[AI translation] Dear brothers and sisters, "with fear and great joy", we read just now, and I feel that these two words can best sum up the effect that the news of Jesus' resurrection on Easter morning had on the disciples and women, and on everyone. As you know, the true Easter experience is always a terrifying and joyful experience. It always arouses awe and joy in those who really hear it in their hearts, who really take note of it. And what I want to talk about on this Easter morning is why the news that Jesus has risen from the dead is both awesome and joyful.Brothers and sisters, I feel that we should perhaps start a little further back to understand why this news is so frightening. Because we have heard many times why it is joyful, but why is it frightening? The human spirit, in all times and at all levels of culture, has been constantly preoccupied with the problem of death. The question is, what is death? And even more so, what lies beyond death? Because there is something beyond it, one instinctively suspected. Yes, he always intuitively suspected that death itself is not the end, but death is a phenomenon that separates us from something, that hides something from our gaze, that behind it there is perhaps a whole mysterious world. And no matter how hard man has always tried, he has never been able to see through this thick, dark curtain of death. Try as he might, he could not penetrate it, could not pierce it. And death is indeed like a thick, dark curtain, hiding from the human gaze perhaps a whole world, a whole world of terrifying secrets.
But somehow one also experienced over and over again that, even if one cannot see through from here to there, from there, from the reality of life beyond death, some small ray of light sometimes shines through here. A faint glimmer of light seems to break through this thick, dark curtain, as if to give a sign from that other, mysterious world. Of course, every such revelation is a moving experience for man. Every revelation that comes from beyond is a moving experience for the man on the other side. And, brothers and sisters, there are undoubtedly phenomena that can be observed on the very threshold of death. So, at the point where these two worlds, the visible and the invisible worlds, meet, come into contact with each other. There are phenomena that can be observed here. For example, it is the experience of many people that when a dying person reaches this threshold, this threshold - that is, at the moment of death - he behaves as if he already sees something different and more than those who surround his sickbed. It is as if he sees a little light shining through this curtain from the other world that is still hidden from the living by death. I once heard a quite poignant case in this regard from a rural colleague of mine who is a pastor in a small village on the Danube. He said that during the siege there was no fighting in his village. Only the village was shot over from a great distance, from one side and from the other. The village itself - Kisoroszi - was on an island. It was a dark, grey, November afternoon and the family went down to the cellar for safety, but in the early afternoon they came up, saying they wanted to have lunch anyway, and when they came up from the cellar, my colleague's wife went to the window, looked out and suddenly cried out: "Look, what a wonderful bright white light outside! The others looked - and saw nothing. They went to the window, looked out, and even told the woman that it was a grey November fog, and that there was nothing, no brightness outside. But the woman said, "Yes, everything is full of brightness. My colleague then gently drew his wife away from the window, and no sooner had they turned round than a shell struck somewhere not far from the house, one of the fragments of which, breaking through the window, hit the woman in the heart from behind, so that she collapsed without a word and died instantly. What happened here? Did this woman have a vision? No, my brothers. She herself did not know that only a few moments before she had been standing on the border where the visible and invisible worlds meet, and that she had seen something of the light of that other world, which is hidden from the living by death, shining through.
Brothers and sisters, I know very well that such and similar phenomena must be handled with great care, because superstitious imagination can turn them into fantasy. But there is no doubt that in the case of the dying it is possible to observe that the mysterious light of that other world, that world beyond death, somehow breaks through this thick, dark curtain and becomes somewhat perceptible here on earth. And all such revelations are frightening, terrifying and shocking for man. Why? Simply because one senses, almost with one's earthly senses, something of the reality of the world of God. It is akin to the holy trembling Moses must have felt beside the burning bush in which the glory of God appeared to him. Or that which the prophet Isaiah must have felt when he stood before the throne of God in vision and cried out in wailing, "Woe is me, I am lost, for my eyes have seen the Lord of hosts". It is something like this in Moses and in Isaiah, that something quite extraordinary and poignant is perceived in the breaking through of the curtain of that other world, the world of God.
