Quasimodo Geniti Sermon 

The Second Sunday of Easter

"Stop being an unbeliever and believe!"

Click HERE for the audio of today's sermon.

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

The resurrection is our Victory! The resurrection of Jesus proves He is exactly who He says He is: The Son of God. The resurrection proves that God accepted His Son's sacrifice on the cross for your sins and guilt. The resurrection proves that His blood and death was sufficient payment to forgive all your sins. The resurrection proves that Jesus is the Lord over sin and death and the devil. The resurrection proves that Jesus is the God who keeps His promises. The resurrection proves that all of your loved-ones who have gone on ahead into glory - you will see them again, they will rise from the dead just as Jesus promised. The resurrection proves that YOU will rise from the dead, just as Jesus promised. The Resurrection proves that the Holy Christian Faith is the one true faith, the only true religion, the only faith that can save. The resurrection proves that gathering here again and again around the Holy Word and Sacraments, which are the living presence of the living Christ among us now, is not futile but is the very power of God for eternal life for you. This is the resurrected Christ you hear, it is the living Jesus who is in the water of Baptism, it is the God who died but now lives who gives you His body and blood to eat. The resurrection is the heart and living soul of the Christian faith, without it there is no Christian faith, without it you are to be pitied most of all people, without it I am standing up here lying about God. The resurrection proves that God is the God who has power even over death and the grave and that you need not mourn as others do who have no hope. The resurrection proves that everything we have been given, every shred of hope we cling to at the grave, every word of divine encouragement we long to hear to strengthen our faith is true and has the power to do exactly what God says it will. The resurrection proves all of this.

But what proves the resurrection? How can anyone possibly take the report of a dead man now living again seriously? Not even Thomas could do that! We have seen the Lord! the disciples exclaimed. And even one of their own, who had heard the promises, would not unless he could touch Him and see.

But Paul said if Christ is not risen our faith is futile and we are still in our sins. Paul also said that faith comes by hearing. So it was these 11 guys, soon to be 12, when Paul was added to the number, who were sent into the world to preach that Word that testifies to the resurrection and by which you and I believe. The Word of God itself is the greatest witness to the resurrection and is really all we need, as John wrote: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. 

But is there any evidence outside the Scriptures that can be used to prove the resurrection? Interestingly, there is – and it all focuses on these 11 guys that the resurrected Jesus Himself sent out to tell the Good News.

Remember that they were gathered there in that upper room because they were shaking in their boots afraid that someone was going to find them and report them to the authorities and they would end up stuck to a cross just like Jesus was. Then, just a short time later, they were all standing in the middle of Jerusalem, at the temple, right under the noses of the authorities, telling everyone that Jesus rose from the dead and preaching life in His name. Only Jesus, whom you crucified, is the only-begotten Son of the Father who came to bear the sins and guilt and death of us lost and fallen people even unto death on the cross and by His resurrection from the dead has made the grave our own gateway into eternal life. That was their message, and all of them kept on preaching that message for as long as they had breath in their bodies and they never stopped or changed that message until death had silenced their voices.

In fact, there were over 500 witnesses to the resurrection, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, and they all had the exact same story to tell, and they all kept on telling that exact same story for years and years and years, the story never changed, it never varied, it was never altered. They way it began is the way that it has been handed down to us almost 2000 years later. Jesus was dead. The Romans did not only crucify Him, but they punched a pretty serious hole in His side – and these were Romans. The centurion in charge of executions was called a lictor, he was trained in death, he knew how to crucify people, and he knew a corpse when he saw one. Jesus was dead, the centurion said so, Pilate gave the order that His body be given to Joseph. And now He is risen from the dead and that story doesn't change. Year after year after year it stays the same as it is passed down from the apostles to those who would come after them to you and me.

Twelve ordinary guys just like you and me, trembling in fear that they are going to die in the same horrible way Jesus died, knowing that it was important to keep quiet, lay low, not draw attention to themselves. Why in the world would these guys suddenly go out into the open, in the very city that crucified Jesus, and start proclaiming the very message they were trying so much to hide just a little while earlier? Why would they publicly proclaim that Jesus rose from the dead . . . unless . . . what?

... unless Jesus really did rise from the dead! Unless He really did appear to them in that upper room on the evening of that first day of the week. Unless Thomas really did touch His now living body still marked by the nails and the spear. Unless He really did walk and talk and eat with them for 40 days after His resurrection. Unless He really did tell them .... what was His message to them again? “Peace be with you.” This is the peace that passes all understanding, pretty much as the exact same thing as that other message Jesus often spoke to His disciples: “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid, but go and proclaim the resurrection.

The most convincing proof outside of the Scriptures themselves that Jesus really rose from the dead is that the disciples went out in the open and started proclaiming the resurrection and then they died proclaiming that resurrection. Just a short while after Jesus' resurrection, James was beheaded by Herod. He died under Herod's blade still confessing and saying “Christ is risen!”  Why would he do that if it was a lie, a made-up story?

