Easter Sunday
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IX, Cycle B
Theme of the Day
Easter surprises.
Collect of the Day
Two alternatives are provided. In the first, after praising God for delivering us from death, petitions are offered to make us die daily to sin so we might live forever in the joy of resurrection. The focus in this prayer is on Sanctification. In the second alternative, we pray that there be an increase in our hearts and minds of the risen life we share in Christ, and that we grow toward the fullness of eternal life. This prayer also focuses on Sanctification (with a growth in grace profile).
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
* A thanksgiving for deliverance in battle. One of the Egyptian Hallel Psalms used after the Passover meal.
* Praise to God and His love (vv. 1-2, 16).
* Reference to not dying but living, to being punished but not being given over to death (vv. 17-18) foreshadows the Cross-Resurrection sequence. Likewise, the concluding call to rejoicing (v. 24) suggests this Easter reading.
* Reference to the gates of righteousness and the gate the righteous enter (vv. 19-20) implies the outcome of Easter, the righteousness associated with Justification by Grace (Romans 3:21-26).
* The Christological interpretation further reflects in verses 22-23 and its reference to the stone which the builders rejected. This is frequently attributed to Christ in the New Testament (Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7).
Sermon Text and Title
"The Lord Has Wiped Away All Tears"
Isaiah 25:6-9
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the joy of Easter and the resurrection (Justification by Grace and Realized Eschatology).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* A prophecy of the historical Isaiah in the late eighth century BC.
* Following a psalm of thanksgiving, the lesson is an eschatological discourse following those begun in the previous chapter. This so-called Isaiah Apocalypse prefigures references to the end of the world in Revelation.
* On the day promised, a festival is to be made for all people on Mount Zion (the site of God's rule [24:34]) (v. 6). The king usually celebrated his enthronement with feasts (1 Kings 1:24-25).
* Death is to be swallowed up forever (v. 7). This reverses the Canaanite myth that death swallows up everything (5:14).
* The Lord wipes away all tears, as well as the disgrace of His people (v. 8). Reference is made to the salvation of this people (v. 9).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* Read as prophecy of Christ's work on Easter, the text pertains to the atonement, Justification (by Grace), and Realized Eschatology (insofar Isaiah's vision of the end is applied to Easter). For more on Realized Eschatology, see the last bullet points in this section for the First Lesson, Advent 2.
* Classic View of atonement is suggested by verse 7.
* John Calvin stressed that the feast (and so Easter) was for all nations and classes (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. VII/2, p. 196).
* Martin Luther offers intriguing insights about the nature of those for whom Christ died and rose:
Since the godly are nothing but the cast-offs and off scouring and the reproach of the whole world who are rejected by all, so that nothing remains for them but sufferings without and within inflicted by the devil, O that these consolations of Christ may by all means find a place in us, so that He can console us in our wretchedness and affliction….
(Luther's Works, Vol. 16, pp. 197-198)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* On the biological virtues of experiencing a loving God, see the section of the Second Lesson, Lent 4 for references. Also see Second Lesson, Advent 1, for the positive biological impact of living with a sense of eschatological urgency.
* For statistical data on segments of American society that have been castoffs, see First Lesson, Advent 3. Also note that at the height of the Great Recession in November 2009, while about 10% of the American labor force was out of work, the figure was 16% among African Americans.
5. Gimmick
Happy Easter! But not just another Easter. The end of the world has begun! Death has been swallowed up forever (v. 7). God is wiping away all our tears (v. 9)!
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Ever feel you were at the end of your rope, that the way life was going just offered no hope at all? The recession that began late in the last decade has cost many hope for the future. Maybe it's the fear of death that has robbed hope. Introducing the congregation to Harry and family (who struggles with downsizing, declining benefits, and job-loss rumors as well as credit-card debt), Janet (in late middle age, fearing death), and teenage Janelle (whose social life in school doesn't exist, few friends, and only an average student) might be a way to illustrate these situations of hopelessness.
