Sermon -- 3rd Sunday after Easter (April 14, 2024)

LUKE 24:36-49

THE RISEN JESUS EXALTS THE BODY.

In the name + of Jesus.

M:       Alleluia!  Christ is risen!

C:        He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

     There was a great deal of excitement and confusion going on among Jesus’ disciples on that first Easter evening.  There were reports of Jesus’ tomb being open and empty.  This was confirmed by both Simon Peter and John who ran to the tomb to see it for themselves.  Several women said that they had seen the risen Jesus.  Their report was confirmed when they told the disciples that Jesus said he would meet them in Galilee.  That was a message Jesus had given the disciples only hours before he was betrayed.  The women would never have heard that unless Jesus appeared to them and spoken to them after his resurrection.  While they were gathered together in Jerusalem, two disciples from Emmaus had run back to Jerusalem to report that they had seen the risen Jesus.  It was a lot to take in, and their heads were spinning.

     Then, “as they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you!’  But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit” (Luke 24:36,37).  We might consider that conclusion a little ridiculous.  But try to understand what those disciples experienced.  They were hiding in a locked room.  Their conversations were animated as one person after another repeated what they had seen and heard regarding Jesus.  Then, all of a sudden, Jesus is standing there with them!  Bodies don’t just appear out of thin air, but Jesus did.  So, they assumed he was a ghost. 

     So, “he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?  See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.  Touch me, and see.  For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’  And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet” (Luke 24:38-40).  St. Luke remarked that “they still disbelieved for joy” (Luke 24:41).  Their joy came from “Who?”  It was Jesus!  Their disbelief came from “How?”  How could he just appear to them from out of nowhere?  To further prove that he was no phantom or illusion, Jesus took a piece of broiled fish and ate it in front of them all.  Ghosts don’t eat, but bodies do.  Jesus had risen bodily from the grave.  He lives as a man and will never die again.  The risen Savior exalts the body.

     We are living in a society that has disparaged and despised the body like never before.  One of the marvelous blessings that God has bestowed upon women is the ability to get pregnant and give birth to children.  Oddly, it is mainly women who are belligerent in rejecting this blessing.  They have lobbied for and won the constitutional right to discard a body from their wombs for any reason.  While a woman’s body should be regarded highly, so should the body that gestates in her womb.  Unfortunately, it is treated as a cancer rather than a baby—and society calls it good and a sacred right to kill it.  Consequently, men have been taught that they bear no accountability for impregnating women.  “Her body.  Her choice.  Her problem.”  God surely does not agree.

     Many young people have so sadly been deceived about their bodies.  With few rare exceptions, God makes it clear who is a boy and who is a girl.  One’s anatomy makes it obvious.  But now people reject God’s creation of their bodies.  They argue that they are not their body.  Some take hormonal pills to distort their body.  Others have surgery and mutilate the body God gave.  If you happen to be or to know a teenager who feels awkward with his or her body, I offer this observation: Congratulations.  You are a teenager.  You are changing.  You are in that stage that bridges a boy to a man or a girl to a woman.  Have patience.  Maturity is coming.  But if anyone is telling you that altering or rejecting your body is the path to happiness or contentment, you can bet that it is not the Lord Jesus Christ who is saying that.  The devil is a liar, and he is highly skilled at convincing you that wickedness is a good thing.

     As we get older, we recognize other problems with our bodies.  If you have cracked 50 years old, your body does not work like it did when you were 20.  The aches and pains increase.  Recovery from hard work takes longer.  You also experience the frailties that come with age.  The body breaks down.  Vision and hearing fade.  We need to be steadied when we walk, or we may have to settle into a wheelchair.  Getting old is hard on the body, and finally it gives out.

     So, is the body the problem?  After all, our souls don’t ache; our bodies do.  Our souls don’t bleed, our bodies do.  Bones break.  Muscles cramp.  Pills are prescribed for the heart, the liver, or some other organ.  The soul seems to remain unscathed.  But the problem is not the body.  The problem is that our bodies have been corrupted by sin.  Sin wreaks havoc on our whole being.  Sin produces flawed and failing bodies.  But sin also produces hearts that seek glory only for oneself.  It produces thoughts that are impure and warped.  It stirs up a hatred for God’s word, rebellion against his will, and the conviction that we know better than God does how life should work.

