Trasformed at the Tomb

Jesu Juva

Matthew 28:1-10                                                 

April 5, 2026

The Resurrection of Our Lord-A

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Alleluia!  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

        That Easter greeting never gets old.  It’s one of my pleasures as a pastor to lead that refrain every Easter.  I’ve really missed those alleluias.  It’s like we’ve been holding in a big sneeze for six weeks.  Finally, today, we get to let loose, loud and proud.

        Jesus has done it.  He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Rom. 4:25).  As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22).  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:4).  What comfort this sweet sentence gives: I know that my Redeemer lives!

        But on a day dominated by joyful alleluias and resurrection celebration, it’s worth remembering that Easter begins in the cemetery—with a trip to the tomb.  Matthew tells us that two Marys made their way to the grave early that morning.

        Most of us have walked that road before.  We’ve made our way to the cemetery to lay to rest the earthly remains of our loved ones.  Dust to dust.  Ashes to ashes.  Those trips to the cemetery are always painful and profound.  Flowers and plastic green astroturf cannot hide the truth about life in this fallen world:  The wages of sin is death.  I remember being in the cemetery to bury my dad in 1986, the burial of my in-laws, and the burials of numerous saints of our Savior who now rest from their labors.  We remember them all with fondness.  But we always feel cheated by death.  The cemetery always screams:  You lose!

        That’s surely how it was for the women who went to the tomb of Jesus.  So many hopes and dreams were now dashed to pieces.  Jesus had cared deeply for these women.  He cared about that wreck of a woman—Mary Magdalene—cleaned her up and delivered her from misery.  Jesus had made these women precious with His love.  Their sin and guilt had melted away as Jesus accepted them and forgave them.  But now this Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried.

        But that trip to the tomb quickly took a turn that no one saw coming!  Behold, there was a great earthquake.  Now, we hear “earthquake” and immediate think of tectonic plates and fault lines.  But this Easter earthquake is not natural; it’s supernatural—just like the tremor on Good Friday had been.  These shakings and quakings were real.  Richter scales were rumbling.  These two quakes go together, but not as in shock and aftershock.  Calvary earthquake and Easter earthquake show us that the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus are inseparably connected.  These events together form the divine hinge on which hangs all of human history.

        You’ve probably heard how geologists think they can still detect vibrations from when the universe was first created.  I don’t know about that.  I don’t know much about geology.  Theology is my forte.  But I think this old world might still shaking from that Easter earthquake.  I think there’s a divine fault line that runs from the tomb of Jesus, through time and space to every hallowed resting place on planet earth.  And I’m here to tell you it’s just a matter time before the “big one” hits, and the dead are raised, and the life of the world to come commences.

        In fact, if you look and listen through the eyes and ears of faith, there are Easter aftershocks that rattle beneath our feet—right here, on every first day of the week, when the risen Christ comes to wake up and raise up all who have been deadened by sin and guilt.  The ground beneath our feet is shaking and quaking in every splash of Holy Baptism.  Easter aftershocks reverberate here as the Words and wounds of the Risen Christ are preached and proclaimed—and as the Risen Christ descends from heaven to earth with His body and blood, for His saints who wait in expectation.

        That there might be no doubt about what’s going on, God sent an Easter angel to set the whole world straight.  But this is no ordinary angel.  As bright as lightning.  White as snow.  Strong enough to roll the stone away and sit on it.  Look at that angel!  Casually camped out on that stony slab of death.  That angel’s got attitude!

        And notice now who’s more dead than alive!  The elite guards that Pilate and the Chief Priests and Pharisees had assigned to keep that tomb sealed tighter than Fort Knox—those guards became like dead men!  They were so scared, they played “dead.”  The paralysis of rigor mortis took those soldiers completely out of commission. 

        See how people are transformed at the tomb of Jesus.  Those guards were at the tomb only because they were unlucky enough to be assigned to work the third shift that Saturday night.  They likely came to the tomb full of anger and unbelief.  They appear in the Easter account only from a sense of duty.  Yet they who were most alive become like dead men.  They became the corpses at the tomb.

        Beloved in the Lord, don’t become a corpse this Easter.  Don’t be deadened by unbelief.  Don’t come to this Easter out of a sense of duty or routine or tradition.  Don’t trust in your own strength or skill or dedication to duty.  Do that, and you’ll end up more dead than alive.  Try to do Easter on your terms, and sin will have its way with you.

        But step into the sparkling dawn of Easter like the women did.  Come to Easter with a heart of love for Jesus, who loved you first—and who gave Himself for you.  Come with faith—faith that Jesus can transform your tears and sorrow—faith that Jesus has made you precious by His love.  Come with open ears to hear and believe the news that has transformed this old world for good:  Be not afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. 

        Death has done its damndest and failed.  Death has been defeated by Jesus.  The crucified corpse of Jesus went into the tomb.  But death could not hold Him. The  Lord’s tomb was temporary.  And so it will be with your tomb.  So, join the angel sitting on the stone.  Be not afraid.  Take a load off.  Sit a spell.  Rest and relax in the joy of Jesus’ resurrection.     

        That Easter angel reminds us that Jesus rose from the dead—Just as He said.  It’s a reminder to remember what everybody else seemed to forget:  Jesus predicted His resurrection—that He would rise again on the third day.  But nobody remembered those words—or worse, nobody believed them.

        We have the same problem.  We don’t remember the words of Jesus.  On our best days, we don’t give those words the attention and respect and reverence they deserve.  And on our worst days, we simply don’t believe what Jesus has promised.  Beloved in the Lord, your transformation at the tomb won’t be complete until you stake everything—on every Word—that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.  Because let’s face it—if Jesus got His own resurrection right—if He is risen indeed, just as He said—then there’s nothing Jesus says that you can’t believe.  You can trust Him in your living and in your dying.

        With a mix of fear and joy the women take their leave of the angel, only to be met by Jesus Himself.  “Greetings,” says Jesus.  That sounds a bit stiff in English.  That’s because modern translations fail to capture the deeper meaning of what Jesus actually said.  A richer translation might be: Be ye glad, or, simply, Rejoice! 

        And so, my friends, on this Easter day, do what Jesus says:  Be ye glad!  Rejoice!  Go and tell!  For like those lowly women, the love of Jesus has made you precious.  In Jesus, your sin is paid for.  In Jesus, you will live forever.  At His greeting, the women bent their knees and knelt down in worship, and took a hold of Jesus.  That’s the same posture we assume as we worship Jesus at this altar, taking hold of His true body and blood, for the forgiveness of Jesus.  Like those women, you have been transformed.  Easter changes everything. 

        The Lamb who was slain has begun His reign.  Alleluia! Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!