But, brothers and sisters, all these and similar phenomena are only very, very faint glimpses of what happened at Easter. It is recorded that the women, when they went to the tomb of Jesus to embalm the body, found the tomb open and empty. The open and empty tomb is in itself like a gap in that thick, dark curtain of death through which the human soul looks with horror into the world of secrets. And then Jesus himself, in his resurrected living reality, suddenly appears before the disciples and the women. And this personal appearance of Jesus, the risen one, is as if the whole world beyond death were projected before men, almost condensed, and made visible and audible in one living, moving person. The tomb is empty. Jesus is risen. Human eyes were amazed. Well, brothers and sisters, this is the real, this universal and definitive, true message, this sign, this ray of light from that other world, from the world of God, which is no longer a faint glimmer, which shines through that curtain, but a blinding light, like the rising sun. I could not imagine meeting the risen Jesus in any other way than in such holy trembling and awe, for the great eternal mystery that has always, again and again, kept the human soul in the greatest suspense, a piece of the world beyond death, even its Lord, is standing before them, in its living reality, and speaking to them. As if to say: Look, I have opened the curtain! Do you want to know what lies beyond death? There is resurrection, there is eternal life, I am: there is God.
Do you see, brothers and sisters, why the news that Jesus has risen from the dead is so terrifying? It is because the light of the world beyond death, the world of God, shines in him, and his dazzling rays make the soul tremble. And whoever has never experienced this holy fear, this holy terror, has never really stood in the presence of the living Jesus. Because, brothers and sisters, the true experience of God is always moving. Mystery tremendum - holy terror - the trembling of the mystery in the soul that here is God and I am standing in the presence of God.
This was rightly and aptly expressed by the ancients when they called faith in God the fear of God. I think it would be good if we were to experience more of this fear of God. I can very much understand these women who are mentioned here in the Bible, that with fear, but at the same time with great joy, they "ran from the tomb to tell His disciples". Because, brothers and sisters, the wonderful thing about the Easter Gospel is that, however fearful it is, it is also joyful. It is terribly good news that Jesus has risen from the dead. And it's not just the fact that Jesus is now being brought back from the dead by those who loved him that is joyful. So it is not just the joy of an unhoped for encounter, an unhoped for reunion, but much, much more than that. Perhaps it is the triumphant joy that Jesus is alive, that although he is dead, he is alive. Indeed, that he is alive and here, triumphant over death. Faith in Jesus is not just a pious recollection of someone who lived long ago, but a personal encounter and a real encounter with someone who lives here and now. Jesus appeared to his disciples here and there after his resurrection, on the road, on the hilltop, in a house, at the dinner table, to illustrate that he is so truly alive, so truly here, and so truly with those who believe in him and who are waiting for him. And let me testify, brothers and sisters, very humbly but with very joyful gratitude, that the only real reality of my life is that Jesus is alive. And that, even if hidden from our earthly eyes, in His living reality He is with us now, on the road, in our homes, in our offices, on excursions, wherever we are, just as He was with the disciples in those days, and so close to us that He reaches us with His word. The only certain reality we can count on in this uncertain world is that Jesus is alive! And, brothers and sisters, His nearness and His being with us is a reality even when I cannot see it, feel it, experience it, because of sadness or brooding or worry or whatever else. For it is not my seeing, feeling or experiencing that makes His presence real, real, but His resurrection. For His resurrection means that He now belongs to the invisible world which surrounds, carries and permeates this visible world. Jesus belongs to that eternity which is the background of this temporal existence. He is therefore always, equally close to all of us, from a dimension of existence that is intangible to our earthly senses.
