TITLE: “My God and Your God”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text for this morning is from the Gospel lesson just read from John chapter 20, with focus on the words of Jesus: My God and Your God.

You shall have no other gods.  What does this mean?  We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.

That’s what we lost.  We lost our God.  Because of sin, we lost our identity as God’s children.  Like spiritual orphans, without God we are lost and hopeless.  There is nothing to look forward to, there is nothing to long for in this life that finally matters.  We may seek to find pleasure in the things of this world, or we may try to find God in all sorts of places and in our so-called religion.  But He is not to be found there.  Without Jesus we have no access to God.  Without Jesus we have no way of getting to heaven.  Without Jesus we are truly and utterly lost.

This is the pain and loss that cut into the heart of Mary Magdalene.  She went to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark.  She went to grieve the loss of her Lord.  She went to cry over the death of the Son of God.  What could be more hopeless a sight than that?  As Saint Paul wrote in our epistle, If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.  She knew Jesus to be the great prophet from God.  But she did not yet understand the power of His resurrection.

Peter and John didn’t get it either.  They ran to the tomb to see for themselves, but even after they saw that He was gone they didn’t get it.  One of the disciples, John, started to understand what had happened.  He had just a glimpse of the resurrection.  But Mary is still there, alone with her sin.  And so are we.

While Mary is standing there weeping at the death of God, two angels appear to her and ask her why she weeps.  She says that they have stolen her Lord, and she didn’t know where they took Him.  While she was standing there, Jesus appeared next to her.  Jesus asked her the same question: Woman, why are you weeping?  Whom are you seeking?  But she thought He was the gardener and begged to take the dead body of Jesus.

Jesus then said her name.  Mary.  At the sound of her name, at the voice of her Lord, then everything fell into place.  She did know Him by seeing Him.  She knew Him by hearing Him call her name.   Mary.  The words of Jesus come to mind: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them.  And they follow me.  And I give unto them eternal life.  And they shall never be plucked out of my hand.  Mary heard the voice of her Savior, and in that voice, in hearing her dead God come back to life, in that voice is life.  Eternal life.  God called out to her and gave her everything.

This is the God that calls out your name.  He called out your name when you were baptized.  But more than that, He put His own name on you.  You belong to God.  This is why Jesus can say to Mary and to you that He is ascending to my God and your God.  Because of Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection, you are reunited with God.  You are alone no longer, but are now a part of the family of God.

Isaiah calls this great work of God a feast of the finest food and wine.  Isaiah says that He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever. When Jesus died and went into the tomb, it looked as though death had won.  It looked to the world as if Satan had defeated Jesus in the great battle of all eternity.  But it was not so.  Satan’s work of lies, the covering and veil over all the nations was ripped apart, and the light of God’s resurrection shines forth this morning like a sunrise after a long night of darkness.

The veil is gone!  We are no longer clouded and covered by the darkness of sin.  Jesus in His resurrection has uncovered God’s true nature.  Jesus has shown the world that God is love, and that His love knows no bounds.  Jesus by His death and resurrections shows one and all that He is your God.  The Lord has spoken.  And when God says that your sins are flung into the depth of the sea, they are gone.  The shackles of sin no longer bind you.  You are no longer separated from God, for Jesus has crossed the bridge from death to life.

This is what it means to be a Christian.  When we are faced with death, with loneliness, with loss and pain, with a grief that seems like it has no end, there is a hope from God that will not be shaken.  As Saint Paul said in our epistle, But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.   

You are in Christ.  Our resurrected Lord calls you by name.  He calls you His own.  He forgives your sins.  He washes you in his Holy Baptism.  He feeds you with His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.  He gathers you to Himself and gives you a throne and a kingdom that has no end.  He is your God. 

So sound the trumpets!  Let the song of God’s salvation ring forth throughout all the land.  For our Lord was dead and is alive again!  You were dead and are alive again by the power of His resurrection.  Rejoice and be glad!  Behold!  This is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.  This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.! (Isaiah 25:9)

Alleluia!  In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Copyright © 2001 by Todd A. Peperkorn.