1 00:00:00,566 --> 00:00:04,833 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:16,833 I am confident that there is not a person here present today who has ever seen a dead person who has come back from the dead and is walking around and talking. 3 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:30,000 For most cultures there are maybe three possibilities for that phenomenon. If a person has come back from the dead that person is a ghost, a zombie, or Jesus. 4 00:00:32,233 --> 00:00:36,333 Ghosts and zombies are terrifying and Jesus is glorious. 5 00:00:38,466 --> 00:00:48,366 But many of us, maybe all of us, have trouble believing that Jesus really came back from the dead and that he will really bring others back from the dead. 6 00:00:49,533 --> 00:01:01,100 Death is just so strong. We have loved ones who die and stay dead and there is nothing we can do about it. 7 00:01:02,366 --> 00:01:11,733 When I was 22 years old, one of my best friends who was also 22 years old died unexpectedly and it knocked the wind right out of me. 8 00:01:12,966 --> 00:01:23,633 I was here. I was a first year seminary student and I wept and I asked God why and I prayed and I was confused. 9 00:01:25,566 --> 00:01:30,366 Eventually I had a dream that he had come back from the dead. 10 00:01:32,766 --> 00:01:40,600 At the time I was working as a receptionist. There used to be a receptionist room under the president's room. 11 00:01:42,166 --> 00:01:50,666 I would go in that office and wait for the phone to ring and it was my job to say, hello Concordia Seminary, how may I help you? 12 00:01:51,566 --> 00:01:58,400 I took the 1 am to 5 am shift because it was a great time to get homework done. 13 00:02:00,033 --> 00:02:07,566 As it turned out, it was also a great setting for a dream about someone coming back from the dead. 14 00:02:08,133 --> 00:02:14,600 Now I want to be clear. I was in my bed sleeping when I had the dream. I was not at work sleeping when I had the dream. 15 00:02:16,633 --> 00:02:25,700 But in my dream, I was at work, my night shift, studying, doing homework and my friend came around the corner. 16 00:02:26,533 --> 00:02:32,300 It was as if he had come from the office that is now Professor Fritsche's office and he greeted me. 17 00:02:32,666 --> 00:02:38,366 In my dream, I knew that he was dead and I knew that he had come back from the dead and I was not afraid. 18 00:02:38,366 --> 00:02:45,866 In fact, I was overjoyed. We chatted. We enjoyed each other's company. 19 00:02:48,233 --> 00:02:57,900 Since that time, I have often thought back to that dream, especially when I have lost loved ones, including my own father and my own mother. 20 00:02:58,566 --> 00:03:07,366 And I've thought how overjoyed I would be to have my loved one come back from the dead so we could just spend a little time together again. 21 00:03:09,333 --> 00:03:19,333 Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you be overjoyed if a loved one in the Lord came back from the dead and you could enjoy each other's company again? 22 00:03:22,166 --> 00:03:32,666 But like I said, it was just a dream. Maybe the disciples thought that they were dreaming. Maybe they thought they were having a vision. 23 00:03:32,666 --> 00:03:41,066 Maybe they thought they were seeing a spirit. If so, they were wrong on all counts. They saw the real resurrected body of Jesus Christ. 24 00:03:43,766 --> 00:03:50,766 Jesus appeared to them and said, peace to you because Jesus gives peace and they needed it. Even after he said it, they were still frightened. 25 00:03:50,766 --> 00:04:04,333 And He asked them why doubts arose in their hearts. Maybe it was because death just seems so strong. 26 00:04:05,433 --> 00:04:14,300 Even though this happened a long time after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, even though it happened after Jesus himself had appeared from the dead, 27 00:04:14,300 --> 00:04:26,133 they had lost so many loved ones who stayed dead that their minds wanted to come up with some other explanation for seeing Jesus. 28 00:04:28,266 --> 00:04:38,633 Jesus knew their thoughts, of course, and He was patient as always, so He worked with them. He showed them His hands and His feet. 29 00:04:40,666 --> 00:04:59,433 He reminded them that He was flesh and bones. He gave them every reason to believe that He was really Jesus, really come back from the dead. 30 00:05:00,433 --> 00:05:13,266 He made some progress. Before long, they were disbelieving for joy. Let me just say, if you're going to disbelieve, disbelieve for joy. 31 00:05:13,900 --> 00:05:20,266 Disbelieve because it seems too good to be true, but it is true. 32 00:05:22,833 --> 00:05:31,966 As the disciples were collecting their jaws from the ground and trying to get themselves figured out, Jesus asked for something to eat. 33 00:05:33,366 --> 00:05:44,733 It was as if He looked around and said, so is there anything to eat around here? Something wonderfully mundane to help them to relax a little bit and also to prove a very important point. 