THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD AD 2024
TRINITY EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
KURTZVILLE, ONTARIO
REV. KURT E. REINHARDT
Isaiah 25:6-9
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which
you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to
you—unless you believed in vain.
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he
appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though
some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to
one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be
called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I
am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them,
though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we
preach and so you believed.
Mark 16:1-8 When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and
Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of
the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another,
“Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw
that the stone had been rolled back— it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young
man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to
them, “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. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going
before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” And they went out and fled
from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone,
for they were afraid.

2

Unknown. So much of what lies ahead for us in this life is unknown… because we truly never
know what’s around the corner until we go around it. Ideas? Yes, we have lots of ideas about
what might be coming in the next moment, hour, day, week, month or even year, but we truly
never know what that moment will bring until it’s upon us. Plans? Yes, we make lots of plans
for all those moments, hours, days, weeks, months and even years that lie ahead, but only time
will tell if they will come to pass or not, no matter how set we may be upon them and determined
to fulfil them.
Unknown. So much of what lies ahead for us in this life is unknown… which is part of what
makes life interesting and exciting. If we knew everything that lay ahead there would be no
joyful surprises or amazing discoveries or exciting challenges. If we knew everything that lay
ahead, life would be pretty flat, as work is for some, who do the exact same thing all day every
day, week by week, month by month and year by year. If we knew everything that lay ahead life
would be dreary and boring, the same old same old of the rut of life, where each new moment
would be greeted with listless, “Yea, I saw that coming a mile away. Whoop dee doo.”
Unknown. So much of what lies ahead for us in this life is unknown… which is part of what
makes life interesting and exciting… but all this unknown stuff can be a little too exciting at
times, when some of the unknown becomes known and we have no idea where it might lead us.
Then, the unknown can become frightening and even downright terrifying. Yea, I felt the fear
and even the terror of the unknown when at this time of year just seven short years ago I lay in a
hospital bed in Stratford. Would I ever walk again? Would I have to be in nursing care for the
rest of my life? What could I do? What would I do? what would become of me?
Unknown. So much of what lies ahead for us in this life is unknown… which can make it a little
frightening or even downright terrifying at times… which is very humbling… for people like us
who like to be and think that they should be in control of their own lives and so much more. Our
future should be in our hands, shouldn’t it? What’s the use of being like God if you have no
control over your tomorrows? What kind of god is at the mercy of what each new moment, hour,
day, month or year might bring? Yes, there’s nothing like the unknown of what lies ahead for us
in this life to bring home the truth that we were told a lie in Eden. We took and we ate the fruit
and what did we get for it? Not what we were sold at the time, that’s for sure.
No, beloved, despite what the serpent said in Eden, when we ate from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, our eyes were not opened like he said they would be so that we would be like
God, all before us was not suddenly known but rather became all unknown in the worst possible
way, because now we wanted to know it all but could not. Before we ate the fruit we were
content to leave the future in God’s hands, trusting Him as our dear Father to look after
everything for us, but after we decided to try to be our own gods by eating, we no longer put our
trust in Him but wanted to know what lay ahead and thought we should be in control of it.
Before we ate all that lay ahead of us was those wonderful good things about the unknown, the
things that God would bring our way and reveal to us with each passing moment, hour, day,
week, month and year - the beauties and wonders of life and creation for us to joyfully discover
along our way. But when we ate as God warned us not to do we brought the horrors of sin,
suffering and death into the world that suddenly filled the unknown with all those frightening

3

and terrifying things that can be lying in wait around the corner of each passing moment of life in
this world, that were all the more frightening and terrifying to us, because we were deceived into
thinking that we should be in control of them but were not.
Unknown. Yes, there was a lot of the unknown about the events of the first Easter morning,
when the women at dawn made their way to the tomb, where Jesus’ body and been lain. The
events of Friday, no doubt, had them keenly aware of the fact that you couldn’t count on
anything in this world. They had all thought, as the disciples on the road to Emmaus would later
say, that Jesus was going to be the one to redeem Israel, but the Jews had taken Him and brought
Him before Pilate and had Him crucified, and now it was three days since he had been dead.
They were sure enough that they would find His battered, nail scarred and spear pierced body,
lying where they had laid it Friday evening, that they had bought the spices to anoint it, but even
as they wonder about the unknown of who will roll the stone away, they can’t be sure about
anything.
Unknown. Yes, there was lot about the unknown that first Easter as it unfolded for the women, as
they fussed about who would roll the stone away they could not have known that it would
already have been rolled away when they got there. As they entered into the tomb they could not
have known that they would find a young man robed in white sitting where they expected to find
the body of Jesus. And as they came in their grief and sorrow to anoint Jesus’ body, they could
not have known that what He had said would happen, would have happened and that He would
have already risen from the dead. The whole thing is so unexpected and overwhelming that it
fills the women with great fear, as they are astounded and amazed over what has happened.
Unknown. Yes, beloved there was a lot of the unknown about Jesus death and resurrection, but
there is nothing unknown about it now, because those who saw it all, experienced it all, make it
known to us today in the eye witness accounts that they have left behind. No, the purpose of
Jesus life and death are unknown no longer, because of what was revealed on the first Easter
morning. The Son of God came down from heaven and became man to enter the unknown of
our lives. But what for us is a source of anxiety and fear He embraced in trust and faith. He
knew that everything was in His Father’s hands and so moment by moment He simply submitted
Himself to His Father’s will until He entered the great unknown of death for us so that He might
save us from it.
And so the unknown is unknown no longer. Yes, because of what Christ has done for you,
beloved, it is not the great unknown that lies ahead for you, but the sure and certain hope of the
resurrection to eternal life. The unknown moments between now and that moment are here to
help you to know that the Lord alone is God and to teach you to put your trust in Him. Of course
this is not easy for us to do, which is why Christ comes to us in His risen body and blood to
reassure us and build us up in the truth of what He has done for us and what it means for us. No,
we don’t know what each moment of our lives will bring, but we do now know where it is all
heading with Jesus - to an empty tomb and a new life full of joyful surprises, amazing
discoveries and exciting challenges in a new heaven and a new earth where death will be
swallowed up forever and every tear will be wiped from our eyes.

4

And it will be said by us on that day,“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he
might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his
salvation forever.”