Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

It was just last Sunday that we were so excited about nothing. The women went to the tomb expecting to find a dead body. But when they arrived, they found the stone rolled aside and when they went in, the body of the Lord Jesus they did not find. It’s what they did not find that is the best discovery of all. Never has there been better reason for greater joy over nothing, than when the women found nothing in tomb.

The empty tomb is cause for great joy for all who have pinned their hopes on this Jesus. Our destiny is all bound up with Him. Through your baptism, He has united you to Himself and Himself to us in such a close and intimate union, that if He dies on the cross, we’re as good as dead. And if He rises from the dead, we too have risen from the dead and live new life.

Now, although the empty tomb is cause for great joy, that stone that was rolled away from the entrance of the tomb can sometimes be cause for great confusion. Why was the stone rolled away? (more…)

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For the last forty days, we’ve been making our way to the cross and the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. We knew what the destination was when we set out on Ash Wednesday. So, when we got to Good Friday and heard the word that Christ was crucified with the sin of the world on His shoulders, we already knew with certainty that we’d come back here again this morning and the word would be – Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

We knew it was coming so we’re not shocked that the stone was rolled aside and Christ’s body was not in the tomb. We knew what was coming, and we’re glad it came. But it’s no great shocker. So, our situation today is much different than that of the men and women whom we’ve just heard about from St. Luke.

For them, Easter was a real shocker. The women were going to the tomb to anoint a dead body. They fully expected to find the dead body of Jesus right where they had seen it laid just three days earlier. They were not going to the tomb to see if Jesus had risen from the dead just as He said He would. We know what they’ll find and not find – but they didn’t know.

“And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.” (more…)

On one occasion, Jesus sat by a well in the village of Sychar. A woman came to the well and Jesus asked her if she would be so kind as to use her bucket to bring up some water for him. He was thirsty. Sounds like a simple enough request, but this woman had her pride and wanted to argue. “How is that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” She wanted to debate the principles of fairness and the rules that divide and separate us from each other. Just like we do every time we find our neighbor right there in front of us with his neediness crying out for our help, and we rehearse our list of reasons why we really shouldn’t get involved. It’s really amazing how often we actually conclude that it would be better for them if we didn’t. “Jesus answered her, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” Jesus is offering this woman water that gives eternal life to all who drink it.

Yet, from the cross, this fountain of living water cries, “I thirst,” as though the eternal spring had finally run dry. (more…)

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the 22nd chapter.
“Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it." They said to him, "Where will you have us prepare it?" He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there." And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.”

It was the day when the Passover lambs were to be killed. Families would gather together to eat the Passover meal just as pious Jews continue to do to this day. The 12 disciples whom Jesus had chosen to follow Him had become family. And Jesus was the head of the family. He had made the arrangements for this meal with a man in the city of Jerusalem. He sent two of His disciples ahead to prepare the meal. They would find the room by following a man who would be carrying water.

The whole thing sounds very strange and mysterious. (more…)

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If the “Make A Wish” organization had been around in Zechariah’s day, he would have most certainly wished to be in that crowd that cheered Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. With those prophetic eyes of his, Zechariah saw it all 520 years before it happened.

From his prophetic perch looking out over the horizon of time, he saw great crowds along the side of the road with their optimistic outlook, excited about their future. As clearly as you can hear my voice right now, he could hear their shouting and singing echoing five centuries into the past. “Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!”

What Zechariah saw, was no vague vision or misty mirage that lacked specific detail or connection to anything real. He saw Palm Sunday in high definition. He saw a man riding on an animal. And he could identify the animal he road on – a donkey, and not just any donkey, but a coat, the foal of a donkey. (more…)