March 31, 2024 – Easter Text: Mark 16:1-8
Dear Friends in Christ,
Last March actress Gwyneth Paltrow and optometrist Terry Sanderson went to trial over a ski crash. They both blamed each other. He sued for damages, and she sued for defamation. The jury decided for the actress. The headline read “Gwyneth Paltrow gets vindication at ski collision trial.”
A few months before that, here in Illinois, a man was released from prison after serving almost 30 years for murder. DNA evidence proved he was not the killer. “I feel vindicated,” he said.
To be vindicated is to be cleared of guilt or to be proven right. Today we conclude our Lenten Series “God On Trial” with our Easter theme . . .
“VINDICATION”
Who needs to be vindicated? For starters, Jesus. After Good Friday it sure looked like Jesus was wrong. Put on trial, declared guilty of blasphemy, sentenced to death. Pontius Pilate was judge and jury and with a little peer pressure from blinded souls, he handed down the sentence: death by crucifixion.
Jesus was hanging there between two criminals, bleeding and dying, he looked so weak and powerless. If he were who he claimed to be why wouldn’t God rescue him? If he were God, couldn’t he escape? Like every other person who hung on a cross, he breathed his last. His lifeless body was buried in a tomb.
How could his followers process everything? As darkness settled on the land they had a bitter mix of sadness, confusion, doubt, and fear.
Maybe you can relate. Some you love has died. After all the funeral planning, the funeral and burial, friends and family head home. Darkness settles, it’s quiet in the house, you feel alone. “Lord, I am lost and confused. I just don’t understand.”
It is not just the death of a loved one that leads to these thoughts. Death reminds us that our time is running out. Bodies failing, minds fading. Even the young have their anxieties about making the right choices – friends, relationships, college, and career. It’s the vertigo of a million possibilities. We may wallow in guilt as mistakes are magnified in our minds. How we have let down our Savior.
We may not know what the women were thinking on Easter morning, but we know what they were doing. They went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body – one final act of love. Then a young man in a white robe says, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.”
It is too much to process. They fled trembling and in astonishment. But it would sink in. Jesus would appear to them and many others. The reports were corroborated again and again. The good news was true: “Victory!” was the headline. Vindication!
Jesus didn’t come down from the cross to prove he was the Son of God. He did something better; he rose from the dead. On Easter, Jesus was proved right: he is the God-man, the Messiah that he claimed to be.
Easter is vindication. Do you ever wonder what his enemies thought? Jesus took their sin, He took your sin, He took my sin and he died for it on the cross. The exclamation – “It is finished.” Vindication! All those sins are paid for.
Easter is vindication for the prophets of old who told of the coming Messiah. People like Job who placed their hope in Jesus, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth…yet in my flesh I will see God.” Jesus’ resurrection is proof that Job was right. It is proof for us too. With Christ raised from the dead, we have hope beyond this life. Jesus’ resurrection is the promise of the resurrection for all people. That day will be our ultimate vindication.
Easter is vindication for us as we live as people judged by this world. Yes, the Christian Church is in decline in the United States. Less people follow Jesus and worship in our churches. Citizens are becoming more secular. Even Christians might say, “The church is dying.” Is that possible? How can the church be dying when it is the body of the risen Christ? Some churches may close, some Christians may fall away, but as long as Jesus lives, so does his church. It may not be growing here, but in parts of the world the Christian Church is exploding in numbers. People will always be hungry for the Gospel and the message of a Risen Christ. We are vindicated!
We are on a triumphal march to glory. We testify to the truth as we humbly and simply sing the victory song with saints and angels in heaven. Sin is forgiven. Death is defeated. Jesus is Lord. Christ and his people have been put on trial, and Easter brings the victorious verdict: Vindication. Alleluia!
Amen.