* The people of ancient Judah encountered such despair sometime late in the eighth century BC. Explain the background on the lessons -- how this is a prophecy of the breaking-in of the end times, written at a time when it seemed that the nation of Israel (Judah) had seen its best days.
* God sent the prophet Isaiah to His people (sent him to us) to dream of a better day -- a new day in which all the evils would be overcome. We Christians believe that the end times that the prophet depicts foreshadow what happened on that first Easter.
* After praising God (including his care for the poor and those in distress) (vv. 1-5), Isaiah began to dream of a feast on Mount Zion (a hill in Jerusalem that the Judeans since David's time had used to protect the city, also known as the mountain of the Lord) (v. 6). It seems that kings of Judah often celebrated their enthronement with such feasts. Think about this now: Was not Jesus called the king of the Jews, even by those who killed Him (John 1:19; 19:3, 15, 19, 21-22)? The feast about which Isaiah proclaims suggests Christ's coming, His triumph!
* Give the matter more thought: Are not the glorious events of Easter a sign of the end times? That's what you have to say if you apply Isaiah's vision of the end today to Easter, like the church does in assigning this lesson to be read on Easter as it does. Had our Second Lesson continued in 1 Corinthians 15, you would see how Paul equates the Resurrection with the first signs of the kingdom of God (vv. 20, 24). Jesus made this connection when at the Last Supper He said that He would not drink again until the kingdom of God came (Luke 22:18), but then after the Resurrection He took a meal when He presumably drank the fruit of the vine (Luke 24:30).
* Yes, the end comes with Easter. It is the end of the dominance of death. It no longer has the final say over life, over the empty tomb.
* Easter, this very day, is the beginning of the end! It is the first day of our new lives. Cite the quotation by Rudolf Bultmann in Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Advent 2, stressing how Easter sets us free from the past; it is a fresh start. The old destructive patterns, the fears of death, have been overcome! Isaiah promises that the Suffering Servant will and so has destroyed the shroud cast over the people, "will swallow up death forever" (v. 7).
* Inspirational author Robert Flatt has it right about Easter: "The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances."
* A fresh start, no matter the circumstances. Picking up on this theme, John Calvin noted this wonderful new reality. Cuing in on Isaiah's point in verse 4 of the chapter that the Lord is a refuge for the poor, for the needy in distress, the reformer of Geneva noted that the feast about which the prophet dreamed, that Easter, was for all nations and classes (see the citation in Theological Insights). Follow with the quotation by Martin Luther in that section, stressing how we are consoled in all our wretchedness.
* Easter is a word for and about the poor. As we celebrate the fresh start this holiday offers, as we revel in the confidence it gives that nothing is hopeless, that death is swallowed up, let's remember how we are reminded that the man in the street, the single mother in the tenement, the gang member pushing drugs has a fresh start too. An Easter spirit can't help but create a new attitude toward the poor and disenfranchised among us, maybe make us people dedicated to getting them fresh starts.
* So many wonderful hopes and dreams are initiated and realized in this festival of Easter. But perhaps best of all is that Isaiah depicts our God as giving hands-on comfort. Not only is death vanquished, comfort given, the poor comforted. Isaiah speaks in verse 6 of the Lord wiping away the tears from all faces. Wow. Easter is about a God who does not just give fresh starts, does not just give refuge and comfort, who wipes away all our tears. Can't you see that in Jesus' interactions with the women (John 20:15-16)?
7. Wrap-Up
Repeat the second part of the quotation from Luther in Theological Insights regarding the consolation God gives at Easter. Note the biological data above in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights regarding the benefits of believing in a loving God. A loving God, one that even dries our tears, implies the sort of physical contact that gets the brain to secrete an amphetamine-like brain chemical, dopamine, that acts like cocaine in giving you all sorts of good feelings and energy. Dopamine also stimulates social concern. Easter is a time for nurturing joy, for caring for others, for revving up boldly for fresh starts without fear, and for reveling in the love of a God who walks along lovingly with us!
