A mother writes: “Our three-year-old
daughter, Nicole said “I can’t wait for Easter.” I asked her: Do you know what Easter means
honey? In her own sweet way, with arms
raised high and a smile on her face, she shouted, surprise!" What a
superb word to sum up the meaning of Easter!
What a glorious morning! From San Diego
to Jerusalem , from Rome
to Egypt ,
well over two billion Christian believers around the world are celebrating
Easter, even amidst the political, social, military, and religious turmoil in
our world. We gather on this morning of
all mornings to celebrate the greatest event in history, the resurrection of
Jesus Christ. No historical event has
shaped the world like the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God in Christ has not only dramatically
impacted individual lives over the centuries, but has shaped and influenced the
values, the intellectual foundations and history of nations, including our own.
Some of you have come here this
morning with questions on your mind. Is
there hope? Is life meaningful? Is there reason for joy? Is there more than this life?
The answer has arrived today; it’s
a three-word message, Christ Is Risen! It’s
good news to those who have lost their joy.
Its good news for those lost in grief.
Its good news to those burdened by guilt. It’s good news to those filled with fear. It’s good news for those who have lost their
way and are seeking a new way, a new purpose, a new direction for their lives.
In our story from the Gospel of
Luke, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and other women arrive
at the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with spices as was the custom. Finding the stone rolled away, they enter the
tomb, and are shocked to discover that Jesus’ body isn’t there. A divine messenger tells them the incredible
news; Jesus has risen from the dead. The
women think back and remember Jesus words about being handed over to sinners, and
being crucified and rising from the dead in three days, and then hurry off to
tell the apostles. The apostles are
skeptical at the news and Peter decides to rush to the tomb himself. He sees the empty tomb and returns home
simply amazed.
Jesus’ resurrection is a totally
unexpected, irrational and illogical event.
The church has attempted to use intellectual arguments to convince
people that the resurrection occurred. That Easter is true. Like pointing to the existence of the
Christian religion and people who claim the name Christian, the existence of
the Christian Church, the existence of the New Testament, the practice of
Sunday as well as weekday worship services, and the sacrament of Holy Communion
or the Lord’s Supper. Would these exist
today if Easter, the resurrection of Jesus was a hoax or falsehood.
Easter catches us off guard, like
it did for those women who had gone at dawn to the tomb. It was empty.
The impossible to conceive broke in upon them. It blew apart their belief system, their
mindset, their worldview. No wonder they
were amazed and afraid. We would be as
well. It was the defining moment for their lives. The power of Easter altered the lives of
these women, and these apostles, as it has for millions of believers down
through the centuries.
Today, it seems, with our
advances in communication, we regularly hear that someone has died, and then
suddenly, they come alive. In February, the
Internet said that the iconic Canadian folksinger, Gordon Lightfoot, was alive! Someone on Twitter had created a false rumor
that Lightfoot had died. The 71 year old
singer famous for the song “If You Could Read My Mind” said: “Everything
is good. I don’t know where it came from;
it seems like a bit of a hoax. I was
quite surprised to hear it myself, I feel fine.” The stark difference of course, is that Jesus
really died, truly died and on Easter morning, defeated the seemingly
unconquerable power of death.
Because of the amazing power of
Easter, we are confronted with the truth about Jesus! Jesus’ resurrection was God’s vindication of
Jesus’ life and teachings and death on the cross for the sins of the world. God was authenticating Jesus as His only Son. On Easter God reversed the crucifixion and
placed his seal of approval on Jesus. Easter
was God’s act of justice on behalf of one who was sentenced and executed
unjustly. Easter confirmed Jesus’
teachings about the Kingdom
of God
Jesus said: "I am the way,
and the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me." “I am the light of the world.” “I am the lord of all.” “I am the resurrection and the life.” “I and the father are one.” (John 10:30).
Jesus was either who He said He
was or He was the biggest liar who ever lived.
Easter declares that Jesus is who he claimed to be and that Jesus has
the power he claimed to have. No other
religious leader of history has made such claims — not Ghandi, Confucius, Buddha,
Mohammed. They are all in the grave. But Jesus Christ isn't. His tomb is empty. God raised Jesus Christ alone.
Second, because of the amazing
power of Easter our view of death has changed.
We know this simple fact about life.
Life will come to an end. There
is death. We well know that life is
precious. Life is fragile. It is priceless. We deeply grieve the death of friends and
loved ones. It breaks our hearts. Every one of us must face our mortality. You can’t turn to modern medicine to obtain
immortality. Death is real.
