“The Living One among the dead” (Luke 24:1-12)

Luke 24:1-12

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Pastor Tom Johnson, April 17, 2022

When Joseph of Arimathea takes Jesus’ dead body to the tomb, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other unnamed women follow. The women see where Jesus was buried and how his body was laid. They go back to Jerusalem to prepare spices and ointments. Early the next morning—just when the horizon started to glow with the promise of the rising Sun—the women make their way to the tomb where Jesus lay. They are courageous in the face of death and in the face of the Roman soldiers who guarded the tomb. They boldly go to find Jesus’ body among the dead. They find that the stone has been rolled away. They go into the tomb where they last saw the corpse wrapped in a linen cloth. But the body is no longer there. The women are perplexed—they are trying to understand what had happened.

It’s in that moment of profound bewilderment two angels appear in dazzling clothes. The word dazzling here is based on the New Testament word for lightning. They are dressed in blinding light. This brings terror to the women who must shield their faces and eyes…and buckle to the ground. The angels’ first word is a rhetorical question: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” Literally, the question is, “Why do you seek the Living One among the dead ones?” The angels know why. Their question is meant to stir their memory. It is meant to stir their hearts with the rollicking truth of the resurrection. God sends his angels to intercept those who are lost in a graveyard. They are God’s messengers sent to redirect their futile pursuit of the Lord of Life in a place of death. 

The angels are blessèd riddlers. Their sense of humor is rooted in the irony of devoted women desperate to find a cadaver in a morgue when they should be going to the neonatal unit. For Jesus is the firstborn of the dead! What on earth are you doing, dear women? Don’t you remember what Jesus said—that he must suffer, be crucified and on the third day rise again from the dead? Your foolishness will be met with unsurpassable joy. We are not laughing at you but laughing with you—because soon you will get the punchline of life and the Living One! The defeat of sin, death, and the devil is not just glorious—it is hilarious. The angels are the jesters in this story. In the words of one theologian (Charles Campbell), “They are riddlers who bring truth. They melt the solidity of the old age that is dying. They call us into an unsettling new creation that is being born.” 

The angels have the advantage of being objective spectators and perfect servants of God. They can stand back and clearly see the big picture. And from how the angels ask this question, I think they find it amusing. It certainly brings them joy. They know the women are in for a beautiful and life-transforming surprise. In other words, the angels help the women and us see our own foolishness so that we can receive the surprising grace of God. 

We are invited to ask ourselves, “Why do we look for life in places of death?” Why do we keep going back to the graveyards of this world when we will never find the life-giving spirit of God there? Why do we keep going down paths that lead to dead-ends? Why do we pursue things that will never give us sustained happiness? The angels know that we will find no solace in the graveyards of this world. As Scripture says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8). The angels’ rhetorical question stirs our minds. Their wit stirs our spirits. We gain perspective for our spiritual journey. Their riddle awakens us to a greater and more glorious reality. They call us to remember Jesus’ plan to suffer, die, and on the third day rise again. Resurrection was God’s punchline all along!

God sends these angels to graciously redirect us. God calls us to join our resurrected Lord on a different road—the road that leads to life everlasting. Like the women staring into the empty tomb, the only hope we have in the face of the heartbreaking reality of death is resurrection. Jesus is truly the Living One among the dead! He lives to bring hope to the hopeless. He is the source of life among the sad reality of death. He is raised from the dead so that death itself no longer has the final word. Resurrection is the final Word! The risen Christ is the answer to the riddle of life in the midst of perplexing death. For you, for me, and for the whole world…Jesus the Living One—the one who lives.

I know that my Redeemer lives;
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, He lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my ever-living head.

He lives to silence all my fears;
He lives to wipe away my tears;
He lives to calm my troubled heart;
He lives all blessings to impart.

He lives and grants me daily breath;
He lives, and I shall conquer death;
He lives my mansion to prepare;
He lives to bring me safely there.
              (“I Know that My Redeemer Lives,” LSB 461, vv. 1, 5, & 7)

Alleluia. Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed, Alleluia!

“Forgive them” (Luke 23:34)

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Pastor Tom Johnson, April 10, 2022

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” 
—Luke 23:34

This is the first of seven sayings of Jesus when he was nailed to the Cross. They are astounding words. They are miraculous words. In this moment, Jesus reveals his divine nature—that he is truly “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exod 34:6). 

“Father, forgive them.” Jesus has direct access to the Father. He is speaking from his Sonship as the second Person of the Holy Trinity. The Eternal Son of God intercedes on behalf of those who mock and crucify him. Jesus loves and prays for his enemies just as he commands us. Jesus practices what he preaches.