OR
Sermon Text and Title
"Christ Rose for All"
Acts 10:34-43
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the universal character of the Resurrection and how it unites all people.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Peter's confession of the gospel justifying his efforts to convert the Gentile Cornelius in Caesarea. Cornelius summons Peter as a result of a vision (vv. 3-6), and Peter has a similar vision (vv. 7-17). Peter visits Cornelius and then proceeds with the confession (eventually culminating in the pouring out of the Spirit on Peter and other Gentiles, as well as their baptisms [vv. 44-46]).
* Peter refers to God showing no partiality, finding acceptable all with faith (vv. 34-35).
* Proceeds to recount the ministry of Jesus who preached peace and did good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil (vv. 36-38).
* Testimony is also given to Christ's death on a tree and His Resurrection, appearing to witness with whom He ate (vv. 39-41).
* He is reportedly commanded by these witnesses to preach and that whomever believes receives forgiveness of sin (vv. 42-43).
3. Theological Insights See Charts of the Major Theological Options
* The universal offer of grace provided in Christ's atoning work is affirmed.
* John Wesley noted, "[God] Is not partial in His love… He is loving to every man and wills that all men should be saved" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 480).
* Preaching on this text, Martin Luther calls it a "comforting message, a gospel of joy and grace, a message not accusing, threatening and terrifying with a vision of God's wrath for our sin, as did Moses with his doctrine of the Law" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 4/1, p. 195).
* Martin Luther King Jr. powerfully explained how Christ's work brings people together and the social and ethical implications of this. In 1967 he wrote:
But in Christ there is neither Jew not Gentile. In Christ there is neither male nor female. In Christ there is neither communist nor capitalist. In Christ, somehow there is neither bound nor free. We are all one in Christ Jesus. And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won't exploit people, we won't trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won't kill anybody.
(A Testament of Hope, p. 255)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* For data on who is exploited in America, see this section for the First Lesson, Advent 3.
* A 2007 Detroit News poll found that nearly half of the local white population preferred to live in an all-white neighborhood. For indications that crossing racial lines for social life and friendship are also not characteristically encouraged from the African-American side, see Beverly Tatum, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria.
* Note African/Black roots of the Bible, evident in the assigned Psalm.
5. Gimmick
Easter is a family day, right? Wrong! Easter is for everyone. Peter preached a sermon like that long ago.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Here's the background on Peter's sermon. He had been summoned to Caesarea, a port on the Mediterranean Sea about fifty miles to the northwest of Jerusalem, by Cornelius, a devout Gentile who was also a commanding officer in the Roman army (vv. 5-8, 17-23). Meanwhile, Peter had had a vision teaching him that the Gentiles were not unclean (vv. 10-16).
* This miraculous series of events led the apostle to give up his Jewish practices of maintaining social distance from Gentiles lest such fraternization render him impure and displease God (v. 28). He began socializing with Cornelius and his emissaries (vv. 23, 27, 29). And now we pick up with the sermon he delivered explaining his behavior.
* Okay, enough history, you might say. What of Easter? We are getting to the point. Peter does it for us.
* In his sermon explaining God's will to overcome barriers, he invokes the Resurrection (vv. 35ff). Get it? For Peter, Easter is all about overcoming barriers. Jesus rose for all!
* Peter makes this point to some extent when he says everyone who believes in Christ receives forgiveness of sins (v. 43)!
* Everyone. Easter breaks down the barriers. Christ rose for all. Cite the text by John Wesley above in Theological Insights. Easter is for everybody.
* We don't really believe that (or at least don't act that way), do we? Despite all the Christians in our nation, we still don't act like we're all in this together, do we? Cite the first two bullet points in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* We may get along with folks of other ethnicities on the job or at a meeting, but we don't typically socialize. Sunday at worship time remains the most segregated hour in this "Christian" nation of ours. We keep bashing those immigrants who don't speak English and "those welfare chiselers," who more than likely are of a different ethnicity than ours.
