Sermon for April 5, 2026, The Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Day

Matthew 28:1-10 (The Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Day—Series A)

“Nothing to See Here!”

Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield, CT

April 5, 2026

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is the Easter Gospel recorded in Matthew 28:

¹Now after the Sabbath, at the dawning of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. ²And behold, a great earthquake happened, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and he approached and rolled away the stone and began to sit on it. (³Now his appearance was like lightening and his clothing was white, like snow, ⁴and because of fear of him, those who were guarding the tomb were shaken, and they became like dead men.) ⁵And the angel answered and said to the women, “You—stop being afraid, for I know that you are seeking Jesus, who was and is crucified. ⁶He is not here, for He was raised, just as He said. Come, see the play where He used to lie. ⁷And quickly go and say to His disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and behold, He will go ahead of you into Galilee; there you will see Him.’ Behold, I have said this to you.” ⁸And when they had departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, they ran to announce this to His disciples. ⁹And behold, Jesus met them saying, “Greetings!” And after approaching, they grabbed His feet and worshiped Him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, “Stop being afraid. Go and announce to My brothers that they should depart into Galilee, and there they will see Me.”

          “Joseph [of Arimathea] took the body [of Jesus] and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away” (Matt. 27:59-60 ESV). In that tomb the body of Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified rested in death. The chief priests and Pharisees feared a grave robbery by His disciples and then the spreading of lies by His followers that Jesus had risen from the dead. So, they asked Governor Pilate to secure to tomb. “Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.’ So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard” (Matthew 27:65-66).

          The stone was sealed. Guards were put in place. Jesus is dead. No disciples are around. The authority of Rome and the plans of the prominent leaders of Israel remain in place. There is nothing to see here. And yet, at the dawning of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalne and the other Mary came precisely “to see” the tomb. They came “to see” the grave with body of Jesus lying inside. Their concern in the early morning twilight was, as Mark shares in his Gospel, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” Part of going “to see” the grave of Jesus was to anoint His body with the spices that they had prepared.

          But look! Feel the shaking of the earth! An angel of the Lord coming down from heaven and causing a seismic vibration of the ground! His appearance is like lightning, too bright to stare at, his clothing white like snow. Such gleaming brilliance! One must squint to glimpse such a sight! The guards are shaken by the earthquake and are shaking because they are afraid, and who can blame them? And they became like dead men, like the very corpse they thought they were guarding.

          The angel, displaying the glory of God Himself, approached the sealed stone and rolled it away from the tomb’s entrance. Then, perhaps in an expression of triumph, the angel began to sit on the stone, as if to say, “There’s nothing to see here.”

          Nothing to see? The women had gone “to see” the grave. The Marys had gone “to see” the body of Jesus. The angel’s task was to enable these women “to see” that the death was undone. “Come, see the place where He used to lie.” The tomb was already empty, and the angel of the Lord had the most joyful task of letting the women “see” just that!

          Contrary to much beautiful Christian art, images, movies, and television programs, the angel of the Lord did NOT roll away the stone so that Jesus could walk out of the tomb. All the Gospel writers agree that Jesus had been raised from the dead and had already left the tomb before the angel revealed that, “There is nothing to see here,” by rolling the stone away. “The angel answered and said to the women, ‘You—stop being afraid, for I know that you are seeking Jesus, who was and is crucified. He is not here, for He was raised, just as He said. Come, see the place where He used to lie.” The proof is that the place where His body lay is now vacant. There is no body of Jesus to weep over and to care for in love by anointing with spices. In the rock hewn tomb where the dead Jesus once lay, there is now nothing to see.

          Wondrously, because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, God the Father gives a verdict regarding our sins and sinfulness that says there is nothing to see. Psalm 130, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared” (Psa. 130:3-4 ESV). God could keep tally marks of all the wrongs we have done, thought, desired, and spoken. He could keep a running list of all the good things we have failed to do. But He has chosen not to because there is nothing left of our sins to see or record.

          How can this be? The great Reformer Martin Luther has even written in the Small Catechism the Biblical truth that “we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment” (Lord’s Prayer, Fifth Petition). Have we not confessed, especially during the Season of Lent, the words of David in Psalm 51? “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psa. 51:3-5 ESV).

And yet, it is God who declares from His throne of judgement, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. . . . I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me” (Jer. 31:34; 33:8 ESV). In other words, there is nothing to see here of sin and guilt because our guilt is removed and our sins are forgiven, just as God’s Word proclaims His verdict to us.

          There is forgiveness for all your sin because God the Son took on human flesh so that He might be able to keep God’s Law perfectly in your place. The result is that you get the credit for keeping God’s Commandments. Jesus gives you His own perfect obedience and rightness as if they are yours.

There is forgiveness because Jesus, true God and true Man, shed His own blood and suffered your punishment of death and hell on the cross in order to redeem you from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil.

There is forgiveness for you because Jesus rose again from the dead, guaranteeing that His sacrifice was sufficient to cancel the record of sin that stood against you. Picture a courtroom where a defendant stands accused of crimes he did commit. Just before the verdict is delivered, his lawyer enters with irrefutable evidence proving the defendant is innocent. The judge, instead of delivering condemnation, pronounces acquittal, release. In Christ, we are justified, declared by the Father “not guilty” of sin because Jesus suffered, died, and rose again to purchase our release in the forgiveness of sins—irrefutable evidence that we are now to be declared innocent. The accusations of the enemy crumble at the foot of the cross. The empty tomb is God’s declaration that when He looks at us, He sees Christ’s righteousness credited to us, covering us like a robe, and there’s nothing for Him to judge us guilty for because He judged Jesus guilty of sin in your place and mine.    

You can be sure that Satan will still try to accuse you of your sins. But before the heavenly Father, there is nothing to see. Your sins are covered in the blood of Christ, atoned for. They are washed away in the Baptismal flood. They are removed as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). In the ancient world, when a king pardoned a criminal, a decree was issued to erase their wrongs. This act was understood as the final word; the person was free. On the cross, Jesus took your wrongs, your sins, your guilt into Himself. He suffered God’s wrath and the punishment of death for you. By His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, your sins are pardoned. You are forgiven. And where there is forgiveness, there is also eternal life and salvation. The empty tomb signifies that there is nothing left to condemn you or me. Just as the king’s decree removed the record, God the Father decreed that Jesus’ death and resurrection has removed your sins and guilt from you. So, when the accuser comes, nothing remains to be seen–we are alive in Christ, righteous and forgiven.

On this day of our Lord’s Resurrection, we hear the Gospel message and come along with the women to the tomb of Jesus. We see through the hearing of that Word the place where Jesus’ used to lie but does so no longer. As we sang in the sermon hymn, those powerful lyrics, “Love’s redeeming work is done, Fought the fight, the battle won; Lo! Our Sun’s eclipse is o’er; Lo! He sets in blood no more. Vain the stone, the watch, the seal; Christ hath burst the gates of hell. Death in vain forbids His rise; Christ has opened paradise” (LSB 469:2-3).

Just as there is nothing to see in Jesus’ tomb, so also before your Father in heaven, there is nothing of your sin left to see, nothing to condemn you. In the forgiveness of Christ, your heavenly Father declares, “Go in peace. You are free.” Amen.