Christ the Firstfruits (Sermon for Series C Easter Day: April 20, 2025)

Watch the sermon here. Listen to the sermon here.

Texts:  Psalm 16

Isaiah 65:17–25

1 Corinthians 15:19–26

Luke 24:1–12

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The text that serves as the foundation for our sermon is our epistle and our gospel readings, especially these words from our epistle, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20).

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

As the weather is turning, as spring is trying to get here as much as Indiana winter doesn't want to let it, it's wonderful seeing the trees begin to bud, as the flowers begin to open up. We have all of these gorgeous flowers around us, but even more beautiful are those that are in your yard that are coming up naturally, showing forth their colors for the first time. Spring is here. New life has come out of the winter. And so it is for us as Christians. Gone is the time of fasting. Gone is the season of repentance that we have found ourselves in for the past forty days. Now is the season of joy, of praise to our resurrected Lord. Today as we begin this Easter season from our readings, we learn that Christ is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Thus we have the sure and certain hope that just as He has been raised from the dead, we too shall have everlasting life.

Let us pray: Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, You gave your Son into death for us, bearing our sins, bearing our iniquities. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer, that we may have the sure and certain confidence that because Christ is our firstfruits, we too, who believe in Him, shall rise and have life everlasting. It is through your Son's name that we pray, Amen.

In our epistle reading, St. Paul does not hold any punches. He says, “For as by a man came death” (1 Corinthians 15:21). And again, “For as in Adam all die” (1 Corinthians 15:22). Paul makes it clear what our own natural state is. Our own natural state is one of sin. For we are all children of Adam. We are all by nature sinful and unclean. We are all by nature poor, miserable sinners who deserve nothing but God's temporal and eternal punishment: God's punishment of death here in this life and eternal death because of our sins. No matter how good our outward works may look, they can do nothing to merit us everlasting life, for they are all tainted with sin.

And thus, we needed someone to come to bear our sins, to be our savior. God could not simply write off our sins. God could not simply wipe away that debt. No, someone had to pay it. And so for that reason, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem us who were under the law. “No son of man could conquer death, Such ruin sin had wrought us. No innocence was found on earth, And therefore death had brought us Into bondage from of old And ever grew more strong and bold And held us as its captive” (LSB #458: Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands stanza 2). So God sent forth His Son. Christ Jesus came down to deliver us. Christ Jesus came down into our human flesh, assumed our human flesh into God, and became man. And from the moment when life begins in the womb of the Virgin Mary to His death on the cross, He lived the perfect life for and for me. Then he bore our sins, carried your sins, all the sins that you have ever committed, all the sins which you will. He carried those sins for you. He bore that burden for you. He faced the punishment that you deserved. He faced death for you. There on that first Good Friday, Christ suffered and died for you. “It was a strange and dreadful strife when life and death contended” (LSB #458 stanza 4). There on the cross Satan thought that he had defeated God. There on the cross Satan thought he had won the victory. And yet when Christ said, “It is finished!” the victory was won, but not by Satan. The victory remained with life as the Prince and King of Life died for you.

But death had no power over him. And so on the third day he rose again. The first fruits of those who believe, the first fruits of resurrection. Just as those first flowers bloom in the spring, just as that winter wheat comes up for the harvest, so likewise, Christ is our first fruits. He is the sign that the winter of sin and death is over. Death's reign is defeated. Christ has won the victory for you. And because Christ has risen from the dead never to die again, all who believe in Him have the sure and certain hope that we too will have newness of life, that we too will experience the same resurrection that Christ experienced.

Elsewhere Christ says that as grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die in order that it may grow up to bear much fruit, so it is with us. Yes, because we are still by nature sinful and unclean, even we who believe in Christ may face temporal death. Our bodies may die. We may fall asleep in the Lord. But death has no power over us. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). Death has no power over us to believe. For even as we die, yet we live. We live before the throne of God, singing his praises. Even as we die and our bodies are laid to rest in the tomb, so still we also await the bodily resurrection from the dead, knowing that just as Christ has been raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too, on the last day, will be raised. Our bodies, which have been planted in the ground will spring forth new life in the resurrection. And all those who believe in God, who confess the name of Jesus Christ on earth, will enter in bodily into the resurrection, into the joys of the new heavens and the new earth, which shall never pass away. We shall enter into the joys of everlasting life before God. The eternal Easter singing forth his praise every day of our lives.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, Christ is the first to rise. He is the sign that the power of death is defeated. So continue to hope in Him. Continue to trust in Him. Continue to believe in Him, knowing no matter what our mortal bodies face, on the last we shall arise as He is arisen. Amen.

Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!