[AI translation] In studying the Gospel of John, we have now, for once, not taken the next section, but have skipped ahead a good few chapters, so that on the first and second days of Easter we can deal directly with the great, joyous and triumphant events of that first Easter. One of the great scenes of this is revealed to us in the verses we read. Today I want to speak about the Easter faith, based on Mary's encounter with the risen Jesus. It is easy to define that Easter faith is, of course, nothing other than faith in the risen Jesus Christ. Therefore, I would like to emphasize first who the risen Jesus Christ is, then what faith in the risen Jesus Christ is, so that we can finally see: what is the use of this for us who believe in this way?1) Mary, arriving for the first time at the tomb of Christ at the dawn of Easter, finds it difficult to understand what has actually happened here? She falls almost from one amazement to another. First she sees only that the tomb is empty, then she sees two angels on the spot where Jesus' body lay. When Jesus himself stops behind him, he thinks it is the gardener, and when he finally recognises the Lord in him, he thinks Jesus has returned from death to life on earth, in a way like Lazarus when he came out of the tomb. Just as the dead brother was restored to his family, so surely Jesus has now been restored to his own. And that is why Mary would want to honour her dear Master again, as before, during her life on earth: she would want to fall at his feet, to embrace him. So she did not realize the situation that the resurrection had created. He thought that Jesus was moving, living, being here again in the same form of life in which he had descended and humbled himself at birth. But it was here that Mary was mistaken. For indeed, Jesus rose from the dead, but not as Lazarus, as the daughter of Jairus, or as the youth of Nain. They were all "resurrected" into this earthly life, as it were, coming back from death into this life beyond death - but Jesus was resurrected into eternal life, into life beyond death by his resurrection! Easter is not a return to transient life, but a big, bold, decisive, guiding advance into eternal life. At Easter, Jesus did not return to the prison of the perishable world, but was breaking out of prison into the freedom of eternal life. Between Mary and the risen Jesus, then, there is the mysterious line that separates the world from the afterlife, time from eternity, God from man. That is why the Lord says to Mary, "Touch me not: for I am not yet ascended to my Father." (John 20:17a)
So the whole situation in which Jesus had been with His own has changed. He has not yet ascended to His Father in heaven, but His existence is no longer of this world, but of the other world and of heaven. If he had only risen like Lazarus, as Mary might have believed at the first moment, it might have been a very welcome, precious and blessed thing for a little company, but sooner or later he would have had to die again like Lazarus. But blessed be the holy name of God for him: Jesus did not rise again in this way, but by conquering death forever, by never dying again, by passing through death, by passing through it, by entering the world of life that is beyond death: that is, by rising again! Such is the Lord we have! Such a mighty, such an all-powerful, such a triumphant One is our Saviour!
For this reason the word of God, every word, is certain, because it was spoken by Jesus, Who, having died, rose from the dead! For the forgiveness of sins is certain, because the same Jesus died for you, who rose from the dead. Whatever you know about Jesus, always see it in the light of the resurrection! Then you will see Him clearly, in His true glory and power. Easter faith is faith in the risen Christ. I know that Jesus has done enough for me because He rose from the dead. I am certain that God accepted Jesus' sacrifice for me because He rose from the dead. Eternal life is certain for me because Jesus, who paid the price for me with His death, rose from the dead!
Do you really believe in the Jesus who rose from the dead? Because only that Jesus is the real Jesus, the Saviour Jesus. You cannot believe in Jesus by believing everything up to Good Friday, but no more! Then your whole faith is worthless! Then your faith is not Christian faith! Christian faith is at its core a carnal faith! Faith in the risen Jesus Christ who has conquered death.
2) But faith! Faith in the risen Christ! So the mystery of Easter must not be seen or understood, but believed! Mary also had to believe. She too was convinced by faith that the risen Christ was standing before her. She saw him in vain - for she saw him, she looked at him - but she did not recognize him, because she thought he was a gardener. The resurrected Christ is not recognised by the natural sight of our eyes, it requires the decision of faith. In the same way, the disciples at Emmaus had to be convinced by faith of the authenticity of the risen Christ. They walked with Him for a long journey without recognizing the risen Christ in their companion. Why? Did not the risen Jesus resemble the Jesus of three days before? Was it not the same Jesus? Yes, it was the same Jesus, only this time not within the confines of earthly life, but beyond, in that sphere where the means of knowledge is not the eye, or the hand, or the mouth, but faith! It could almost be said that Mary's faith was the obstacle to her believing. Yet so many extraordinary signs would have helped her faith. The open tomb, the empty tomb, the two angels found in it, the appearance of the risen Jesus himself. And all this was not enough - no material evidence would be enough today. He knew with his mind that Jesus was dead, and therefore was unable to recognize Him as risen. Mary knew Jesus was dead! And that is why she refused to realize that the reality was quite different from what her intellect was so convinced of. Many people are unable to come to a happy, liberating Easter faith because they have an idea, a preconception, a theory, stuck in their minds that can be proven. Something that is very real, tangible, explainable, and with that knowledge he knows - or thinks he knows - what the truth is.
