And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead (1 Cor. 15:17,19-20a).

We may be tempted to think of Christianity as if it is in a wholly different category of truth than historical facts. We may think the stories of Jesus in the Bible are spiritually true but not literally true. But that is certainly not how the eyewitness biographers of Jesus wrote about him. They were not written as introspective musings nor mystical exercises.

St. Matthew wrote this at the beginning of his biography of Jesus: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now  the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way… (Mt 1:1,18a). This is hardly some psychedelic rambling or some arcane riddle! Matthew starts with the driest facts of all: a list of Jesus’ ancestors.

Luke started his gospel this way: “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses… it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you…” (Lk 1:1-2a,3a). Then Luke proceeded to write his biography of Jesus, chasing down many eyewitness accounts and producing a top notch, well researched treatise.

Clearly these authors intended to produce factual accounts of Jesus’ life. It is not the case that the story about Jesus is only true in some cloudy, subjective, or “spiritual” manner. Jesus of Nazareth was born in the first century in the Roman province of Judea. In his mid-thirties, he started teaching throughout the countryside that God was coming into the world in a new way. Jesus claimed to be divine. Then he demonstrated by many miracles, and by his supernatural power over nature, that he truly is the Son of God; God in the flesh.

Though his miraculous deeds were undeniable, many people, including the cultural elite of his day, rejected Jesus. They accused him of using occultic powers to pull off his signs and wonders. They certainly didn’t believe him to be the divine Son of God. They accused him of blasphemy for making such claims! Ultimately, the religious leaders conspired with a nervous Roman governor to put Jesus to death. Jesus of Nazareth died on a cross on a Friday afternoon just outside of Jerusalem. He was buried in a nearby tomb.

On the third day, a Sunday morning, that tomb was empty. Jesus was no longer dead. It was not that the Roman soldiers had failed to kill him all the way. When he looked dead on the cross, they proved it by shoving a spear up under his rib cage. No, he definitely died on Friday. There were many eyewitnesses to this public execution.

And just as undeniably, he was alive again the following Sunday morning. The resurrected Jesus appeared to many, many people over the next few weeks. First to Mary Magdalene. Then to his eleven disciples. Eventually he appeared to a group of 500 people at once! (1 Cor 15:4-6). The fact is, Jesus died on Good Friday and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. Those are the facts.

But these are not just a remarkable set of facts to recognize as true and then go on about your day. The story of Jesus forces you to ask, “Why? Why did Jesus die and come back from the dead? What does that have to do with me?”

Everything.

Jesus is both God and man. He came into our world, into time and space, to repair our ruined relationship with God. We all know that something is wrong with this world. We are all born with an innate sense of right and wrong, and we do not stop ourselves from doing what we know to be wrong. We sin against God, and we hurt each other. Left to our own devices, we would stay alienated from God, never able to correct what’s wrong with us.

So the eternal, divine, Son of God took on human flesh and blood and was born into our world. He lived a perfect, sinless life. And then he died on the cross as your substitute. He paid the full penalty for every sin you have ever committed by thought, word, or deed. Jesus then rose again from the dead proving that he was victorious over all of his enemies: sin, death, and the devil. He is risen! He is risen indeed. Hallelujah.

God did all of this for you. Salvation and eternal life are given as a free gift to you. If you hear the Word of God, the words of the Holy Bible, and you realize the truth, that you are a sinful and broken person, then know that God is working on you! Then repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Repentance means confessing that you are full of sin and that you are incapable of making things right. Then believe and trust in the One who has already paid for your sins: Jesus, the Son of God.

Then come to Church, the place where Jesus promised you could receive his free gifts. The Church is where forgiveness and mercy are regularly distributed and received by Christians. Here are the means of grace: Absolution, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. God wants you to have His audible and tangible gifts. Through His gifts, you can be absolutely certain that your sins have been forgiven on account of Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplished for you. Do not forsake the holy things of God!

God bless you this Easter season. We really hope and pray that you will join us at Cross of Christ Lutheran Church in Chattanooga, or wherever the Gospel is preached in its purity and the Sacraments are rightly distributed.