* Nevertheless, Martin Luther had it right. The Easter word is a comforting message. (Use the Luther quote in Theological Insights.) What a comforting message to know that everyone can have forgiveness of sin. No one has priority.
* The fact is that this joyous Easter word is for all when you consider what transpired that first Easter. Prophesying the resurrection of Jesus, Isaiah 26:7 says that death is swallowed up. We all have to die, so if death is swallowed up, Easter impacts us all. Likewise, we have all sinned (Romans 5:19), so the forgiveness of sins affected by the resurrection must be for all (v. 43). Get it? Christ rose for all!
* Martin Luther King Jr. had it right. Cite the King quotation in Theological Insights. Christ rose for all. Easter really is for everybody. And that means that trampling people, oppressing them, failing to celebrate our unity and working to enhance it is what the empty tomb is all about.
* Forgiven sinners like us can be brave. We can be brave because we now know that we are acceptable in God's sight and that Jesus has overcome all the roadblocks. We can also be brave because we are all in this together, all heirs of the Resurrection. And in this unity, there is strength.
7. Wrap-Up
Close by noting how the unity Easter creates among human beings might change America, change the world, certainly we can be changed. It's like the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop put it: "In union there is strength." Though not a Christian, Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i faith, offers a compelling observation certainly appropriate to explaining Christianity's growth and impact on the world in view of how it brought Jew and Gentile together. He is credited with observing: "So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth." Christ rose for all. Note that we are now part of a great company of forgiven sinners who are unified and cannot any longer abide our divisions. Point out to the congregation that we celebrate Easter each Sunday, since the reason for worshiping on Sunday (rather than the Jewish Sabbath, Saturday) was to commemorate the Resurrection. Thus Easter is not over for us after today. And so the unity created by Easter is a year-round thing for us. To celebrate Easter all year is to celebrate it and work with others in unity!
Sermon Text and Title
"The Things Easter'll Make You Do"
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To reflect with the congregation on what the good news of Easter (Justification by Grace through Faith) can compel you to do (Sanctification).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Paul addresses the question of whether there is a resurrection of the body, in response to some who deny it (v. 12). This teaching is part of the gospel he has received, Paul claims, and so to deny the resurrection would be to deny the faith that has saved the Corinthians (vv. 1-2). (This particular pericope never gets us to the verses in which Paul actually argues for a resurrection of the faithful based on the reality of Jesus' Resurrection [vv. 12ff]).
* Paul recounts this gospel. Its focus is on Christ's death for our sins in accord with scriptures (the Hebrew Bible) and the Resurrection on the third day, also in accord with scriptures (vv. 3-4). He then proceeds to list those to whom Jesus has appeared, highlight Cephas/Peter, and then adds his own name to the list as the least of the apostles (due to his earlier anti-Christian activities) (vv. 5-9).
* Paul then proceeds to defend his ministry, claiming by the grace of God he is what he is and that that grace has not been in vain. He claims to have worked harder than any of the apostles. But then he adds it was not he, but the grace of God within him, that did the work (v. 10).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* Reflections on how the good news of Easter (Justification by Grace through Faith) spontaneously leads to a life of service and ministry (Sanctification).
* Martin Luther contends that in order to believe the resurrection of Jesus we must transcend feeling and understanding. "For reason does no more than merely to observe the facts as they appear to the eye, namely, that the world has stood so long, that one person dies after another, remains dead, decomposes, and crumbles to dust in the grave…" (Luther's Works, Vol. 28, p. 69).
* Noting Paul's reference to his days of persecuting the church (v. 9), John Wesley stated: "True believers are humbled all their lives, even for the sins they committed before they believed" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 521).
