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Father, we pray on this resurrection day that you by your Spirit would make the gospel of the risen Christ. Would you make it clear in our midst? And would you make it true in our hearts? And Father, by that gospel would you bring dead sinners to life. We pray these things, Christ, in your name and for your sake. Amen. Please be seated. You have a death problem. Happy Easter. I assume that's not how you expected the sermon on this Easter morning to begin. Perhaps you're sitting there trying to clear the incense from your lungs, trying to catch your breath after singing. But I hope that that jarring statement has grabbed your attention this morning. Because it's easy on this day to forget death. It is, after all, the day of resurrection. But the truth is, as long as the Lord tarries, we still have to reckon with death. Like Mary and Martha outside Lazarus' tomb two weeks ago. We will one day lay our loved ones in the ground far too soon. And one day, we too will lie down in death. Death is the final enemy. And it will be so until Jesus comes again. And death one day will make good its claim on you and me. At the garden tomb that we just read about in Luke chapter 12, Mary Magdalene, she comes, excuse me, John, and John's gospel, Mary Magdalene comes face to face with the problem of death. In grief, she has arrived on the third day, bearing spices, so that she might anoint once again her Lord's body. And as she arrives at the garden tomb, her despair is only multiplied, only compounded when she, to her horror, sees that the stone has been rolled away. And there's nobody there. Having raced back to fetch Peter and John, the men finally make their first appearance at the tomb. Peering inside, John sees the grave clothes lying there. But Peter, he goes in to investigate. He sees the linen shroud full of those 100 pounds of spices that Joseph of Arimathea had used to prepare Jesus' body for burial, and then that turban, that face cloth wrapped around Jesus' head and face, lying there just a short distance away. No robber had cut Jesus out to snatch his body. The costly fair linen and spices were all still there. Everything in the tomb that day was decent and in order. Of all the graves of men, this grave was just right. It was the best grave. It's really a remarkable scene when you step back and consider. It's as if Jesus' body had simply vanished. Well, John, he finally makes his way inside. And now the language in the Greek it shifts a little bit. And this is not just kind of the cursory glance he had taken as he peeked in the tomb, but now he's investigating and he's seeking to understand what has transpired, and realization dawns on him, and we read, he believes. He believes that the Lord is risen indeed. Well, in all their excitement in John's case and in Peter's case, confusion, in their excitement and confusion, John and Peter they race back into town, leaving Mary in their dust. And in the dust. There's apparently no communication with her, no commiseration, no consideration of her. They're just on their way back home. And Mary is left outside the tomb with her grief, her mournful eastern wail rising up from the depths of her soul. The death problem had come home to Mary Magdalene. And in the face of it, she could do nothing but weep and cry. Mary makes her way into the tomb. And there she sees two angels, one standing at the head, one standing at the foot, and they say to her, Woman, why are you weeping? There's a gentle rebuke in that language. Woman, woman, why are you weeping? Through her tears, she answers, they've taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they've laid him. It's interesting that she says him there, not where they've laid his body. They've taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Whether it's because of an angel's outstretched hand or a rustle in the leaves, or just a sense of a presence, Mary turns and through her tears she sees someone standing there, which John tells us is Jesus. But Mary, she doesn't know who he is. Jesus picks up the angel's line of questioning. Woman, why are you weeping? And then he has another question. Whom are you seeking? And there's this most wonderful line in all of Scripture. Supposing him to be the gardener, Mary replies, If you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him. There in the tomb that day, in the pit of death, in a scene of a, quite frankly, a neat and orderly burial, especially after the horror of the crucifixion. In that tomb where Jesus had been laid, Mary is, she's speaking to the risen Lord. She's in the presence of two angels, but the death problem that Mary shares with you and me, that death problem still rules and reigns in her mind and in her heart. So overcome by her grief that she cannot see the risen Lord for who he is. Death still reigns that day in the garden. You and me and Mary, we have a death problem. But friends, there is good news this morning. Just as there was good news in that garden tomb on that day, you and me and Mary, we have a death problem. But friends, death has a Jesus problem. I don't often tell jokes on a Sunday morning, but it's it's Easter. Lent's over. We can laugh and we can rejoice in church, and we might as well a little bit. Just a few weeks ago, uh, Chuck Norris of Walker, Texas Ranger fame, at least if you grew up in the 80s and 90s, it's walk- I don't know what else he was in, but of Walker, Texas Ranger Fame, he died. And so there was this revival of Chuck Norris jokes. I don't know if you've ever heard a Chuck Norris joke. It's well worth some time this afternoon. I'll give you a few. Chuck Norris counted to infinity twice. That's for my