To the praise and honor of our merciful, eternal God, we wish to preach today about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is proper that we do so. This festival enables us to focus on the Gospel’s account of Christ’s resurrection and to learn from it. It is incumbent on us, therefore, to speak of these happenings, since so much depends upon them for our good, not only in this present life, but also in the life to come. Moreover, when we dwell upon these eve
nts, we do so not only because it is useful and good, but also because therewith God is praised and glorified. At least a few on earth may listen to it earnestly and then come to thank our Lord Jesus Christ for his suffering and resurrection. Accordingly, it pleases God when we thus pay attention to and preach about the story.
In fact, the time never comes when we have preached and heard enough concerning the significance of Christ’s resurrection. We are not preaching anything new, but always, without ceasing, about that man who is called Jesus Christ, true God and true man, who died for our sins and rose for our justification. Yet even if we were again and again to preach about and dwell upon these events, we could never really exhaust their meaning. We would remain like infants and young children, just learning to speak, scarcely able to form half words, yes, scarcely quarter words.
That is why we wish to speak about it now because our highest good depends upon it. So it is my greatest concern to sustain your interest in this article so that when I’m dead and gone, I might have left you with this treasure.
Martin Luther, Easter sermon, 1533
Eugene F. A. Klug (editor) Sermons of Martin Luther, The House Postils, volume 2 7-8