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This Week's Sermon THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD 12 April 2009 "The End of Fear" Mark 16:1-8 LSB Series B Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

William Shakespeare employed the word "fear" some 600 times in his plays. I wonder how many times he would have to use it if he were writing plays today. The fears of our age have multiplied faster than the years. With 24 news channels, the internet with its instant communications, cell phones that can reach almost anywhere in the world, we are made aware instantly of every disaster in every corner of our globe. Add to that the fears that we have living in our own neighborhoods. We live in such fear that we wonder if we have enough locks on our doors, enough alarm systems, enough security lights.

Add to all these things the list of fears that we have about our health and our jobs. Will I have to have surgery? Will I get better? Will I have a job tomorrow or next week? What about my financial obligations? How will I pay my bills? Will I live longer than my retirement money? What about my children? Will they steer clear of drugs and other risky behavior? Expectant mothers worry about the child they are carrying. Will everything be normal? And then there is the big fear that confronts every one of us-death. There is no getting around that one. It is certain, and that no doubt makes us afraid.

Fear is a major element in the resurrection account. From the perspective of the disciples, Friday had ended very badly with Jesus having been crucified. They were now hiding because of fear of the authorities. Would they be arrested and crucified next? It was not an unreasonable fear. On Monday evening The History Channel broadcast a two hour program about crucifixion. In this political/medical mix there were some interesting facts. The Romans widely used crucifixion as a tool to terrorize their non-Roman subjects. The Romans used it often and effectively in Israel to keep the lid on a politically volatile situation. During Jesus' boyhood, thousands of Jews were crucified by the Romans for any suspected revolutionary activity. We might understand the fear of the Eleven that the Jewish authorities might come for them next because of their association with Jesus. That's exactly what the Evangelist John wrote in his Gospel:

"On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. . . " (John 20:19, ESV)

All of this even though they had the reports that Jesus had risen from the dead. Most of the time the women come off better than the men in the Gospel accounts. They go out to the tomb early in the morning to perform the burial rites. They worry about who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb, but when they arrive it has been rolled away. Upon seeing the angel-the young man-sitting on the right side of the tomb, they are filled with fear. That's always the way it is when God's holy angels appear to man. It was the same when the angels appeared to the shepherds outside of Bethlehem to announce Jesus' birth. Man always reacts with fear when confronting the holy. The holy angels always try to reassure the hearers by telling them not to be afraid.

"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."" (Mark 16:6-7, ESV)

The next verse is one of the most puzzling in all of Holy Scripture, and it is surely the place where Mark's Gospel ended. Verses 9-20 are not considered to be part of the Gospel Mark wrote even though they do not contradict anything in the other three accounts.

"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." (Mark 16:8, ESV)

Isn't that how it often is with us? Aren't we often paralyzed by fear? Scholars have tried to unlock those last two Greek words of the account, four words in English: "For they were afraid." All speculating aside, and there is plenty of that, I think we know why they were afraid. We know it deep down in our hearts. We are afraid to believe something as wonderful as this news. What if it really were true? What if Jesus really did rise from the dead?

Our hearts, and maybe our minds, are afraid to believe the angel's words because sin so dominates our thinking and lives. How could it be otherwise? We live in a world steeped in sin, a world in the grip of sin and death. Death is all around us. It claims one and then another. It claims the famous and the infamous. It takes away our loved ones and friends. We are afraid that the next knock on the door may be death summoning us and we may not be ready to go.

Your faith is often weak. Today might be one of those mountain top experiences when you sing "alleluia" as heartily as you ever have. You believe the words of the Holy Gospel that Jesus lives. But tomorrow might be a different story, or the next day or the next week or the next month. Fear will grip your heart and mind again.

The only thing you have to fear is what your sin has done to you. It has made you an outcast from God's presence and from his holiness. No matter how hard you try, sin and guilt dog you. Satan continues to whisper in your ear that you really don't belong to God. Your own sinful flesh confirms the accusation, and the world constantly tempts you to come over to its side.

But the resurrection of Jesus stands as God's own testimony that Satan is a liar. When Jesus died, he died a once-for-all death for all sin of this world. He died for your sin and the sin of every other human being who has ever lived and ever will live. His death is an atoning death, that is, it satisfies the Father's wrath over sin because Jesus never sinned. He was completely righteous. He took your sin and your guilt in himself and made an end of it in his innocent death.

It seems hard to fathom that a death could bring life to the world, but that is what the death of Jesus did. It was the very reason that the Father sent him to this earth. And having completed his work of redeeming a world lost in sin, death could no longer hold him. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans:

"[God] who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:22-25, ESV)

Our Lord's resurrection from the dead is the proof that your sins have been atoned by the death of Jesus. Because Jesus lives, the cause of all your fear has been removed. God is not angry with you but is pleased with you because of Jesus. You have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That means that as it was with Jesus, so it is with you. His death is your death and his resurrection is your resurrection. You died with Christ and you have been raised with Christ.

While this has happened already, it is not yet. What has happened with your spirit will happen with your body on the last day. You live with Christ already now in your spirit. The life which God the Holy Spirit began in you at your Baptism will never end. Your physical life will end. Your body, infected with sin, will die. But that is not the end of it! It will be raised again like Christ's victorious body.

Because of this, you don't have to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder in fear. You don't have to be afraid of bad news because in Christ is the end of all bad news. In him is no death but only life. You have been joined to him in Holy Baptism. You live a life that will never end, and it will be a life according to both body and soul. So we Christians do not weep as though we had no hope when our loved ones who trusted in Jesus die. We have our Lord's own assurance that they are with him even now, awaiting the resurrection on the last day.

The angel told the women to inform Peter and the other disciples to go to Galilee and there they would see Jesus, just as Jesus had told them. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could go to Galilee and see Jesus as did the Eleven? My dear friends, you are in Galilee right now! Here in this Divine Service is your Galilee! Here you see Jesus as he appears to you in his true body and blood to forgive your sins, even your sins of paralyzing fear and doubt. Here he gives you the pledges of salvation, the same body crucified and risen again. You know the words of Luther's Small Catechism. You've said them many times.

What is the benefit of this eating and drinking?
These words, "Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins," show us that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

Here in the true body and blood of Christ is forgiveness for all your sins. Because of that, you have life-eternal life-and salvation! Here is our Lord's proof that everything he said is true, that he is alive and that he has paid the penalty of your sin and guilt. Here is God's proof that you have an eternal tomorrow. And if you have that eternal tomorrow with all the saints in the presence of the Triune God, then what of your fear? Must it not come to an end? Must you not give up fearing what mere mortals can do to you? Must you also not give up fear of death and hell because Christ has conquered them for you by his death and resurrection? Truer words were never spoken that Christ's resurrection is "The End of Fear."

4 O, where is your sting, death? We fear you no more;
Christ rose, and now open is fair Eden's door.
For all our transgressions His blood does atone;
Redeemed and forgiven, we now are His own.

5 Then sing your hosannas and raise your glad voice;
Proclaim the blest tidings that all may rejoice.
Laud, honor, and praise to the Lamb that was slain:
With Father and Spirit He ever shall reign.

He's Risen, He's Risen
Text: © 1941 Concordia Publishing House Used by permission: LSB Hymn License .NET, number 100010193.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.