No Better Sound Than That of the Gospel :: Mark 16:1-8

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[Introduction]

Hallelujah! He is risen!

If you attended our midweek Lenten services, you heard many Sounds of Our Lord’s Passion.

The season began with cloth being ripped, a sound of repentance. We heard the chime of silver coins, a sound of betrayal. We heard weeping as tears fell from our Lord’s face, the sound of True Man and True God confronting sin. We heard water sloshing as it was poured into a basin, and Jesus reminded us to love one another. We heard the sound of trampling feet as soldiers seized Jesus in the garden and led him to the cross. We heard the rooster’s crow that reminded us not only of Peter’s denials, but ours too. We heard a mob that had been singing for joy on Palm Sunday cry out for blood on Good Friday. And we heard the pounding of the nails as Jesus was pierced for your transgressions.

This morning the Sounds of Our Lord’s Passion have reached a crescendo with the Good News of an Angel wearing a white robe ... You seek Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. Now go! Tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you (vv 6-7).

3.

There is no sound better than that of the Gospel. 

Hallelujah! He is risen!

When Christians speak of the Gospel, it is not uncommon for them to say that the Gospel is the Word of God, or that the Gospel is the “good news,” or that the Gospel is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or that the Gospel is that Jesus died for me. These answers are all true in one sense or another, but they are also incomplete answers. Your teacher would therefore give you only partial credit.

To be clear, the Gospel does come from the Word of God, and it is good news. But the Law also comes from the Word of God, and it is not Gospel. It is true that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are called the four Gospels, and that we can find the Gospel in their books. But the Gospels also contain Law. And it is also true that there is good news in the truth that Jesus died on a cross FOR ME ... key stress being added to the words FOR ME. But the Gospel is a much better announcement. It has a much better sound.

Strictly speaking, the Gospel is entirely about the good news of OUR salvation in Christ: What he has done FOR YOU through his birth, his life, his death, his rest in the grave, his resurrection, his ascension, and his promise to come again FOR YOU. More than that, the Gospel is what he continues to do FOR YOU without any worthiness of your own. The Gospel teaches that Christ has paid for and made satisfaction for all sins ... your sins, my sins, the world’s sins ... by his life and death ... by his suffering and the blood he shed. 

The penalty of YOUR sin ... condemnation and death ... is not gospel. It is a word of law. It is designed to cut you to the heart. Sin is not a mistake on your part. It reaps condemnation. Sin is not a simple error. It leads to death. The suffering and death of Christ shows us how God really feels about sin (FC Ep V 9). He died. 

The Gospel is that Jesus took that punishment FOR YOU. The blood he shed and body he gave justifies YOU (Rm 5:9). The blood he shed and body he gave declares YOU innocent in the heavenly courtroom. The blood he shed and body he gave cleanses YOU and covers all of YOUR sin completely (1 Jn 1:7) ... It gives YOU complete forgiveness ... not partially ... not when he feels like it ... but complete forgiveness. It makes you righteous in the sight of God, and delivers to you the eternal life that comes with the righteousness of Christ (Rm 5:10). God has done all of this FOR YOU ... reconciling himself to us (2 Cor 5:19). This is the good news. 

He didn’t wait for any of you to enumerate your sin before he did that. He didn’t wait for any of you to say you’re sorry for any of your sins. He knows you can’t number or remember them. He didn’t wait for you to turn toward him and seek him in repentance. He didn’t wait for you to declare your allegiance to him. He didn’t wait for you to prove yourself to him, as if you can do anything without him. 

Instead, he forgave YOU ... and reconciled with you. 

And because Jesus was innocent, he was raised from the dead.

Hallelujah! He is Risen!

His life is now your life. 

This is why Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness ... He believed in the resurrection of the dead. As Paul teaches us in Romans 4, Now the words, ‘it was counted to him’ (as righteousness), were not written for his sake alone, but also for our sake. It will be counted to us who have faith in him, who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification (Rm 4:22-25).

2.

At its root, the word Gospel means good message or good announcement. It comes from the Greek noun εὐαγγέλιον (eu-an-gel-ion). ... The prefix εὐ means means good. The word αγγέλιον means message. The Gospel is therefore a good message, or Gospel. 

It’s helpful to know that the word angelion is also closely associated with the word angel ... the ἄγγελος (angelos). In scripture the angels are messengers or servants of God who have the unique task of delivering the Gospel: Most notably in announcing the birth and the resurrection of Jesus. They even ministered to Jesus during his Passion. 

Remember it was the Angel Gabriel who told Zechariah that his wife would bear a son, John, who would prepare the way for the Lord. Then Gabriel appeared to Mary, delivering to her the good news that she would give birth to our Lord, Jesus, who would save you from your sins. After Jesus was born it was an angel who announced to the shepherds the “Good news of great joy that is for all people: For to you is born this day a savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David” (Lk 2:11). Then a vast host of angels appeared and taught us to speak the Gospel by singing “Gloria in excelsis Deo.” 

Even more importantly, it is an angel wearing a white stole who announces the Gospel to the women coming to anoint what they thought was a dead Jesus. Mark describes this angel as a young man wearing a white robe sitting on the right side of the tomb. His presence left the women awestruck or overwhelmed with wonder ... like every angel does. Then he said, You seek Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. 

2.

Sadly billions of people still haven’t heard what that means and why it is important. Hundreds and hundreds within our own community don’t understand it either. 

That’s where you and I come. Listen to the good news of the angel: Now go! Tell his disciples and Peter that ... He is Risen! ... and that he is going before you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you (vv 6-7).

This is Good News because the angel is announcing that Jesus is not just a spirit. He is announcing what Jesus has been telling us all along: He is the resurrection and the life. Now you can now see him and touch him, a truth we will explore closer next week. He’s not disembodied. He has flesh and blood. He lives and moves and has his being with us. He is True Man and True God. And you will see him and continue to see him! This is good news! 

If Jesus didn’t rise from the grave, there’s no hope of salvation ... there’s no hope for redemption or sanctification ... there’s no hope for eternal life. If Jesus didn’t rise from the grave our faith is pointless. We would even be bearing false witness of who God really is. But thanks be to God, his grave is empty. 

Hallelujah! He is risen! 

To those who are in bondage, this Gospel proclaims freedom. To the poor, this Gospel proclaims the riches of the kingdom are yours. To the sick and demonized, this Gospel proclaims healing and cleansing ... peace ... literally the forgiveness of sins. As Paul declares, For our sake, he who knew no sin was made to be sin in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor 5:21). 

You know this Gospel. We proclaim it every time we return to our baptism and receive the Lord's supper. You cannot hear it or receive this Gospel too often. He uses these means to remind you that He is with you even today ... He lives in you and you in him (Gal 2:20) ... That you can see him and touch him. That’s what makes Baptism, Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper glorious proclamations of the Gospel. They proclaim and deliver the forgiveness of sins on account of the cross AND the empty tomb. We all need this every day.

THERE IS NO BETTER SOUND THAN THAT OF THE GOSPEL

[Conclusion]

So let it sound forth in your lives ... because ... 

Hallelujah! He is risen! ... In Jesus’ name

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