( 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 ) - [ Deutsch ]
The Lord is risen. He has truly risen.
Our hopes have been fulfilled.
Today, on Easter morning, we stand together in a community that marvels at and celebrates this uprising of life against death. We are taken into the fold of those who witnessed the death of Jesus. And on Easter morning we hear about the women at the tomb, who did not find the body there, and the stone had been rolled away. "Do not be dismayed" said the young man to the women. “He is risen, he is not here. But go and tell others.”
The women were afraid and did not tell anyone at first. This is how the evangelist Mark tells us. We are taken this morning into the Easter experiences of people who lived before us.
We are taken this morning into the Easter experiences of people around us. They are happening in our midst. People are experiencing that their lives are being transformed.
Paul, once called Saul, also experienced such a transformation. When he was on his way to Damascus to persecute the followers of Jesus, a light from heaven suddenly surrounded him. He could not see for three days. Jesus takes him into his ministry. Paul learns that Jesus is not a greatness of the past. He knows: we are always dealing with Him.
And it is only thanks to the grace of God that Paul reaches people through his message. Sometimes you need such a message from outside. The Lord is risen! Yes, you can say that to yourself, but it is something else when someone else says it to me. Into my life situation. And it is also good when there is someone who helps me to stand up, who gives me courage.
Dear congregation, that's what our community is for. In our everyday life. In the services we celebrate. And today, on this Easter morning. Our faith hangs on what God has allowed to happen for our benefit. Hard to understand. But that's not what it's about either.
Easter is not about the abstract truth that one who was dead, has come to life, but it is about this: Jesus is alive in our midst. We have personal experiences with the Living One.
The Lord is risen. The Corinthians also had it said to them. It was a break in their lives when Paul had been with them around 50 AD.
And in the sermon text, he reminds them of it.
1 Cor 15:1-11 : The Resurrection of Christ
15 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
Dear congregation, Jesus died, was buried, was raised and was seen. Already at that time a formula of faith of the young Christianity. And it is one of the most central and oldest texts of the New Testament.
Paul had heard rumours that some denied the resurrection of Jesus. Now he reminds them: you will be blessed if you hold fast onto what I have preached to you. Unless you have believed in vain. Have you believed without thinking?
Understanding is part of Christianity. Unless you believed in vain. Have you become believers without thinking?
Understanding is part of the Christian faith. Or rather: we try to understand. As far as it is possible for us.
The resurrection of Jesus is not a biological event. No dead body is reanimated. Paul speaks elsewhere of transformation.
The resurrected one no longer belongs to the mortal world. God creates something new out of nothing. New spaces open up with him, for us. His new vitality is also the new perspective for us.
He died because he wanted to make himself strong for us and take our hell upon himself. His life, his will and his preaching have reached their goal.
Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried and raised and seen. People have their Easter experiences. Very personal experiences.
And when we read the statements about Easter in the Bible, we notice: they are different. The differentiating history of tradition is history of faith. Individual and personal.
The way of Christ encounters was different for the above mentioned witnesses than for us today. We hear the biblical stories and of the certainty of faith of those who were before us and are with us today. Our common foundation in the Church, in our St. John's community is the Easter experience. And this is not our merit, but God's grace alone. We can never penetrate the resurrection intellectually. We know even the first witnesses were stunned.
Thinking about it is one thing; encountering the executed and resurrected One is another. How good that the women did not remain silent about what they had experienced at the tomb. They continued to tell it. And so did Paul.
And so do we. We do not live only in Jesus memories. We experience Jesus, the Risen One, in Word and Sacrament.
There is a song that fills me and makes my heart light.
I feel that someone is speaking exactly into my situation and I go home comforted, happy to start the new week with God's blessing.
I feel: I am welcome here. At Jesus' table. With all my faults and with my not oh so perfect past. With my fears and my sometimes small faith. And I go on my way strengthened.
Easter experiences. In worship.
They continue to have an effect. By passing on what we ourselves have received and experienced. We are commissioned to do so.
The encounters with the Risen Lord continue, every day until the end of the world. Amen