* John Calvin insists that the reference in verse 10 to the grace of God not being in vain does not entail that we should divide the praise for God and Paul, for all praise ought to be ascribe wholly to God. For "He confers upon us not merely the power of doing well, but also the inclination and the accomplishment" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XX/2, p. 15):
Let us learn, therefore, that we have nothing that is good, but what the Lord has graciously given us… not that we do nothing ourselves, but that we do nothing without being influenced -- that is, under the guidance and impulse of the Holy Spirit.
(Ibid., p. 16)
* Luther refers to Paul boasting in verse 10 and claims that everyone must be able to boast in his own vocation that God put him or her there to serve, and correspondingly exercise appropriate authority (Luther's Works, Vol. 28, p. 92).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Insofar as spiritual experience stimulates the release of dopamine in the brain, it seems to result in the faithful experiencing more energy (Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman, Why We Believe What We Believe, esp. p. 187; Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, esp. p. 81).
5. Gimmick
Ever wonder why Easter doesn't seem to change life much? Seeing the Risen Lord changed the life of that first-century Jew named Saul. How come it's not changing our lives like that? Pause, then state, "Easter is making a difference; it can change your life; there's a lot of things it's making you do."
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Paul, the author of the Second Lesson, is a good example of all the things Easter can make you do. He pretty much tells us that in our lesson today, as he needed to defend himself from his critics. He makes a big point that he had been a witness to the risen Lord Jesus (presumably at his conversion experience [Acts 9:3-6]) as much as any of the original followers of the Lord who saw Him risen (vv. 5-9).
* Then as a result of this experience, Paul adds, he is what he is, and that God's grace has not been in vain. He notes how hard he has worked (v. 10). Be careful: The Resurrection, Easter, can change you, make you do some things you never thought you could! Think how the encounter with the risen Lord changed Saul, that arch-persecutor of Christianity, to its greatest evangelist.
* What does the resurrection do to you, do for you? It's all pretty unbelievable. Cite the first Luther quote in Theological Insights, noting how the Resurrection gets you out of yourself (away from yourself and your ordinary perceptions). Easter truly is a miraculous experience to live with a miracle.
* Something else happens when you start forgetting about yourself; you lose the need to protect your territory, and so you can confess your sins, like Paul did (v. 9). Consult the quotation by John Wesley in Theological Insights.
* That sort of appreciation that you have fallen short, not done enough for the church, been too occasional with your commitments to Christ and His word (target your occasional worshipers on Easter as well as active members), drives you back to the grace and love of God. This is not easy to hear because most of us think we are pretty darn good people. But an awareness of our sin entails that the Easter word means that any good you ever do is God doing it for you and me. Cite the passages by John Calvin in Theological Insights.
* This awareness that all the good we have or have done is God's doing (the leading of the Holy Spirit) produces freedom and joy. Like Paul, Martin Luther says that it can produce excitement about your job, giving you the confidence to execute your job (understood as an opportunity to serve God) with clout (exercising authority). It's like the American Episcopalian Floyd Tomkins put it: "Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weaknesses and despair to strength and beauty and happiness. The things that the resurrection will make you do are awfully sweet, satisfying, and good for society."
7. Wrap-Up
Conclude by helping the congregation understand why the resurrection word (the denial of self and our accomplishments in order to become totally dependent on God's grace for any good we do) leads to the kind of joy in serving and energy we see in Paul. Use insights in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Note how the Easter word getting us away from preoccupation with the self and our circumstances gets more dopamine flowing. The result is not only positive, pleasurable feelings (happiness) but also energy. The are a lot of wonderful things the Easter word will make us do. Easter (this Easter) really can make a difference in our lives.
Sermon Text and Title
"Wow! He Has Risen"
John 20:1-18
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the joy and surprise of the Easter word (Justification by Grace through Faith), despite our sin.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The Johannine resurrection account.