wife. She's a math teacher. When Chuck Norris enters a room, he doesn't turn the lights on, he turns the dark off. Death once had a near Chuck Norris experience. And then there's my favorite, which has come about after Chuck lay down in the arms of his faithful savior just a few weeks ago. Chuck Norris has actually been dead for 20 years. Death was just too afraid to tell him. Death finally came. And for a time at least, laid claim to Walker, Texas Ranger. But that day in the garden tomb and this day in this sanctuary, death still has a Jesus problem. Have you ever considered what it was like when Satan realized that he lost? That all of his well-laid plans since that seventh day of creation in the garden, when all his well-laid plans finally came unraveled and unglued. Yesterday was Holy Saturday, where we think of Christ resting and laying in that tomb that Mary was outside of, wrapped in that very shroud, perfumed by those very spices, grieved by so many disciples, by so many who had been healed, by those who had been delivered from demons like Mary Magdalene, mourned by them, dismissed by the Pharisees and the Sadducees, forgotten by Pontius Pilate and the Romans. As Christ lay there stone-cold dead in his stone-cold tomb, he was in fact kicking down the very gates of Hades. Plundering death and setting free all those Old Testament saints that death for a time had laid claim to, leading them triumphant from Abraham's bosom to the very presence of the Father who is in heaven. Revelation 12 tells us of a war in heaven. Michael, the archangel, fighting against the dragon and all of his angels, and that great dragon we read was thrown down. I wonder if, as the war in heaven was raging, Satan and Michael locked together in the midst of the melee, as their as their blood and sweat poured, if Satan he pressed his advantage with a wicked gleam in his eye and a wicked curl on his lips, as all of his plans were coming together. Because the son's king had been nailed to a cross, raised up on a tree, and cursed by God. It was coming together better than he ever could have imagined. But then Satan hears something. The sound of ancient pilgrims' feet marching their way to heaven. Well, he looks, and there's there's Abraham and Sarah, Aaron and Zaporah and Miriam. Death had claimed them centuries ago. And so as his eye is tracing that teeming throng of Old Testament saints, he finds the head of the retinue, and there he sees John the Baptist. It hadn't even been a year since death had laid him low. And at the front, leading Adam and Eve by their hand, is Jesus Christ himself. The king has returned victorious, leading all those captive to death free. And so just at the moment of his final triumph, as that fiery serpent strikes at Jesus' heel, as he is lifted high on a cross, as Jesus cries out, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit, as he's laid in a tomb with no more breath, no more beating hearts. Satan thinks he has won, and death has the last say. But death could not hold him. And the grave could not keep him from rising again because death has a Jesus problem. And Christ's resurrection, death, has once and for all been put to death. Death no longer has a claim on the people of God, the law's fierce accusation, which Satan is constantly whispering in our ears. That accusation must fall silent in the face of the risen Christ. Death has a Jesus problem, and death realized its Jesus problem in the early hours of that morning when Jesus' heart, his heart, not just of flesh and blood, but his heart for you and me started to beat again. One of the remarkable and underappreciated aspects of the resurrection is not that it just shows that death has a Jesus problem, but in fact it points out that you have a Jesus problem too. Friends, if if Jesus is who he claims to be, the eternal Son of the Father, God from God, light from light, true, God from true, God, begotten not made, as we will confess in just a few moments in the Nicene Creed. If he is the means by which God created all things, as St. John says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God, through him all things were created, and without him was not anything made that was made. If that is true, and if he lay dead in a tomb, and if he rose again three days later, then friends, he cannot simply be a wise counselor for you. So often we treat Jesus like he's our financial advisor or a therapist, someone we go to for advice or life hacks so that life can be a little easier and retirement a little more comfortable. Friends, if all of these things about Jesus are true and he walked out of the grave, who do you think you are asking him to be your life coach? If these things are true and Jesus walked out of the grave, then he demands and deserves your allegiance, your obedience, your very life. Some of you right now are probably squirming in your seats. Because it seems like I'm taking this whole Jesus resurrection thing a little too far. Yes, resurrection is a wonderful, lovely idea. And Jesus was a remarkable teacher and an example, but isn't it just a bit of a stretch to say he got up and walked out of a tomb, and because he did, he deserves everything? Isn't that a bit naive? Friends, if that's you today, you have a Jesus problem. Who is it that John records as the first preacher of the gospel of the resurrection of the Son of God? It's Mary Magdalene. Verse 18, after she had seen the risen Lord, she goes and announces to the disciples, the men who didn't show up, I have seen the Lord. John and Peter, they had seen an empty tomb and tomb and run on ahead, but it's Mary who's the first one to see Jesus and lay hold of the risen Lord of life. And it's Mary who goes and first