You just have to dare to believe that while you are here, bothered with your own worries, troubles, problems, your own weaknesses, perhaps even sins and temptations, Someone is seeing all, looking after you, even caring for you. He cares for you so much that He is in control. Even what discourages you, even what depresses you, but also what brings joy or success in your life. Fear not, brothers and sisters! The One who paid for our sins with His own life will never leave us. Those whom He has bought with His own blood, He will not abandon. Those for whom he has descended into hell, he will not forget for a moment. And with what little faith you have, dare you say: Even if I do not see, feel or experience it, or even if I see, feel or experience the opposite, I know that Jesus is alive and that from that threshold where the visible and invisible worlds meet, he sees my life, controls my destiny and loves me!
Do not think, brothers and sisters, that all this is just speculation! You can be convinced of that. And do you know how to be convinced? Well, not by contemplation far removed from this world, nor by the deep delusion of mystics, nor by searching for a rational explanation of mysteries, but in one way: by concrete obedience to His word! We all know, don't we, what Jesus said about love, forgiveness, patience, selfless service, helping others, in other words, about following Him. We all know very well what the true Christian life should be. Well, brethren, this is all very fine teaching and good advice without Jesus, if it is not Jesus saying it, if I am abstracting from the Lord Jesus Himself. Or even if I attribute it to Jesus, but to the Jesus who said it 2000 years ago, then it is all just good advice and good teaching. And there is no lack of good advice and good teaching on this earth, there is plenty of it, but it does not help us. But once you try to realize by faith that Jesus himself, the living Jesus, is telling you to love the one who has hurt you and forgive him; or not to worry about tomorrow, no matter how hopeless it may seem; or to go with the man who is making you go one mile, two: that is, if He addresses you today by His word of two thousand years ago, and He who so addresses you is right there beside you - for He is there in His living personal reality - then at His word you will just as well succeed in making that Christlike move, or that Christ-word, or that Christ-impulse, just as you succeeded - also at His word - in lifting up the hand of the paralytic, or as you succeeded in bringing the dead Lazarus out of the tomb at the word of Jesus. Because, brother, if Jesus is alive and Jesus is here, and lives with me, and is by my side, then it is possible to overcome every temptation and every sin, then it is possible to be comforted in every sorrow, then there is always more where one thinks there is no more! And, you know, in the concrete obedience to the word of Jesus, something of the light of His risen and living reality always shines through, so that one is assured with astonished adoration that Jesus is really here, really alive, because He lives and that is the wonderful great Easter joy!
This is the awesome good news that Jesus has risen from the dead. And the joyful certainty that the same Jesus is Lord and reigns and lives and reigns over there, beyond the curtain, who suffered on the cross for us here, behind the curtain. That the same Jesus who loved me here, whom I have known here, who chose me for Himself here, is waiting for us beyond the veil. And then we need not fear death, eternity, judgment, God, for Jesus is there too, and the wounds that were inflicted on him when he paid our debt are still visible on his glorious risen body. Can we not rejoice in this? And can we, brothers and sisters, in the knowledge of such great good news, such a gospel, do anything but rejoice?! Joy is the most profound mood of a believer in the risen Christ. The awesome joy of the assurance of eternal life. Once, someone who was very, very bitter, and whom I was trying to comfort as a pastor, found himself telling me in the course of a conversation that it was easy for you because you had great faith. And then I told him that it was indeed easy for me, but not because I had great faith, but because I had a great Saviour!
Dear brother, no matter how little faith you have, but if you cling with that little faith to this great Saviour, this living Saviour, then it is easy for you too, then everything will be easier, much easier.
Those women there "ran with fear and great joy to tell the news to His disciples". They told them. And the disciples passed it on to others, and they passed it on to others, and they passed it on to others, and that's how the news came to us. Now, here too, is the glorious, the terribly joyful news that Jesus has risen from the dead! So let us continue to tell, to proclaim the great, happy Easter gospel:
Christ is risen,
whom death has taken away,
Let us rejoice, let us be glad,
Christ is our consolation,
Hallelujah!
If he does not rise again,
No more forgiveness of sins,
But lives, therefore holy is his name,
Let us sing his praise,
Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Let us rejoice, let us be glad,
Christ is our comfort,
Alleluia!
(Canto 185)
Date: 26 March 1967.