“Father, forgive them.” Extraordinary. Jesus prays that God the Father forgive those around him who have so wickedly betrayed him, tortured him, mocked him, drove nails into his hands and feet, and dealt a death-blow to him on the cross. They did not pray for forgiveness. They did not ask Jesus to intercede on their behalf. They certainly do not deserve forgiveness. They no doubt deserve the same fate Jesus suffers on the Cross of Calvary. 

“Father, forgive them.” Them is not quantified. Them refers to all who are around him. The them that surround him are the religious leaders, politicians, the mobs, the Roman soldiers, Jews and Gentiles, and even those who mourned their loss. Them/They are the nations. They are we. Our sin—our treachery put Jesus of Nazareth to death.

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus’ forgiveness is astounding. Our ignorance is also astounding. We do not know what we are doing. Jesus prays for the forgiveness of our thoughtlessness, careless words, and misdeeds—the damage of which we may be blissfully unaware. As the prophet Ezekiel says, “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it?” No mortal can. None of us understands the depth of our transgressions. Indeed, we are not aware of the death-grip evil can have on our lives. We do not know how devastating our offenses are—on others nor on ourselves. We have no clue how much harm we cause by our sins—sins of commission nor omission. But our ignorance is not innocence.

In recent days, Ukrainian hobbyists who once flew their drones to take pictures and videos featuring the beautiful landscape throughout Ukraine are now revealing the devastation, human atrocities, and alleged war crimes. It should not surprise us when world leaders feign ignorance—when those in power try to gaslight the world. They deny that their missiles, their tanks, and their guns lay waste to homes and lives of innocent people.  Indeed, they do not know what they are doing. They do not want to face the reality of what they are doing. Their wanton ignorance is not innocence. We pray, “God remove their guilt along with their ignorance so that they will turn from their evil ways.” 

It’s easy for any of us to point fingers. But Jesus does not just pray for those who abused their power to kill an innocent person. His words point to all humanity. That includes all those in human history leading up to the crucifixion and all of humanity that follows. That includes you and me. Like an impaired driver who leaves a trail of casualties and devastation behind, we also do not know what we are doing. We would rather not look into the mirror of the Law that reveals the stain of sin. Our ignorance is not innocence. As we will sing shortly:

Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee!
’Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee;
I crucified thee.

As the prophet Isaiah writes, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6).  As collective humanity, we fail to understand the harm we cause and the fracture of our relationships with God and with one another. Our sin is woeful ignorance. We are held so captive by sin that we are not even aware of the devastation we have caused. It is mercy that Jesus would even point out our ignorance. It is mercy that Christ would graciously bring our sins out of the shadows into the fullness of his light. It is boundless and unfathomable mercy that Jesus would pray that God forgive us even when we are not even aware of the magnitude of the forgiveness we desperately need. Mercy upon mercy upon mercy. When Jesus is at the brink of suffering a cruel death, we would not expect the victim to pray for the perpetrators of evil! There is truth to the cliché: “To err is human. To forgive is divine” (Alexander Pope, 1711).

This is one of those moments in the suffering and death of Jesus that the light of his grace shines most brightly against the backdrop of our dark inhumanity. It is such good news it sounds too good to be true—for God the Father to answer this prayer of his crucified Son—to forgive all humanity though we are undeserving and unaware! It is through the Cross of Calvary that we most clearly see both the innocent victim and also the true and living God in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth. We see both the cruelty and devastation of our collective sin and we see the grace, mercy, and love of God the Father and God the Son.

For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation,
Thy mortal sorrow, and thy life’s oblation;
Thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion,
For my salvation.
          (“Ah, Holy Jesus,” LBW 123, v. 4)

“Prepared for burial” (John 12:1-8)

John 12:1-8

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The Ointment of the Magdalene (Le parfum de Madeleine). James Tissot, c. 1900

Pastor Tom Johnson, April 3, 2022

Can you smell it? Can your nose imagine what a room full of perfume would smell like? The ointment comes from Nardostachys jatamansi, a flowering plant of the valerian family that grows in the Himalayas. It’s why it was so rare, exotic and expensive. The aroma is described as floral with musky, woody, and spicy overtones. Mary, Lazarus’ sister, puts this pure nard on Jesus’ feet. Mary offers this costly sacrifice to Jesus and applies it to his feet with her hands and hair. “How beautiful—how aromatic—are the feet of him who brings good news!” She bows down at the feet of Messiah and has the best view and best whiff of his lovely feet. Throughout the Old Testament, beginning with Noah, the faithful offer up their sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise. The Psalmist sings, “Let my prayer rise before You as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” And God describes their offerings as “a sweet aroma in his [anthropomorphic] nostrils.”

