+ The Resurrection of Our Lord – April 17^th, 2022 +

Series C: Isaiah 65:17-25; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; Luke 24:1-12

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

“We’re Going Home”

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

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

After a long day at school or work we long to hear, “Let’s go home.” Soldiers returning from deployment or patients from the hospital long to hear; “Time to go home.” “I long to be, homeward bound,” sings Simon and Garfunkel. Dorothy was right… “There’s no place like home.”

If Lent is a journey, Easter is the destination. Easter is God’s promise that we’re going home.

Although, when you hear Luke’s resurrection account, and you imagine what was happening form the women’s point of view, home – and all the feelings of warmth and welcome, love and laughter – those seem far, far away. The women weren’t heading home at all. They journeyed to a graveyard. To the tomb where they had seen Jesus laid just three days earlier.

Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

They found the tomb. They found the stone had been rolled away. They found the place where Jesus was laid. But they did not find the body Jesus. It’s not hard to imagine their whirlwind of thoughts and feelings. Fear. Amazement. Doubt. Delight. Despair. Joy. Confusion. Hope beyond hope.

That’s often how life in this world goes for us too. Like the women at the tomb our journey is often one of mixed thoughts and emotions and realities. Fear and faith. Guilt and forgiveness. Grief and comfort. That feeling that we’re pilgrims. Strangers in a strange land. Longing for home.

It certainly was that way for the Israelites in exile in Babylon. As we’ve been hearing about throughout the season of Lent, the Lord sent his prophet Isaiah to speak words of comfort to them in their lostness. Israel was far from home. Away from Jerusalem.  Away from the temple. No doubt they felt far away from the Lord’s presence. Exiled in Babylon. Strangers in a strange land.

Yet God spoke to his people through the prophet Isaiah. God promises, “We’re going home.”

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people;”

God promised a way home. Better yet. God promised a new home. A new heaven and earth. A new creation. Through his prophets God was constantly telling his people, “we’re going home.” And here’s how…Here is the way…

The angel at Jesus’ tomb announce the good news of our gracious homecoming in Jesus…

“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”

Jesus’ journey to the cross, through the grave, and out again in his resurrection is your road home to God the Father. It has been paved and trodden for you by the flesh and blood of Jesus.

This is why God the Father sent His only Son Jesus, who came from his heavenly home to make his home with sinners and for sinners. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, not in the comforts of home, but in a manger for you. For three years, Jesus lived and taught as a pilgrim-Savior, traveling in Judea and Galilee. “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” So he laid his head on the cross for you and he laid down his life for you. Jesus even buried in a borrowed tomb for you.

This was God’s plan all along. To bring you home. To reconcile you in His Son Jesus. Adam and Eve, and all humanity, were exiled from God in sin, but now Jesus the second Adam has opened paradise for us by his dying and rising. Israel was in captivity and slavery in Egypt, but now, in Jesus’ death and resurrection we are led on the greatest exodus of all through his cross and the grave. Israel was exiled in Babylon, but now, Jesus has taken the punishment for their idolatry and ours upon himself, and returns us home from exile by his own exile on the cross and his return again on the third day.

And he did all of this for you. To bring you home. As Paul declares, “Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.”

All that Jesus accomplished on his journey during his earthly life he did for you as you journey here in this life. Jesus lived perfectly for you. Jesus dies and in him all your sin dies with him. Jesus is buried and with him your death is buried. Jesus rises from the dead and him one day you will rise again too. Jesus ascends to the Father to prepare a place for you. A home.

Jesus’ death and resurrection is your way home. And in Jesus’ death and resurrection God’s promise is sure and certain. Easter is God’s promise that we’re going home.

Not only that. Easter is God’s promise that in Jesus’ death and resurrection, God continues to make his home with us.

Today, Jesus dwells with you and for you in the Word he speaks to you from Isaiah, Paul, Luke, and all the Scriptures.

Today, Jesus dwells with you and for you and in you in your baptism, where he has made you a child of God with. You are no longer homeless. You are adopted. Redeemed. A new creation.

Today, Jesus dwells with you in simple bread and wine that bring his same body and blood broken and poured out on the cross for you, buried for you, raised from the dead for you, and he gives it to you freely to sustain you on your journey home.

Today, our Lenten journey is over; the last enemy is defeated and we sing: Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Today, sin, the power of death the devil are destroyed and the feast of life in Jesus begins. We rejoice. Celebrate. Sing. Praise.

For today, we’re going home.

A blessed Easter to each of you…

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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