     God be praised that he did not despise us because of our sinful condition.  Although we have turned away from God, he did not abandon us.  Even though sin has corrupted our bodies, minds, and hearts, God does not despise us or regard us as a mistake.  He loves what he has created, and he has acted to redeem it.

     The risen Savior exalts the body.  The body held an exalted status from the very beginning.  When God created Adam and Eve, he made them different from every creature on earth.  While God simply summoned everything else into being, he personally crafted the bodies of the man and the woman.  He made us to be body and soul people, and he declared it to be very good.  The Lord further exalted the body when he entered the world.  The Lord did not descend from heaven or appear out of the blue.  He took on a body when he was conceived in the Virgin Mary.  He gestated in her womb for nine months.  He was born, grew up, and became a man.

     Then that man took into his body the sins and the guilt of the world.  “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree... By his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24).  Jesus’ body was no phantom or illusion; neither were his sufferings and death.  When they punched him in the face, he received bruises.  When they put the crown of thorns on his head, he endured the pricks and lacerations.  When he was scourged, his back was ripped open and bled.  When they nailed him to the cross, he died.  His lifeless body was laid in the grave with your sins.  But then Jesus rose from the dead, and the risen Savior exalted the body.

     Jesus’ sufferings and death were no illusion; neither was his resurrection from the dead.  He rose with a body, just as he showed to his disciples: “See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.  Touch me, and see.  For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” (Luke 24:39).  The purpose of Jesus’ death and resurrection was not to get rid of his humanity or his body, as if they were evils to be discarded.  Rather, the purpose was to exalt our human bodies.  Jesus rose from the dead as a body and soul man, but now glorified and immortal.  Jesus’ humanity was no illusion; therefore, his sufferings and death were no illusion.  A real payment was made for the sins of mankind by a man.  Jesus’ resurrection was no illusion; therefore, your salvation is no illusion.  A real victory over the grave was secured for all mankind by a man.  The risen Savior has exalted the body by granting it release from sin and death and bestowing upon it life everlasting.

     Jesus has taken away your sins.  Jesus has gone into death and has overcome it.  Since your sins are taken away, then death cannot reign over you.  Since you are baptized into Jesus Christ, you will overcome the grave.  Just as Jesus is risen with a glorified body, you will be too.  St. Paul wrote to the Philippians, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body…” (Philippians 3:20-21).  So, the body is not evil; rather, it will be restored to perfection.  It is not wicked to be a human being.  After all, Jesus was—and still is!  Therefore, you will be made like him.  And you will be resurrected as God made you to be—whether male or female.

     The bodies that we have will wear out.  They will be placed in a grave.  This is because they have been corrupted by sin.  And since they are corrupted by sin, they cannot dwell in God’s holy presence.  But they will be raised up holy and renewed.  Everyone who believes in Jesus will be raised up whole.  Every flaw, every scar, every defect, and every injury will be cured.  All anxiety, all depression, and all mental illness will be relieved.  If someone chose to have transition surgery and has altered or mutilated his or her body, such surgeries usually produce regret rather than contentment.  But there still is hope.  They will likely have to live with the consequences of their poor choices, but for those who repent and turn to Jesus for mercy, on the Last Day their bodies will be restored to what God intended them to be.  And they will find utter joy in being God’s redeemed and restored children.

     Our identity is not found in what we feel we are.  Feelings are deceptive and fickle.  Rather, our identity is found in what God has created us to be.  More specifically, our identity is found in what God has redeemed us to be—children of the Most High God and beloved brothers and sisters of Jesus.  Your identity is not based on our feelings, but on God’s decree.  His words of salvation and his promise of the resurrection to eternal life are unalterable.  The risen Savior exalts you—body, soul, and all. 

     If you happen to be discontented with your body—and the reasons for that are innumerable—have patience.  The resurrection is coming.  Bodies will be perfected.  Minds will be at peace.  Hearts will delight in God’s new creation.  And you will be exalted.

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