Finding Faith ... in knowing that Jesus promises to meet us out there

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodical authorized minister. The journey together these past seven years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on Easter, April 20, 2025.

Mary Magdalene at Jesus' empty tomb on Easter morning.

This week's gospel text: Luke 24:1-12

The Resurrection of Jesus

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

The message:

I have a serious question for you this Easter morning, Faith Family …

And I’d like you to take a beat … and think intentionally about it. … Ready?

What brings you here this morning?

No, seriously, what brings you here this morning?

I mean … other than maybe your mom made you … or maybe you felt obligated because … “It is Easter, after all.”

No, what I mean is … in your heart, what brought you here this morning?

Was it because of the high drama of me pulling off the black veil and declaring that Jesus is risen?

Was it to hear the lovely Easter gospel from Luke? … Or the beautiful hymn “Jesus Christ is risen today?”

Maybe it was to gaze up here at this stark cross and secretly contemplate how one could possibly rise again after hanging there until death?

Maybe you don’t even know why you’re here … and I assure you that’s OK too.

Because if we are all honest with ourselves, being here makes absolutely zero sense. …

None! … Right?

No really, let’s be honest with ourselves here. 

None of us … not one of us … if we are honest … came to this church … to this beautiful sanctuary … this morning because we thought we were actually going to encounter Jesus, risen from the grave. … Standing here beaming with a smile and open arms.

Right? … None of us thought that … because no matter how strong our faith is … that is a preposterous idea!

We’re not just a bunch of senseless fools, after all. … We knew that we were not coming here to witness the risen Christ … in the flesh.

I mean, I know what you’re thinking right now, “Pastor, that is senseless!” … And I get it.

But, you know what is funny?

The women in today’s gospel from Luke … didn’t go to the tomb looking to see the risen Christ either. … I mean, why would they? … Right? Also senseless!

Just days earlier they had witnessed Jesus, hanging on the cross, breathing his last breaths and saying, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”

So, if the women who went to Jesus’ tomb weren’t there in expectation of seeing their Lord come to life? … The natural question, then, is … what was it they were there for, right?

Well … the honest answer is far less dramatic than they came to see their risen Lord. … They actually were there to attend to Jesus’ dead body as their Jewish scriptures dictated.

Faith Family … On what we now know as Easter morning, the women were not going to the tomb because they believed he was alive … but rather they were going there with spices to anoint Jesus' body, a custom performed to show respect and honor to the deceased. They had prepared the spices before the Sabbath and intended to complete the anointing after the Sabbath was over. Period.

Nothing spectacular about their visit. No holy miracle anticipated. … Just a utilitarian obligation to carry out according to their scriptures.

Huh … maybe that resonates for some of us, right? … Paying your dues on Easter. … Going to church because your mom said so. … Or because that’s what you’re supposed to do. … No shame in that.

Look, the faithful women in Luke’s gospel today were doing the same. … Heading to the tomb to take care of Jesus’ body. … Out of obligation. … Out of respect. … 

Who knows, maybe because their moms told them they had to.

But Faith Family … what happens then? … What happens next?

The women arrive at the tomb to find … the stone rolled away from the entrance. … This big, gigantic boulder that would have taken many people to move … set to the side, and … the tomb was empty.

Imagine the confusion! … What the what? … The women eerily looking at each other. … “This is Jesus’ tomb right? Did one of you mess this up? Did we take a wrong turn?”

I imagine one of the women ducking back outside … Looking around? … “Ahhh, nope. This is the right tomb.”

And so, rightfully, they all are “perplexed.” Right? … The gospel text tells us so!

Well, wouldn’t you be? … I mean, if you got all spiffed up in your shiny go-to-churchin’ clothes … piled everyone into the sedan … got to church and … there was no one here.

Wait … Martha, it’s Easter Sunday right? Did you check the calendar? … The service is at 8, right? … Did someone change it? … Who’s playing the trick on us?

None of this makes sense, Faith Family. … The why we are here. … And it didn’t make sense to the women descending on Jesus’ tomb that day either.