But because of Easter it’s not
the last word. For life today and
forever is in Jesus Christ, the hope for our life after death. Scripture says: “Whether we live or whether we die, we
belong to the Lord.” Jesus made an
amazing promise: “There are many
rooms in my Father’s house. I am going there to prepare a place for you, I
would not tell you this if it were not so, and I will come back and take you to
myself, so that you will be where I am.”
That’s a promise worth repenting for, that’s a promise worth turning
away from self for, and that’s a promise worth turning toward Jesus Christ in
faith for is it not? Can I get an amen?
Third, because of the amazing
power of Easter, the Risen Lord is continuing to change lives today. Father Basil Pennington, a Roman Catholic
monk, tells of a meeting he had with a Zen teacher at a spiritual retreat. Each participant met privately with this
esteemed teacher. Pennington says the
Zen teacher sat before him smiling and rocking gleefully back and forth. Finally the teacher said: “I like
Christianity. But I would not like
Christianity without the resurrection. I want to see your resurrection!” “You are a Christian. Show me what this means for you in your life
and I will believe.” Today, as
always, people don’t just want to hear poetic words about Easter, they want to
see the power of Easter, does it truly change lives?
The answer is yes. We see the power of the Risen Lord in the
witness of a family, a Christian family from Memphis , Tennessee
And not only in adults, but also
in the lives of young people! I close
with a story from a Sunday school teacher:
“Once I had an eight
year old boy in my SS class who was born with Down ’s syndrome. His name was Philip. He was a pleasant child--happy, it seemed--but
increasingly aware of the difference between himself and other children. And Philip, with his differences, was not
readily accepted.
The class learned, they
laughed, they played together and cared about one another, even though eight-year-olds
don't say they care about one another out loud.
I also knew that Philip was not really a part of the group. Philip did
not choose nor did he want to be different.
He just was. And that was just the way things were.
One Easter I had an
idea for my class. I gave each child those things that pantyhose come in--the
containers that look like great big eggs.
It was a beautiful spring day, and the assignment was for each child to
go outside, find a symbol for new life, put it into the egg, and bring it back
to the classroom. They would then open and share their new life symbols and
surprises one by one. It was glorious. It was confusing. It was wild. They ran all
around the church grounds, gathered their symbols, and returned to the
classroom. They put all the eggs on a table, and I began to open them. All the
children stood around the table.
I opened one, and
there was a flower and they ooh-ed and aah-ed.
I opened another, and there was a little butterfly. "Beautiful,"
the girls all said, since it is hard for eight-year-old boys to say "beautiful."
I opened another and there was a rock. And
as third-graders will, some laughed and said, "That's crazy! How's a rock supposed to be like new life?"
But the smart little boy who'd found it spoke up: "That's mine. And I knew
all of you would get flowers and buds and leaves and butterflies and stuff like
that. So I got a rock because I wanted to be different. And for me, that's new life." They all
laughed.
I opened the next
one. There was nothing there. The other children, as eight-year-olds will, said,
"That's not fair--that's stupid!--somebody didn't do right." Then I felt a tug on my shirt, and looked
down. Philip was standing beside me. "It's mine," Philip said. "It's
mine." And the children said, "You
don't ever do things right, Philip. There's nothing there!" "I did so do it," Philip said.
"I did do it. It's empty. The tomb is empty!"
There was silence, a
very full silence. And for you people who don't believe in miracles, I want to
tell you that one happened that day last spring. From that time on, it was different. Philip suddenly became a part of that group
of eight-year-old children. They took him in.
He was set free from the tomb of his differentness. Sadly, Philip died last summer. His family
had known since the time he was born that he wouldn't live out a full life span. Many other things had been wrong with his
body. And late last July, with an
infection that most normal children could have quickly shrugged off, Philip
died.
At the funeral, nine
eight-year-old children marched up to the altar, not with flowers to cover over
the stark reality of death. Nine eight-year-olds
and I marched right up to that altar, and we each laid on it an empty egg--an
empty, old, discarded pantyhose egg.
Jesus said: “I am the
resurrection and the life, he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live, for whoever lives and believes in me, shall never die.” “I
was dead, but now I am alive forevermore; because I live, you shall live also.” My friends, because of Easter Jesus is Lord
and He desires to be the Lord of all our lives.
Halleluiah! Amen!
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