Breaking News Mark 16:1-8

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

What a great day this is! It is filled with excitement, special music, beautiful flowers, lots of people in church. There aren’t many days like this in the entire church year. It’s all because we have the greatest news that ever has been shared with the world. The angel at the tomb told the women, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here.”

Imagine for a moment that back then they had the communication technology that we have today. When the news anchors on TV really want to get your attention, they begin their story by saying, “We have some breaking news.” We all wonder what that could be and if it is going to have some effect on my life.” They have our attention and then they tell us what we need to know about the late breaking news. On that first Easter morning there was some breaking news. Jesus the Nazarene who was crucified on Friday had been placed in a tomb carved out of rock and a large stone was rolled in front of the opening in the tomb. Now on this Sunday morning, the tomb was empty. News was leaking out that He was risen from the dead.

We can imagine how the whole news team would be put into action. There would be live coverage from the scene. The camera would try to get a shot from inside the empty tomb. Reporters would be trying to interview people who were somehow associated with the crucifixion and burial of Jesus to find out what happened. They would try to get a statement from the chief priest and other religious rulers who stirred up the people against Jesus and worked to get Him executed. They would try to get a statement from the office of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who was responsible for having Jesus crucified. They would try to get a comment from the soldiers who were supposed to be guarding the tomb. They didn’t want to speak on camera. This was certainly breaking news on that morning and there would be a buzz around certain circles of Jerusalem for the rest of the day. A story like that would not go away quietly. Some might even say that this story will be retold and discussed for many years to come.

The truth is we are still buzzing about the events of that first Easter. It is still being discussed and celebrated as we are doing today. It was breaking news then and it is still breaking news today. But it is breaking news for another reason. The resurrection of Jesus was breaking news because some very powerful things were broken through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus’ death was not just some unfortunate accident. He was not the victim of misguided thinking. Jesus’ suffering and death were all part of God’s plan for the rescue of fallen sinners. His suffering, death and resurrection brought about reconciliation with God. It paid the price for the sins of the world so that we could be ransomed back to God. The sacrifice of Jesus for our sins and His resurrection from the grave brought breaking news to the world. Jesus broke the power of sin, death and the devil. That’s breaking news.

He broke the power of sin by setting us free from our slavery to sin. Our sinful human nature, that inherited sin, finds its way into our whole being and colors everything that we do. As a result we are slaves to sin. Our whole lives are dedicated to serving ourselves and our own selfish interests. Only by the power of Jesus’ perfect life in our place and His suffering and death as the punishment for our sins is the power of sin over us broken. That is breaking news!
He has also broken the power of death. He defeated death through His own resurrection. Death could not hold Him because He is the Lord of Life. What is significant for us is that by His resurrection He has taken away the sting of death from us. Death has lost its power over us. Death is no longer something to be feared but it is rather the beginning of our life forever with the Lord in perfect joy. As St. Paul said to the Romans, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Again Paul writes to the Philippians, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”

There is more breaking news. Jesus has broken the power of the devil. To be sure, the devil is still active, trying to destroy the good things of God, trying to influence the hearts of the faithful and drive them away from God and into despair. But the devil has lost his power over us. He can no longer defeat us because Jesus has won the victory over him through the resurrection. Jesus’ victory is our victory as well. When we are tempted, and we are tempted all the time, Jesus gives us the power to resist the temptation and overcome the worst efforts of the evil one. He gives us that power through the Holy Spirit who works in us through the means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments. We can become easy prey for the devil when we allow ourselves to drift away from those divinely appointed Means of Grace, when we fail to hear God’s Word of Law and His comforting Gospel, and when we forget about the blessings of our Baptism and when we keep ourselves away from the Lord’s Supper. Those Means give us the Spirit’s power to renew and refresh us whenever the attacks of the devil try to beat us down and weaken our resolve to follow the Lord’s will and His ways. Christ’s victory over the power of the devil assures us that those Means will always be there for us. He has won the victory over the devil and His victory is ours as well. That’s breaking news! Jesus has broken the power of sin, death and the devil.

When the TV news team reports the breaking news of the day, it is because they feel that it is something that you need to know. The same is true for the breaking news about the resurrection of Jesus. It is something that people need to know. It is news that has to be shared. If the news team breaks into a program with breaking news about bad weather approaching it is for your protection and safety that they share that information with you. In the case of Jesus’ resurrection it is even more important than breaking news about the weather. It is breaking news about eternity. We have this breaking news that needs to be shared with a world that is increasingly hostile to God. There needs to be a sense of urgency in our sharing of the Good News of Jesus’ victory over sin, death and the power of the devil because so much of the world is headed for eternal damnation including many of the people you know. They are right here in our own community. We have breaking news that could mean eternity in heaven for those who believe in Jesus or eternity in the fires of hell for those who reject Him. We are all part of the Breaking News Team that has something that people need to hear. The breaking news is that Jesus has conquered sin, death and the devil by His suffering, death and resurrection. Because He lives we shall live also.

So often the breaking news on television is bad news. We, on the other hand, have good news. We have the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The breaking news is simple; Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Hallelujah! Amen.

And the peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

gm