BUT … then the angels arrived! … Two men in dazzling clothes … appearing from nowhere … to say: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”

And this is the really critical part, Faith Family. … The angels finish with: “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and to be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”

And it was at this point … friends … that the women who had gone to the tomb just to anoint Jesus’ dead body REMEMBERED Jesus’ words. … The gospel text tells us so. … “Then they remembered his words.”

Faith Family … mind you, this wasn’t just a few regular ol’ faithful folks. … No, this group of women included some of Jesus’ closest disciples. … Mary Magdalene, Joanna … Mary the mother of James.

None of these women set out that Easter morning to witness the risen Christ … but rather they were going about their duties as obligations would have them do.

And that’s when they had their encounter with the messengers from heaven. … That’s when they REMEMBERED what Jesus had been telling him all of this time.

I can hear them now! … “Oh my stars in heaven! … Jesus was right. … It wasn’t just the crazy talk of a man who was condemned! … He really was the son of God who knew that he had to give up his own life so that we all may live.”

And they might have continued … “He’s NOT in this tomb … but out THERE! … Somewhere out there! … We have to go tell the apostles!”

So the women go and they do tell the apostles!

And what was their response? … “Yeah, right.” … In fact, they so didn’t believe the women … that Peter has to run to the tomb to see for himself. 

But he too … wait for it … he goes away from the tomb … amazed!

Faith Family … I don’t know why each of you specifically came here to service on this Easter Sunday this morning. … It may have been for as utilitarian of a reason as you were just coming to anoint a body with spices as your customs obligated you to do.

I mean … I doubt very seriously that any of you fully expected to see the actual risen Christ here on the altar this morning. … But that is absolutely OK.

Because what today’s gospel text shares with us is … that each of us will at some point encounter some kind of experience that will remind us that if only we would listen … Jesus tells us all along that we will not encounter him at his tomb!

For the women in Luke’s gospel this morning … it was two angels who jogged their memory … who helped them REMEMBER that Jesus isn’t there in the tomb … but rather out there … just as he had always promised.

Faith Family … I don’t know who that messenger will be for you … or when it will come … but my prayer for you on this Easter morning isn’t that you will only dwell on why you are here … at this church this Easter morning.

No, my prayer for you … is that when you do witness your spiritual encounter sent to inform you that Jesus is alive and well out there … that you too … will … REMEMBER. … Just as the women did on that first Easter morning.

Faith Family … It is imperative that we stop looking for Jesus in the empty tomb. … It is critical that we stop looking for the risen Christ here in this sanctuary -- even as beautiful as it is! -- because he is not here!

Faith Family … what is beautiful about this Easter gospel is that it reminds us that when we go looking for Christ … we need to go looking … out there … among the living.

We need to look out there … in the good and the kindness and in the loving acts of others. … That is where we will find the risen Christ.

Friends … Jesus could have waited right there for those women that morning, right? … Just kicked his feet up on the ledge there in the tomb and waited for the women with spices to come. … But he didn’t. 

He went back into the world as he had always promised.

And Faith Family … We need to know on this Easter morning, that Jesus also could have been right here waiting for us this morning, right? … Like at 6 a.m. in the dark when I arrived, he could have been hangin’ 10 on that altar rail ready to say, “What’s up, Pastor? Happy Easter!” … But he didn’t.

Because Jesus is out there, Faith Family. … Jesus is risen! And he’s out there healing people, saving people and breaking bread with people who we forget every … single … day. 

Our mistake friends is that we tend to go looking for Jesus … even on Easter morning! … in the empty tomb … or in our places of worship. … When in all reality, heaven’s messengers are telling us … no, reminding us … that Jesus is out there … among the living.

So my Easter prayer for you this morning, Faith Family, is that these angels’ message fills you with joy rather than disappointment. … And that you go forth from this beautiful sanctuary thrilled to meet Jesus out there … right where he always promised us he would be. And that is the Good News for this Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025. Amen.