4/12 Easter Message – “A New Day”
Church, this is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it for Jesus Christ is risen!
The office of the General Assembly for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has put together an online worship service created to help all congregations come together in community on this holiest of days. If you would like to view this service, just click the following link: You may view it or download it here
“A New Day”
There is a story told of an individual who appeared at the Pearly Gates and asked Saint Peter for entrance. Saint Peter said, “All right, tell me, what is Easter?” The individual replied, “Oh, that’s the day that some fellow discovered America, isn’t it?” “No, that’s wrong, and you’ll have to go below.”
Another man came along, asking to enter heaven. Saint Peter asked him, “What’s Easter?” This man replied, “Oh, that’s the day the big, fat jolly man with a big bag of toys comes around.” “No, you’re wrong,” said Peter. “You can’t come inside.”
Then a third man arrived. He too wanted to get to heaven, and when Peter asked him, “What’s Easter?” He said: “Easter? Isn’t that the story about the Man who died, was buried and on the third day came alive, rolled the stone from His grave, looked out and saw His shadow, then went back inside for six more weeks of winter?”
Given our current circumstances, his answer doesn’t seem too far off.
In today’s world reporters run from a press conference because they have urgent news which must be passed on to their editors and their readers or viewers.
The disciples of Jesus, after His resurrection, had urgent news from their risen Lord and Savior. They were instructed to tell the good news to everyone.
Their ‘reporting’ was different from today’s. Their proclamation was based upon their convictions concerning the news itself. Their news was intended to be convincing. It was supposed to change the lives of the people who heard it. It had the urgency of the most important news in the world. Because it was, and still is: Christ is risen! And that changes everything.
This is the best news we can share with one another. It should be received and celebrated by all. But how can I, once dead, expect a new life with my loved ones? Haven’t I many, many times given in to the tricks of the devil and my own selfish desires? Have the wages of sin been changed? No, the wages have not been changed. They have, however, been paid-in-full by Jesus. Easter is God saying again, “Let there be life!” – life here and now, and life with God through eternity.
The tomb could not hold Christ for very long. People had done their best to rid the earth of Him, but His death was a short-lived triumph for His enemies. He was back among the living again, and now more than ever, He is a force to be reckoned with. And what God did for Jesus Christ, He offers to do, through Christ, for all people, including you and me.
We know that Christ rose from the grave on the third day, because His disciples and others saw Him on that Day of Resurrection, and several other times before His ascension. If it were only a tale about an empty tomb to base our faith on, Jesus’ death and resurrection would not be the central theme of the Gospels. The disciples would not have been so willing to die for a lie.
Easter celebrates the Resurrection, not as a concept, and idea, or a human wish, but as a reality in the Risen Lord. When His bones should have been beginning the process of decay, the Gospel of Matthew tells us that He met some women in the garden. They saw Him, heard Him, and fell down and worshipped Him as Lord. Easter is an encounter with the living Lord.
The old arguments still find expression in every generation: That Jesus did not really die on the cross, but collapsed after six hours, was placed in a tomb rather hurriedly, revived, and came out. Or, that He actually did die, but His body was stolen by His disciples, despite a sealed tomb and guards. Unbelievers had called the Resurrection, “the greatest hoax in history.”
Several years ago, in Moscow, at the height of the communist offensive against the church, a noted soviet educational leader was giving a lecture to prove that faith in Jesus Christ was obsolete. At the close of the address he asked if anyone would like to reply or refute his arguments. After a few hushed moments a village priest arose and slowly ascended the platform.
“Remember, only five minutes,” the lecturer reminded him.
“What I have to say will be brief,” he replied.
The priest looked out over the crowd a moment in silence and then in a clear ringing voice gave the Russian Easter greeting, “Jesus Christ is risen!” Then back, from a thousand throats, came the triumphant response, “He is risen indeed!”
The lecturer went home defeated.
It is still somewhat of a mystery to us why God did it, but God has performed a miracle, and achieved the impossible. God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and proved that He can raise us as well. Christ’s resurrection serves as a reassurance that God can, and will, raise us!
The resurrection of Jesus Christ confronts us again with the mystery of God’s creation. Easter asserts that God, Who created us and gave us life, has the power to preserve that life by reversing the death process forever.
I’m reminded of something that happened to Robert Rankin while he was a student at the Junior College of Mason City, Iowa. Rankin, an aspiring actor, served as a stage hand with a one-line acting part, but it was a time of glory for his little stage troupe. They had won a regional drama contest and traveled to the finals at the University of Iowa.
In Iowa City they encountered two unexpected problems: the timing of the trip made it impossible for them to have a rehearsal, and the stage assigned to them was smaller than the one in which they had rehearsed and performed. In addition to his work as a stagehand, Rankin played a policeman with one line to say – a question. The action proceeded on stage, including the murder, which prompted a call for the police. Now it was Rankin’s big moment. He rushed in on cue. Unfortunately, because of the smaller stage he stumbled over the corpse, and fell flat on his face. He stood up with as much dignity as he could muster, and, ignoring the corpse over which he had just fallen and delivered his one line: “Where’s the body?”
God answered that question on the third day, through a heavenly visitor: “He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come; see the play where He lay.”
God did it: He raised up Jesus Christ, His beloved Son, from the dead. We too are alive in Christ through God’s grace, and God will one day raise His beloved children to eternal life with Christ in heaven. That is the promise made to us, and the Risen Christ is the example, the first fruit, the proof that we too will be raised. Alleluia!
Tell the world – JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN!
Amen.
Friends, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ God broke the power of death and opened the way to eternal life. As the empty tomb stands witness to His triumph, I pray that God will send the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see the new light of this day, to open our hearts to believe the good news, and to open our lives so that all we do may proclaim to the world, He is risen, indeed!
Grace and Peace,
Rev. Christy Mitchell