Church tradition and historical accounts tell us that Peter was crucified upside-down in Rome after having stood at the foot of his wife’s cross and comforting her in her death by reminding her that Christ is risen from the dead. Bartholomew was flayed, he had his skin cut off, proclaiming the risen Christ in Asia minor; Matthew was impaled on a post in Ethiopia; James the son of Alphaeus was thrown off a wall and then clubbed to death when that didn't kill him; Jude was crucified in Persia; Matthias was stoned and then beheaded; Philip was hung upside down from iron hooks and then drawn; Thomas was speared to death in India after being flogged and tied to a post for two days for the birds to peck at; Simon and Andrew were crucified. Of all those guys gathered in that upper room, only John would die a natural death, but even he, by the grace of God, survived many attempts at killing him, including a failed attempt to roast him to death in a frying pan over a fire. God kept John alive for other reasons, which we can talk about some time.

These 11 men, and countless other Saints down through history, died hideous deaths rather than call the resurrection a lie, and all of them could have stopped their torment, they could have lived if only they had admitted it was all a lie, but they didn't. Why would they rather die than say Jesus is still dead? Why would they rather die than say it was all a lie? Could it be, perhaps, it’s because it’s not a lie? Could it be, perhaps, because Jesus did rise from the dead? Could that possibly be why the account of the resurrection has held together perfectly for almost 2,000 years?

Chuck Coleson, one of the famous Watergate conspirators, went to prison for his part in the Watergate break-in. Coleson was not a Christian at the time of the crime. He was convicted of conspiracy sent off to prison for ten years. It was in prison, with the friendship of another inmate who was a Christian, that he surrendered to Jesus and confessed the Christian faith. When he was released from prison he founded the nonprofit group Prison Fellowship International, a Christian outreach to prisoners around the world. Chuck's earthly life ended in 2012 so he's in glory now awaiting his own resurrection. Chuck Coleson always maintained that it was the events of Watergate and his own imprisonment that convinced him of the truth of the Gospel claims of the resurrection. There were 12 conspirators involved in the Watergate break-in on June 17, 1972. 12 men who were all highly-trained FBI and CIA operatives. They knew their business. They had been trained for years in the art of deception and lying. They had worked out their cover story in great detail and rehearsed it over and over for weeks before the break in. They memorized their lines, worked out the false timetables and had all the bases covered – remember, they were trained in this business; they had the same story with the same details all well rehearsed and memorized. Do you know how long that story held together? Exactly four days. It only took four days for the lies to start unraveling the whole intricately-planned story. And it all unraveled exactly because it was all a lie. Lies eventually come apart. Just as any liar.

This is what convinced Chuch Coleson of the truth of the resurrection. 12 guys, with their lives on the line, kept their story straight for the rest of their lives. Not one instance where the story came unglued and unraveled. It was the same on the day they died as on the day they came out of the upper room and started talking. The only way that could have happened is if their story was true, if they were telling the facts.

Friends in Christ, Jesus did rise. He did show up there behind locked doors and say, “Peace be with you.” He did show His hands and side to Thomas who did proclaim Him Lord and God. He did appear to more than 500 of the brothers at one time and to a murderous Saul on the Road to Damascus turning him into the Paul who would proclaim the risen Christ until he was finally beheaded in Rome. He did give courage and strength for Christians down through the long years to proclaim the resurrection in the face of fire and sword, of lion and dungeon as the blood of the martyrs stained the sands of the arena. The story has stuck together for almost 2000 years and you and me now confess that story to the world today because this story is true; it will never change because Jesus has risen, just as He said, thanks be to God!

We live in increasingly uncertain times in a world where the governments and powerful people around the world are becoming increasingly wicked and demonic. I remember preaching to you all a few years ago that the day would eventually come even in our own nation where the Christian message of Good News in Jesus would be illegal, actively opposed and silenced by the leaders even in the United States. I was thinking of the days of our great- grandchildren, little did I know at the time those days would be upon us now. Wickedness is reigning and increasing, the demons are stalking the streets defended by the leaders, darkness is falling upon this world and soon we may feel like hiding in our own upper room. What do we do?

The light shines brightest in the darkness of night so we say, bring on the darkness – we defy the devil and all the wickedness, and we keep on proclaiming the resurrected Christ! We keep on shouting out the victory cry of the Church, because the Church will ALWAYS prevail, the Church ALWAYS wins. Governments throughout history have tried over and over again to silence the Church, but as governments topple and nations rise and fall, still the Church cries out over the darkness and din of the chaos: “Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!”

No one will ever stop this proclamation because this is the only truth that exists in this broken world, the only truth that matters. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Because Christ is risen you can be sure that all of His promises are true. Because Christ is risen you know that your sins are forgiven just as He says in His Word. Because Christ is risen you know that there is hope in this life, for He is King of kings and Lord of lords and reigns as God over all the living and the dead. Because Christ is risen so shall you also rise on the last glorious Day when our Lord brings the curtain down on this world and the dead in Christ rise first and we shall all be caught up into eternal glory.

Don’t be afraid! Don’t live like unbelievers! The risen Christ still gives Himself to you in His Holy Word and blessed Sacraments. Don’t be afraid, the risen Christ will guard you through these blessed Means of grace unto life everlasting.  Don’t be afraid, the story is not going to change. Now and always, from the first Easter to the last one that will ever happen upon this earth, the story will not change. Until our risen Lord returns again in His glory, just like He promised, through all the collapsing years of history, the Church will remain and will continue to proclaim to the joy and strengthening of God's holy beloved people: “Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” AMEN!