The Resurrection of Our Lord

 Curate Tapani Simojoki
12 April 2009

Mark 16:1-8

"When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. 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. 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.” And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid."

In the name of † Jesus.

Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Alleluia!  Praise the Lord!

Christ is risen from the grave and by His death and resurrection He has vanquished death for ever. Following centuries-old Christian tradition, the artist of one of our stained-glass images portrays Christ on Easter morning as emerging from a tomb with the victor’s banner in His left hand, with His right hand raised in blessing. Trampling on death, holding aloft the sign of His triumph and sharing the blessing of eternal life to all who look to Him. The war between righteousness and sin, between life and death, has been decided, with righteousness and life the undisputed winners and sin and death the eternal losers.

What joy!  What unequivocally good news!

It seems strange, then, that it seems that joy is almost entirely absent from our Gospel text. It’s even stranger if it is true, as many scholars think, that this Gospel reading is the original ending of Mark’s Gospel.

Mark 8:27-38 - Lent 02-B - “Follow Me”

Pr. Kurt A. Van Fossan – In Nomine Christi Iesu

Our Theme for this mornings sermon is Jesus’ words “Follow Me,” which were spoken in the context of our Gospel reading from Mark 8:27-38.  Listen again to these words:
And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" [28] And they told him, "John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets." [29] And he asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Christ." [30] And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

[31] And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. [32] And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. [33] But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."
[34] And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. [35] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. [36] For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? [37] For what can a man give in return for his life? [38] For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Since Jesus is speaking these words also to you and me this morning, I would like us to consider what it means to follow Christ.

The key to understanding anything in the Bible is Jesus Christ, especially His death and resurrection.  Jesus said “the Scriptures testify about me” (John 5:39)—He is the key.  If you want to understand what God is saying in the Bible you need to filter every thing through the cross.  Let’s try doing that with Jesus’ words “Follow Me”.