April 15, 2001

April 15,2001

Easter day

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church

Pastor Ole Amund Gillebo

Here at Mindekirken we have the nice altar piece of "The Resurrection" made by Axel Enden that shows the women at the tomb. The three are Maria Magdalene, Maria, mother of James and Salome. The angel is asking why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen. Come and see the place where he lay. We see the light from sunrise and a new day coming. Easter conveys the light and the life back to the human being!  This happened on Easter morning around A. D. 30, - the belief in the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of Christianity and the Christian Church.  This morning we wish "Happy Easter" to each other together with the worldwide church.

The bestseller "The Hinge Factor" by Erik Durchmied deals with the many accidentals and stupid things that changed the world history and he mentions many things from the Trojan War 1184 B. C. to the Gulf War in 1991.  What did happen Easter Day is neither an accident nor a stupid event but it has changed the history and the human life more than anything else.

The reading for today is a brilliant story and has many important details.  It tells about John that he went into the tomb "and he saw and believed."  What did he see?  He saw the linen wrappings lying there and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. This was a sign that no one had taken away the body, this was not a robbery the body had just left the clothes.  The tomb and the clothes were empty!  John began to understand. He and the other disciples named it "resurrection".

Today I would like to invite you to come and see!

The authors of The New Testament had a firm belief that Jesus was God’s Son.  They trusted he rose from death and was the Savior of the world.  We can see their faith all over in the NT writings about the life of Jesus on earth. What they are writing in the Gospels and the many letters are facts from Jesus’ life. We do know the time and the spot. To us this happened long time ago and belonged to a distant culture. But the documentation is even better than most of the general history from that time.

To have faith we have to listen to the message of the history of Jesus. It is not only stories about Jesus from other people. It is an encounter with Jesus himself through his words and deeds. He is himself the very focus of the Gospels.

We have to allow his word and deeds to challenge us and to create faith in our hearts. Thus faith is not our effort but a gift. The faith is given when we are listening to the message about Christ and the message from Christ! It is not we by ourselves that carry the faith, but the message conveying what happened. The one we believe in is the one who creates the faith.  This was the case that Easter morning at the tomb. There was no faith. No hope was there either. They did not begin to have faith by themselves. They did not come to the faith, rather the faith came to them!  They saw the tomb, and the Risen one, and what was written!

When Christ is not forgotten and as there is still a Christian Church in this world, this is caused by the living God and the risen Christ!

During his lifetime Jesus presented himself with a certain authority.  He proclaimed God in a different way and he brought himself the Kingdom of God. He presented God’s love to all kind of people.  He was himself light and salt to this world.  He was a challenge and a provocation.  Jesus often broke off from social limits, traditions and conventions.

He did what was only for God to do. To some people he promised "Your sins are forgiven".  Jesus even put himself above the Law of Moses. This Law was the most valuable to the Jews, it was the foundation of their belief and their state.  Jesus also put his own teachings above the Scribes.

At the end all this became too much. He was arrested and sentenced to death as a rebel and because he was doing blasphemy.  The crucifixion was not accidental or a stupid event. It had to be put into reality. Several times Jesus himself predicted his death. Mat 20:18-19  Jesus died in disgrace. The crucifixion was for slaves and criminals.

The purpose was that people finally could understand they did a mistake with regard to this man. Jesus was not the one people believed him to be.  This was a good strategy. It really worked out. The people turned away from Jesus. They wanted him crucified instead of Barrabas. The solders mocked him. The disciples denied him and escaped. They hid in a shelter, they mourned and were very confused, and they spread all over.

After the funeral everything was finished. They had a lot of experiences, but it did not work out. They had to reorganize their lives, in one way or other they had to go ahead. This was not easy after they had left everything behind, they left their work and their families in order to follow that man from Nazareth. The situation was nothing else but painful and terrible. They really expected something more.

Something happened without their understanding and their faith.  Mary Magdalene and the other women came to the tomb early in the morning in order to anoint the body. John and Peter arrived.  They realized the tomb was empty and so were the clothes.  About John it is said he saw and believed.

Later that same day and the following days something more happened. Jesus himself appeared among them. They did not recognize him. He was a stranger to them.

Back at the Sea of Galilee at the shore one early morning Jesus came and was present among them. Than Peter understood and said "My Lord and my God"!

From this experience the disciples brought their message and proclaimed: Very true He is risen! He lives. This was not the final. This is the new beginning!  Paul said "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  God has really turned the defeat to victory!"

Easter is like a new creation act!  The Resurrection is God’s response to the reality of sin and death in our world and in our lives.

The disciples greeted each other and so did the many believers and they said "Christ is Lord! He is risen. Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here. Come and see! Come and listen!  Now He is seated at the right hand of the Father! He will come again to redeem this world and give resurrection and eternal life to all who are waiting for him".

The Christian belief is based on a true history! It is to follow a line from the historical Jesus to the Jesus we confess in church.  Because of Easter we also may say as Job "I know my Redeemer lives!"  Together with the whole Apostolic Church we confess " I believe in Jesus Christ,- I believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body , and the life everlasting!

Dear Mindekirken congregation!
Blessed Easter!

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716