Does not such an obsession, intellectual obstacle, logical inhibition, stand in the way of your Easter faith? Well, give it up, for it is by no means certain that what can be calculated and proved to be true is true! Well, here again, against all logical arguments, Easter is true! And it is a fact whose reality can only be ascertained by faith, as it was then as it is today! I do not understand it either, but I believe it! So it's all right if you don't understand it, but believe it!
Let us see, when did Mary's eyes of faith open to see the Risen One? When the Lord called her by name! When he said, "Mary!" And so it is today, for everyone. Everyone recognizes the risen Lord when they call on him. When he almost calls him by name. So many times I have heard people say after a service: the sermon was addressed to me today, as if the pastor had spoken directly to me! Well, try to believe that it was not the preacher who spoke to you, but the Lord himself, the risen, living Christ. So personally to you that you should take it as if he were addressing you by name: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine" (Is 43:1b), says the Lord in the Old Testament. It is so moving to hear your name, your name, spoken on the lips of the risen Christ! When you are forced to acknowledge that it is now about you! Have you never felt that before? If you have felt that the Word has spoken to you, believe that He has spoken in it, He has spoken to you! I always meet again with the living Christ when I believe that through His Word - which I read in my solitary silence or hear in the preaching of the Word - He Himself speaks to me personally. This is how the risen Christ becomes for you a reality lived by faith and confirmed by faith.
3) But why is it important that it should be so? In other words, what is the point of this Easter faith? Look at Mary without Easter faith: how confused, how worried, how sad! Yet it cannot be said that she was faithless. She believed, but not in the risen Christ. He who does not have a living Christ is just as full of worry, anxiety and hesitation as Mary was there around Jesus' tomb. Her first concern was, who would roll the stone from the mouth of the tomb for her? The stone is rolled away. But here comes another problem: the enemy, the evil one, has done this too! What he could see a sign from God, he is torn about; what he could rejoice in, only increases his anxiety. Even when he is face to face with the Risen One, he is still bitter about his old problem, a problem of his own invention, a problem of his own making. "Lord, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away" (Jn 20,15b) How much tender love for Jesus, yet how much worry, how much sadness! Such is the non-Easter faith. Mary is right when she weeps there in the cemetery! For it is indeed a sad life without the risen Christ! No wonder, indeed, that a soul without a living Christ can only lament. For life on earth is full of terrors, riddles and meaningless events, in which one can become quite confused without Easter faith. Life beyond death is also a confusion without the certainty of life beyond death. The lack of faith in eternal life causes catastrophic damage even in earthly life. Out of balance, everything is upset. Whoever has lost faith in the afterlife will slowly lose all faith in the life on earth! It is well known that turning away from the eternal always implies a wrong attitude towards the ephemeral, the temporal. He who is not yet spiritually at home in that other world will not find his place in this world either!
With so much love, Jesus says to the desperate Mary: "Woman, why are you weeping?" She has no reason to weep when she finally knows that Jesus is alive! He is behind her, she has only to turn away from the tomb, she has only to look up to Him. Is it not the same with you?! The Risen Christ is standing beside you, behind you! You only have to turn away from your problems! Just don't look down, into the darkness, into the uncertainty, into the insolubility, but look up to Him, the Risen One! Then it will suddenly become clear to you that there is no reason to weep, to grieve, to despair, to digest and torment yourself: for Jesus is risen, Jesus is alive! When in doubt, say to yourself, "I know that my Saviour lives! If Satan tempts you and whispers in your ear: it is not true, say: I know that my Saviour lives! If you are tormented by any earthly things, say boldly, I know my Saviour liveth! If thou standest in a graveyard over a dear pile of graves, say, I know my Saviour liveth! When the night falls upon you, when the great darkness comes, the darkness of death, say again with confidence, with courage, with joy, with Easter faith: 'I know my Saviour lives!
Let us all say it together:
I know my Saviour lives, His bosom is ready for me;
He beckons to me, and promises me a crown after the earthly war.
Though the world mocks and laughs, My homesickness fills my soul,
For soon the Lord will call, Come home, come home, my child.
The Lord is waiting with outstretched arms: Come, rest, rest in my bosom!
Canto 421 verse 1
Amen
Date: 25 March 1951 Easter.
Lesson
Jn 20,1-10