Sermon for 4/9/23: Resurrection of Our Lord

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The Lamb’s High Feast
Exodus 12:1-14

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

On Good Friday, our Lord was crucified and laid in a tomb. As it was in the beginning of creation, so it was with our Lord’s Passion. After completing His work of redemption He declared, “It is finished!” and He rested in the tomb on the Sabbath Day. As the Church gathers this day, she rejoices in the happy news that Christ who died has risen from the dead. The liturgy for the Easter Vigil places the death and resurrection of Christ in the context of the Passover: “This is the Passover of the Lord in which, by hearing His Word and celebrating His Sacraments, we share in His victory over death.” These words also recall Paul’s words to the Corinthians: “Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.”

The Passover was closely connected with the exodus of God’s people from Egypt. On the night before the Lord delivered the Israelites from bondage, they were to take an unblemished lamb and slaughter it, smearing the blood from the lamb on their doorposts and lintels. They were commanded to eat the roasted flesh of the Passover lamb with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. That night, as the Israelites hunkered in the safety of their blood-smeared homes, the angel of death slew the firstborn in Egypt. The tenth and final plague came in the form of death. But God be praised, for Israel was spared the blade of divine judgment. They were saved by blood of the lamb! That night, God brought Israel out of Egypt, having smote the firstborn of Pharaoh and all his house. It was the Lord’s Passover; it was also the Lord’s victory.

This was not just to be a one-time thing. The exodus itself was not repeated again, but the remembrance of it was to be kept as a “feast to the Lord” throughout their generations. “You shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.” God wanted them to remember this day forever. He wanted them to remember His great work of redemption, and to celebrate it annually with their families.

But this Passover festival that commemorated their exodus from the hands of Pharaoh served a greater purpose. It was a type and shadow of that greater exodus, when the Lord’s own firstborn Son would suffer the pains of death for sinners. That is why Paul says that “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Christ was the true Passover Lamb, whose blood was shed so that we might be spared eternal death. By His death and resurrection, God has brought His true Israel, the Church, out of the Egypt of sin and death. As our hymn confesses:

Where the paschal blood is poured,
Death’s dread angel sheathes the sword;
Israel’s hosts triumphant go
Through the wave that drowns the foe. Alleluia!

The wave that has drowned the old evil foe in us is none other bloody water that flowed from our Lord’s side, representing Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. By that blessed washing away of sins, the old man in us has been drowned and engulfed. Those who are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection have freed from bondage to sin and Satan.

But the Lord’s Passover would not be complete without a meal. The Israelites were commanded to eat the flesh of the roasted lamb. Likewise, our Lord says to the true Israel: “Take and eat, this is My body which is given for you.” In the salutary gift of the Lord’s Supper, the Church feasts on the body and blood of the Lamb of God, who was sacrificed for us on the altar of the cross. This blood shed for us on Calvary, sprinkled on us in our Baptism, is smeared on the doorposts and lintels of our hearts as we receive it at the Lord’s Table. And since our Lord’s precious blood has touched our hearts and absolved us, all fear and dread must flee. All worry and doubt about our standing with God must cease, for “the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

The exodus of our Lord’s death and resurrection only took place once. Like the exodus of Israel from Egypt, it is not repeated. But it is remembered and recalled every year during Holy Week and Easter. It is remembered and celebrated daily in the Church, every time the Church receives the Lord’s Supper. “Do this in remembrance of Me,” said Christ. This is a perpetual feast to the Lord. This is the Lord’s Passover, when Christ passed over from death to life. The seal of the grave is broken. Today our celebration of Christ’s triumph over death begins, especially as He appears to us in the salutary gift of His body and blood. And we are free, indeed we are invited to celebrate this holy Feast whenever we gather in the name of Jesus. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.