34 00:05:46,166 --> 00:05:52,833 Jesus chewed on the fish because He had a mouth. He swallowed the fish because He had a throat. 35 00:05:53,366 --> 00:05:59,233 And that fish went down into His belly because He had a belly because He had a full resurrected body. 36 00:06:00,633 --> 00:06:12,533 He was showing the disciples that He was not nearly headless neck or some ghost from Harry Potter or some character from Pirates of the Caribbean where they might appear to eat, but the food just falls on the ground. 37 00:06:12,533 --> 00:06:18,033 No, this was the real resurrected Jesus. 38 00:06:21,833 --> 00:06:35,366 And perhaps it was around this time, this moment that the disciples began to realize that Jesus had ripped open the barrier between the living and the dead. 39 00:06:35,366 --> 00:06:43,100 That He had invaded death, that He had raided death, that He had overcome death. 40 00:06:44,166 --> 00:06:52,833 It had seemed that death had come for Jesus, but in reality Jesus had come for death. It didn't overcome him, He overcame it. 41 00:06:55,466 --> 00:07:04,766 It was something like his healing ministry. When Jesus touched an unclean person, He didn't become unclean, the person became clean. 42 00:07:05,733 --> 00:07:21,733 And when death touched Jesus, when Jesus died, He didn't stay dead, He came back from the dead and overcame death and made it impossible for death to hold His children. 43 00:07:23,366 --> 00:07:43,333 He disarmed death, and death can still come for us, the devil still strives to hurt and kill the children of God, but we won't stay dead because Jesus will bring us back from the dead. 44 00:07:44,933 --> 00:07:55,633 Jesus showed them the holes in His hands, feet, and side. They could see that He had wounds that would kill anyone that had killed Him. 45 00:07:57,533 --> 00:08:04,566 But there He was, alive, in front of them, because He had come back from the dead. 46 00:08:05,966 --> 00:08:16,366 One of the many strong proofs for the resurrection of Jesus is the fact that the disciples continued to confess the bodily resurrection of Jesus to the end of their lives. 47 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:22,400 They did it even though they were tortured and killed, and could perhaps have saved themselves by saying that it was a hoax. 48 00:08:23,433 --> 00:08:42,966 But they had witnessed a truth so true that they would not deny it. They would rather die than deny it. And they did die, knowing that death would not hold them, that Jesus would bring them back from the dead. 49 00:08:45,633 --> 00:08:53,733 Then Jesus opened the minds of the disciples, and He showed them how the whole Old Testament is about Him. 50 00:08:54,233 --> 00:08:56,433 And He said these wonderful words, "Thus it is written that he Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. 51 00:09:15,966 --> 00:09:24,200 He gave us the gospel in a nutshell. And I urge you to hold on tight to these truths. 52 00:09:25,700 --> 00:09:40,366 Know that Jesus came back from the dead, and that He will bring you back from the dead. Live a life of repentance, knowing that Jesus lived a perfect life in your place, died a sinner's death in your place, 53 00:09:40,366 --> 00:09:45,733 and that He forgives you and saves you by grace through faith in Him. 54 00:09:48,966 --> 00:09:59,633 The devil is a jerk, and he will try to distract you, even by good things, and certainly by emergencies and what have you. 55 00:09:59,633 --> 00:10:13,100 Keep coming back to the gospel. Keep coming back to these wonderful words. Live by these wonderful words of Jesus, and know that He has given you eternal life. 56 00:10:15,466 --> 00:10:23,233 The idea of being with your loved ones who have died in the faith seems too good to be true. 57 00:10:24,533 --> 00:10:28,933 The idea that they would come back from the dead, it seems too good to be true, but it is true. 58 00:10:30,066 --> 00:10:36,566 The thought that you would come back from the dead, it seems too good to be true, but it is true. 59 00:10:39,300 --> 00:10:56,333 Jesus has overcome death and saved you. And you will spend all eternity, your believing loved ones will spend all eternity with Jesus in paradise. 60 00:10:58,366 --> 00:11:10,966 In just a moment, our Lord will invite us forward to touch and see and taste His very body and blood and to receive His forgiveness and salvation. 61 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,566 It seems too good to be true, but it is true. 62 00:11:17,366 --> 00:11:28,366 Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem. 63 00:11:28,933 --> 00:11:34,933 You are witnesses of these things. Hallelujah. Christ is risen. 64 00:11:39,266 --> 00:11:44,633 And now may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.