proclaims that message. Friends, if all of this weren't true, there is no explanation for why John would record Mary Magdalene, at best, a social outcast, in reality, a formerly demon-possessed woman. There's no rational explanation for why John would record her as the first one at the tomb and the first to see the risen Lord. At the beginning of Luke's gospel, Luke chapter 8, there's just this passing reference to Mary Magdalene. Luke is talking about all the women in Jesus' retinue and his entourage. And we read of Mary Magdalene that she had been delivered of seven demons. Now, I don't know if you think seven demons is a lot of demons. I think one demon is probably one too many. But that seven demons is not, I don't think it's it's it's simply a count, it's not it's not arithmetic, right? It's not an abacus kind of thing. Seven is a it's a it's a Semitic saying. How many days of creation? Seven, right? Complete, whole. Mary Magdalene was totally overcome by the demons that possessed her. And if we look at other demon-possessed individuals in scripture, we have we have them running around naked and tearing at their bodies and living in the graveyards amongst the dead. If Jesus didn't actually rise from the dead, why would John use her of all people as the first to bear and to proclaim, I have seen the Lord. And yet, even here, Mary's view of Jesus is still, it's too small by half. She calls him Riboni, right? Teacher. She's looking for Jesus and he's standing in front of her because the Jesus she's looking for, the reason she doesn't see him is because the Jesus that she's looking for isn't the actual Jesus. Mary had a Jesus problem. Maybe you're out here looking for the Jesus that you would form and fashion, but friends, that Jesus is gonna leave you hanging. What you need is the Jesus who actually walked out of the garden tomb that day. I'm thankful to Tim Keller for pointing this out. All throughout the Gospels, Jesus has been saying over and over and over again, I'm gonna die, and then three days later I'm gonna rise. I'm gonna die, three days later I'm going to rise. He's been telegraphing this to the disciples, Mary included. And then Jesus dies, and three days later. Where are they? And Mary, I mean, she comes to the tomb, but what does she come to do? She's come to take care of a dead body. Mary goes to that tomb that day, assuming that Jesus is still stone cold dead. The Jesus that she knew and loved wasn't the true Jesus. He was wonderful, a teacher, a healer, and a deliverer, but he was still far too small into her eyes until she hears him say what woman? Who are you seeking? Mary. Jesus says her name. Calls her by name. And she clings to him. Jesus, he gives her this remarkable response. A response to her far too small view of Jesus. He calls her Mary because my sheep hear my voice and I call them by name. In her grief and disbelief and her too small view of Jesus, Jesus gives her not a general solution to her Jesus problem, but a Mary solution to her Jesus problem. And he raises this precious disciple that he had found stark, raving, mad, and demon-possessed in the streets, and he gently speaks her name. He doesn't just give Mary a Mary specific solution to her Jesus problem. He does the same for Peter as well. They've, John's run on ahead. He's believing. Peter, though, he's always falling behind in foot races, and I'm wondering as he's as he's in John's dust making their way back home, his mind must be racing. Something strange had happened there in that tomb. Just what I did not know. John believed a miracle, but I just turned to go. Circumstance and speculation couldn't lift me very high because I'd seen him crucify them crucify him. And then I saw him die. Back inside the house again, the guilt and anguish came. Everything that I'd promised him just added to my shame. When at last it came to choices, I denied I knew his name, and even if he was alive, it wouldn't be the same. What does Jesus have to say to this Peter filled with a shame wholly different than Mary's, but just as deep? He says to this Peter who had betrayed him, despite all of his boasting, he says to them, go and tell my brothers. Not those disciples who abandoned me in my hour of greatest need, not those scoundrels. Go and tell my brothers, Jesus says, that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God. Jesus' response to Peter and all those disciples who had abandoned and betrayed him is Tell my brothers I am alive. Friends, the resurrection of Jesus deals a fatal blow to the death problem that you and I face, but it also deals a fatal blow to whatever imagined life we had dreamed of apart from the Lord of life himself. The wonder of the gospel is that Jesus has a you solution to your problem of unbelief. And this day, by these words, he is calling you by name. So what will your response be? Will you hear? Will you, like Mary, embrace him and rejoice in all of his mighty acts of deliverance for you? Will he be more than a teacher, more than a counselor, a financial advisor? Will he be, in fact, the risen God ruling and reigning from heaven above? Friends, the greatest news in the world is this: the final enemy to be defeated is death. And death has a Jesus problem. Let's pray. We praise you, Christ, this day that you have defeated death. And that in your gospel, by your word, you are calling us by name to repent and believe, and to rest and trust in you and your goodness and your mercy and all of your plans for our life, which are infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. So send your Spirit upon us now, so that we may believe in the resurrection of the Son of God. We pray these things, Christ, in your name and for your sake. Amen.