* In accord with the Synoptics (except Luke 24), Mary Magdalene is given credit for first recognizing the Resurrection (or the empty tomb) (v. 1). John's version is the only gospel to claim that this happened to her alone.
* She runs to tell Simon and Peter and "the one whom Jesus loved" (John or the Christian community for which the gospel was written). She reports that the body must have been removed (v. 2). The two disciples hurriedly proceed to the tomb, with the one whom Jesus loved getting there faster than Peter (vv. 3-4).
* At first only seeking the linens that had wrapped the body of Christ, the disciples enter the empty tomb, and not understanding the biblical promises regarding the Resurrection, they return home (vv. 5-10).
* Mary remains outside the tomb weeping and angels sitting where the body of Jesus laid comfort her. She professes her agony over where the body has gone (vv. 11-13).
* With these words, Jesus appears. She does not recognize Him and His efforts to comfort her at first (vv. 14-15).
* Jesus then calls her name, and Mary recognizes Him (calling Him "rabbi"). Jesus asks her not to hold Him, because He has not yet ascended to their Father, to their God (vv. 16-17). She goes and reports these things to disciples, claiming she had seen the Lord (v. 18). John does not make clear if the disciples actually believed her testimony, since a personal appearance later in the day to them is reported (vv. 19-23).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* An examination of our sin and the surprising word of Resurrection and forgiveness (Justification by Grace through Faith).
* John Calvin claims that Peter's response to Mary's news shows that "the spirit of God works in the elect in a secret manner" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/1, p. 250).
* Calvin also contends: "… Christ is born in us, and that we, on the other hand, are born in Him…" (Ibid.).
* The Reformer also notes how the reference to the disciples not knowing the testimony of Hebrew Scripture regarding a Resurrection is a useful instruction today, that by our carelessness we are ignorant of what scriptures reveal regarding Christ (Ibid., p. 252).
* Calvin also addressed Mary's initial failure to recognize Jesus:
In Mary we have an example of the mistakes into which the human mind frequently falls. Though Christ presents Himself to our view, yet we imagine that He assumes various shapes, so that our senses conceive of any thing rather than of the true Christ; for not only are our powers of understanding liable to be deceived, but they are also bewitched by the world….
(Ibid., p. 257)
* But in Calvin's view, Mary also gives us clues about how faith works:
Thus in Mary we have a lively image of our calling, for the only way in which we are admitted to the true knowledge of Christ is, when He first knows us….
(Ibid., p. 258)
* Martin Luther points out how awesome verse 17 is, where Jesus identifies his father with the Father of His followers. Those who deserted Him and so merit punishment share His Father and God (Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/2, p. 200)!
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* The failure of the male disciples to understand what had happened that first Easter, and that it was to Mary that Jesus appeared, opens the way to a sermon on "It Takes a Woman," extolling female spiritual leadership.
5. Gimmick
Since we have grown up with it, Easter, the idea that a man could rise from the dead, is not so big a shock. But it should be. We need a little more of that "Wow" in our spiritual lives.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* It certainly was a "Wow" experience initially for Mary Magdalene. Like her, we are more inclined to look for natural explanations of things (she first thought that someone had stolen Jesus' body [v. 2]) before we consider that God might be intervening in our lives. And so the job or the house we have, the friendships and loves we have, the teachings of Jesus we have heard and believed are not so astonishing to us as they should be, if we realized how miraculous they are.
* Note the fickleness of Peter and the apostle Jesus loved. They ran to the tomb excitedly. And then, pretty unmoved by what the actual site of the miracle looked like, went home (vv. 8-10). Isn't that the way it is with us? We get excited about something, even about our faith, but after a while the enthusiasm cools off.
* Part of the problem, John's gospel reports, is that they did not yet understand the Old Testament prophetic witness to Jesus' resurrection (v. 9). That's our hang-up too. We don't read and study the Bible like we should. (Cite the fourth bullet point in Theological Insights.)
* Even after the disciples returned home and the risen Jesus actually appeared to her, