Freed from the Power of Sin
Romans 6:3 – 11
There is story about a conversation that takes place on the Saturday after Good Friday. Joseph of Arimathea, a converted Jew who is resting and hanging out in his back yard as he quietly reflects on the events of the previous day. His neighbor comes up to him and after exchanging the friendly small talk he asks Joseph, “What were you thinking yesterday? I mean you gave over your tomb to that criminal, that troublemaker. You worked long and hard to save up enough money to buy that thing and now you have just given it up. Have you lost your mind?” To which Joseph replied, “It’s really no big deal, he only needed it for the weekend.”
We are here this early morning to see and feel what it must have been like for Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome as they came to the tomb to complete the burial ritual for the man they followed and believed to be the Messiah for whom they had waited.
The death of Jesus had seemingly put an end to the thoughts that he was indeed the Messiah. There had been many would be and self-proclaimed messiah over the years and all of them had died, by nefarious means for the most part that quelled the talk that they were the Messiah, a fact that the Pharisees of the time were counting on when they did what they had done. But this time would be different.
As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here.” Trembling and bewildered, by what they had been told, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.
As the fortunate ones, we know the rest of the story. Maundy Thursday was the unveiling of the new covenant to the disciples, and Good Friday was the day that Jesus went to the cross to sacrifice himself, the Paschal lamb to pay the sin debt that mankind, we, you and I owed. But none of that brings us an eternity of living with our Father. That comes from the miracle of Sunday, the resurrection of Jesus. These events become the heart and soul of the Gospel story.
In our message lesson today, Paul is telling the Christians in Rome that the resurrection of Jesus is so much more that just raising of Jesus. In fact, the resurrection story is not only about Jesus, but it is also about our transformation as well.
When we came to faith in Christ and were baptized into union with Christ, we became united with him in his death on Golgotha, in his burial in the garden tomb, and today in his resurrection on the Third Day. Because we are so united with Christ when he was risen from death we too are resurrected from our spiritual death because sin. We now share the power of Christ’s life in our lives.
In his death Christ (for the sake of sinners) submitted to the “reign” of sin; but his death broke the judicial link between sin and death, and he passed forever from the sphere of sin’s “reign.” Having been raised from the dead, he now lives forever to glorify God. We can enjoy our new life in Christ because we are united with him in his death and resurrection. Our evil desires, our bondage to sin, and our love of sin died with him.
Now, united by faith with him in his resurrected Iife, we have the promise of new spiritual life the has been that has been Freed from the Power of Sin and we have unbroken fellowship with God and freedom from sin’s hold on us. The power and penalty of sin died with Christ on the cross.
It is not that we won’t be tempted to sin or that we won’t ever sin, we are still human, but Freed from the Power of Sin in our lives. We have the power to walk away from temptation with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Paul says that through faith in Christ we stand acquitted, “not guilty” before God. Because of Jesus sacrifice on the cross, we are forgiven once and forever, and we need no longer live under sin’s power. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, his followers need never fear spiritual death and with the shared resurrection with Jesus, we can look forward to an Eternal home with our loved ones and our Heavenly family,
Because of our union and identification with Christ, so through our faith connection to Jesus we are Freed from the Power of Sins and we dedicate ourselves to the purpose for which God has made us, to be witnesses and an example of the truth and life that is found in the redeeming and freeing Gospel story to the world around. On this Easter Sunday let us be reminded of the transformation can be ours simply for the asking and we have a new start, and the Holy Spirit will help us become what Christ has declared us to be. Amen