  Judge not, least you be judged!

Do we really think that we have been so good that God will be forced to forget our sins and let us in?

Does anyone really want to take that chance?

Is anyone really that arrogant?

No, that’s not going to work.

Especially if we start reading what Jesus did.

Remember what he said to the Samaritan woman?

Now, she was a real sinner! He said,

I am your messiah. I am your savior.

Remember what he said to the criminal on the cross? He was such a big sinner that they were crucifying him for his sins.

Today you will be with me in paradise.

It seems that Jesus will give eternal life to just anyone.

…everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

What about people who have a faith that is more doubt than certainty?

If you asked them, “do you believe?” they would say,

“I have lots of doubts.

I want to believe.

I believe a little.

I believe some times.”

Shouldn’t a person have enough faith to be faithful?

To tithe?

To worship every Sunday?

To be a Lutheran?

To change their sinful ways?

To witness to others?

Be sure?

Jesus was talking to his disciples one day about this very topic.

He said, If someone has faith the size of a mustard seed, he could say to a mountain move and it put itself into the sea.

And another time. If someone has faith the size of a mustard seed, he could say to a plant, “move” and it would pull itself out of the ground and walk!

A mustard seed! A dust particle amount.

Pretty small amount.

Anyone ever have that much faith?

Any of you have that much faith.

No? I didn’t think so.

Nobody has much faith.

That’s why it’s called faith, not certainty.

Doubt is part of faith.

And, faith is a gift of the Spirit!

If you don’t think that you have enough faith, talk to God.

He’s the one that is handing that out!

It is not about amount, Jesus said. It is only about having some.

We are saved by Grace alone.

God’s response at Christ’s expense.

We accept it by faith, a gift from God.

Grace alone, Faith alone; it is all about God.

That’s amazing.

Forgiveness and salvation, for free.

A gift.

Like any gift, we can’t earn it.

We can’t deserve it.

We can’t pay for it.

We can only accept it.

And, as if that isn’t enough.

This isn’t just a congratulations, when you die, you win a prize. You don’t have to die! You get to go to heaven.

This is about today too.

This is about your life, right now.

Do you know how many times God says, “Do not be afraid” in the Bible? Either through an angel or a prophet or through Jesus himself?

59 times.

And how many times does God say, “Peace to you”, “Shalom”, “My peace I give to you”?

243 times.

And this is to people with real problems. To Mary and Martha, at the tomb of their dead brother, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

To Mary who will become pregnant and have a baby for the Holy Spirit. “Do not be afraid”.

To the Israelites, who are in captivity, for 50 years, “Do not be afraid”.

To the disciples, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be afraid.”

To us, in our real lives, with real problems, “Do not be afraid.”

And we say, “That would be nice. I could use some peace. That’s for sure.

But I have real problems.”

Not Biblical problems, not theological problems.

I was coming out of Home Depot a week ago and there was a man, well groomed, polite and humble, who came up to me and asked, in very broken English, if I had work for him. Not a hand out. He did not want money. He wouldn’t take the money I started to hand him. Just a job. Some work. To feed the family that I saw he had by his ring finger.

What if he doesn’t get any work? His family will go hungry. Now there is a fear that I can understand.

Our siblings are addicted to alcohol and the other drugs.

Our little ones have diseases and maladies that should never be placed on the young.

Our finances are tight, real tight, and disappearing.

Our credit card debt is growing.

Our spouses are leaving us.

Our jobs are taken from us.

Our cancer is back.

Our health continues to decline and our kids want to take over our lives.

Real life, real problems.

I have 3 kids in private schools. My motor-home died after a long and fruitful life. My van was stolen, I’m working too many hours and it is starting to affect my health and my attitude. My ulcer is back. My drug addict brother and his wife moved in, again, with my parents. I am gaining weight, again.

And that just begins to describe my real life.

Don’t be afraid? Is that even possible?

What is he going to do, fix all my problems?

“No,” he says, “I won’t do that. I gave you free will and you and the rest of humankind have made a great mess of it. Your call. That’s on you.

But here is what I will do.

I will be with you always, even to the ends of the earth. Even in Easton.

I will guide you and carry you and be with you through it all.

There is nothing that you have gotten into that you and I together can not handle.

I will send you my Holy Spirit and with that you will have the power to face your life wrapped in my love.”

“My yoke is easy and my burden is light. I will share your trials.”

A yoke, you know, is made to fit over two oxen.

I’ll be on one side, you be on the other, Jesus says, I’ll do the heavy pulling!

“Call on my in the time of your distress, and I will comfort you.”

“I will be with you.” God with us. That is so amazing that we named our church after it. Immanuel means God with us.

In a few minutes we are going to accept that gift, the gift of forgiveness and salvation bought for us on the cross, proven by the empty tomb and delivered through the Lord’s Supper.

The bread and cup, the body and blood of Jesus will be taken and put into our sinful bodies. God will be with us. In, with, and under us.

The broken bread, his broken body on the cross.

The cup, his blood shed for us.

Grace in physical form, going into our physical form.

Here, now, to us.

That’s not just grace, that’s amazing!

Jesus paid it all.

Everyone who believes is saved.

Even me.

Even you.

God really must love the world.  That’s a fact.

Someday when it is our turn, we are going to learn what those who have gone before us know for a fact.

We’ll learn it from them, for God loves you so much that he will send his Son to come and walk you home.

Death has been conquered.

The tomb was empty.

That’s not just grace, that’s amazing.

Amen.