April 20, 2025 (Easter Sunday)
Sermon title: “He is Risen!”
Scripture: Luke 24:1-12
(Other lectionary suggestions include Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24. I Corinthians 15:19-26, and John 20:1-18.)
Luke 24:1-12
The Resurrection of Jesus
1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8Then they remembered his words, 9and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
Again, good morning and Happy Easter! The sermon title is “He is Risen!” And Christians have believed from the beginning that God raised Jesus from the dead. The apostle Paul has insisted that if Christ is not raised, we are of all people most to be pitied. He says this in I Corinthians 15:19.
And Paul is right! If Christ has not been raised, we SHOULD be pitied! This is our hope that God is in control, not Rome, not Washington, and not China or Russia. If you have a tough time believing the Easter message, listen to this from Luke 24:6 the women at the tomb are asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” And a modern minister says we should not remain alone in our doubt, in our fear. She says, “If with all our hearts we truly seek him, sooner or later we will have to seek him among the living, among believers, among disciples, among those sent by the Spirit into the world to be the mouthpiece, and the message, the hands and the feet of the risen Christ. If we are truly open, it is God’s promise that we will find.”
I particularly like Luke’s description of that first Easter morning. It was WOMEN who told the male disciples about the empty tomb, and they were not believed! Perhaps this is the first use of the phrase “an old wives’ tale” because in those days, no one would believe what a few grief-stricken women might say. And if the story were made up, Luke or whoever wrote about that empty tomb would have had male pillars of the community telling the story, not a bunch of scatter-brained women! For me, the fact that WOMEN made the discovery makes it all the more believable.
Says N. T. Wright, “Easter is always a surprise, whether we meet it in celebrating the feast itself, or in the sudden surges of God’s grace overturning tragedy in our own lives or in the world.” I must confess that I find Peter’s behavior almost funny! We are told that he stooped down to look in.....and then he went back home, perplexed at what he had seen. Years ago, there was a Broadway musical called, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” I am tempted to call the story of the empty tomb, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Sepulcher.” I mean, how could Peter or ANYONE see what he saw and think, “Ho hum. Just another empty tomb!”
In John’s rendition of the story, there is an interesting account of the grave clothes that Jesus wore. John 20:6 says, “Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.” What John’s Gospel is trying to say is that nobody came and UNWRAPPED the body. No! Jesus rose from the dead!
Do you have a tough time with the idea of resurrection? You are not alone. LOTS of people have that problem. But keep in mind that WOMEN were the first to discover something “different” about the grave site. Had it been a made-up story, MEN would have been the ones first telling the story. And remember this: all the disciples (with the possible exception of John, who took care of Mary, Jesus’s mother, according to tradition) suffered violent deaths because of what they saw and believed. I think that’s what does it for me: this scared group of followers who fled when Jesus needed them most, CAME TOGETHER to proclaim the Risen Christ. And each suffered a violent death as a result.
Is it a minister’s job to strengthen your faith? I’m not sure. What I can say is that ever since high school, even before I became a minister, I thought what happened on that first Easter day was of tremendous significance. If Jesus was not raised, then we are of all people most to be pitied, as the Apostle Paul said. But if he WAS raised, it’s a brand-new day. God is in control, and we are saved from evil rulers such as Caesar or Pilate. There will still be pain and suffering, but GOD is running things, not petty tyrants. Whenever I do a funeral, I try to explain why I believe. First of all, God did not leave his chosen people to die in the desert, but he made of them a great people. We just celebrated that deliverance from Egypt at Passover.
Next, God did not leave his only son in the grave but raised him up. We celebrate that action on God’s part TODAY, Easter Sunday. But for me, the reason I believe God is in control is because of what it says in the 23rd Psalm: I will dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER. So, for me, I’ll always be with God, either here or the next life. So, as we sing, “Where thy victory, O Grave,” let us remember that God is in control. Happy Easter. Alleluia!
Friends, before we leave this place for whatever we do on Easter (take Mom to brunch or whatever), I want to make one more point. If it weren’t for Easter Sunday, there would be no Christian church and certainly no Christmas celebration. Easter is the reason for the season, not December 25. It was the belief that God had raised Jesus from the dead that started the church. If you ask people around the world what they think is the biggest, most important day in Christianity, most will say “Christmas.” Sorry, but they are wrong! Says N. T. Wright: “That’s what our society has achieved: a romantic mid-winter festival ....from which most of the things that really matter (the danger, the politics) are carefully excluded. The true answer -- and I wish the churches would find ways of making this clear -- is Easter. This is the moment of new creation. If it hadn’t been for Easter, nobody would ever have dreamed of celebrating Christmas. This is the first day of God’s new week. The darkness is gone, and the sun is shining.” And I’ll affirm once again, He is Risen. Amen.
Pastor Skip