Jesus receives Mary’s extravagant generosity. Judas estimates it is worth 300 denarii—pay for a year of labor—around $40,000 by today’s money. Yet, Jesus welcomes this sacrificial offering. And now the whole room of disciples participate in the offering by their sense of smell. But to Judas the odor is repugnant. He calls it a waste. He says they could of sold it and given the money to the poor. But, as the text tells us, that is not his generosity speaking but his greed. Judas was taking money out of their collected funds in small amounts in the hope that no one would notice—this is called pilfering. Judas’ greed, masked by his pious words, reminds us that God is always more concerned with the heart than he is with our words. As it says in the prophet Isaiah, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Isa 29:13). 

In contrast, Mary honors Jesus with her gift, her hands, her hair, and her nose—but her heart is also close to Jesus. This is a beautiful example of the great command to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength—to love God with our whole being. And why, oh why, would we ever want to deny the nose? Judas betrays his own lack of commitment to Jesus and his mission just as he will soon betray Jesus with a kiss. Judas will sell Jesus out for profit—for thirty shekels of silver. Judas will financially benefit from Jesus’ death and burial. Jesus can smell a rat. He knows the thoughts and intentions of those in the room. So he tells Judas, “Leave Mary alone. Don’t scold her for what she did. You’ll always have the poor—but not me. She is preparing me for my burial.”

Jesus does not dismiss the needs of the poor. He emphasizes the priority of the Gospel—his own death, burial, and resurrection. It is necessary—he must confront death and the grave so that he can defeat them and rise victoriously for us. Judas’ miscalculation and misplaced priorities should remind us how easily we can stray off the path Jesus blazes before us. Judas white-washes his greed by words of concern for the poor. So we can have our own selfish interests and white-wash them with religious language. We too can feel so strongly about something in Christ’s Church that we miss what ultimately matters—the Gospel—the good news of him who will die, be buried, and triumphantly rise again. Mary lavishly invests in Jesus and his mission. She invests her money, resources, and whole self to prepare Jesus for his suffering, death, and burial. Just a chapter before, Jesus brings her brother Lazarus to life from the grave. Her sister Martha warns of the stench of death since he was in the grave for four days.

I think Mary knows that Jesus will only taste death but that it cannot hold him just as Jesus released her brother from the grip of death and said “I am the resurrection and the life!” She believes in the sweet aroma of Jesus’ life which will conquer the stench of death. She wants to enhance the scent of his sweet sacrifice. So Mary anoints Jesus’ feet. She does what the prophets did in the Old Testament when they anointed a king. It is where we get the word Messiah in Hebrew. Mary Christens Jesus as Messiah. Her actions show that he is also anointed by the Holy Spirit to bring salvation to the world. Mary wants the beautiful, aromatic feet of Jesus to overcome the seduction of this world. She wants us to be drawn to those feet that will be pierced for our transgressions. She wants us to foresee and fore-smell Jesus who will be buried as a seed but will rise out of the fallow ground like the rose of Sharon. Soon Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus will bring a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing 75 lbs to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. They too bring their sweet aroma and faithful devotion to Jesus. Soon we also will bring Easter lilies and other flowers to fill the sanctuary not only with their color and the sound of our praises but also with the sweet aroma of Jesus’ triumph over the grave.

When Mary anoints Jesus’ feet, she is also identifying with him. Remember, she used her hair to apply the ointment. She is putting her mark and scent on Jesus. He receives it. He takes it through his suffering, death, burial, and resurrection. They both now share the same scent. So Jesus takes us all of us with him. He gladly identifies with us. As Scripture says, “If we are united in a death like his, we will certainly be united in a resurrection like his.” He takes all our humanity with him and offers himself, and us, as a living sacrifice. He prepares us—not for burial—but for eternity in his Father’s house. He anoints us from head to foot with the water, Word, and Holy Spirit in Holy Baptism. He Christens us to be royal daughters and sons of the Most High. Now we radiate Christ’s light. We bear the same fragrant aroma as Jesus Messiah to the world. 

He came from His blest throne Salvation to bestow;
But men made strange, and none The longed-for Christ would know.
But, oh, my friend, My friend indeed,
Who at my need His life did spend!
          (“My Song Is Love Unknown,” LSB 430, v. 2)