Easter Sunday

Luke 24:1-12

“Jesus Is Risen!”

That is the Easter message we hear spoken in the empty tomb when the women arrive there with their burial spices.

When they find the tomb open and empty, the confusion and doubt they had carried with them through the sabbath only deepened. After all they had seen Jesus die and, after the crucifixion, they had followed Joseph and watched when he opened the tomb and set Jesus’ body in it. Their teacher and Lord was dead but they knew what was expected when death came. They understood the ritual, the steps to follow and the tasks to complete to honor the dead.

But now two men are standing beside them and asking them,

Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember [what] he told you when you were still back in Galilee…?[i]

Luke says the women remembered and returned to tell the other disciples what they had seen and heard, but the others dismissed their report as nonsense, an “idle tale,” or delirious babbling.

We share their disbelief, don’t we? After all, that isn’t how death works in our experience. A person dies, their body is buried and the grave is sealed. The end. Anything else is a storyline out of “The Walking Dead” or a zombie apocalypse.

But resurrection is not a miracle to be proven with historical evidence or scientific proof. It is our reminder that God’s ways are not our ways.

Whenever we hear about the suffering that is happening in our world and hear news of fresh terror and violence it is difficult for us to believe the promise of the Resurrection, that evil does not win and death is not the end.

So, on Easter morning, we gather to hear the story again and remember that the Easter message is not nonsense or an idle tale. Like the women at the empty tomb, we remember the Word that God has spoken to us:

the Living One is not found among the dead, the relics and detritus of the past, the ashes and rubble of our lives or in the depths of our despair.

Jesus is risen and leads us out of those places.

With the Easter proclamation that “Jesus is Risen” we are invited into new life with the One who is our Living Savior, our Redeemer and Hope and we are offered a new beginning.[ii]

We are invited into the resurrection life, finding our way through the world’s “No’s” to God’s “Yes” [iii] where we experience healing, forgiveness, wholeness and restoration:[iv]

• Healing is found in accepting the gracious service of those around us and being comforted that we are not alone in our suffering;
• Forgiveness is found in the reconciliation of broken relationships that dispels hate and ends the divisions that separate us;
• Wholeness is found in the recognition that God sees every one of us as we are — nothing is hidden — and calls us beloved children, even in our disbelief and doubt;
• And restoration is found in knowing that our sin, known and unknown, is forgiven and nothing separates us from the love of God.

Practicing resurrection means recognizing the places in our lives where we need to experience a new beginning and where we are empowered to offer new beginnings to those around us.

Practicing resurrection means opening our eyes to see, our ears to listen and our hearts to love.

Practicing resurrection frees us to participate in the new beginning God is creating and witness to the world the Truth that, indeed, “Jesus is Risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!”

Thanks be to God!

[i] Luke 24:5-6, The Message
[ii] The Rev. Michael Marsh. “Resurrection, The First Day Stories of our Life – An Easter Sermon on Luke 24:1-12. Interruptingthesilence.com, accessed 4/19/2019.
[iii] Sundays and Seasons Day Resources.
[iv] “Luke”, Enter the Bible. Luther Seminary. http://www.enterthebible.org/newtestament.aspx?rid=4, accessed 4/20/2019.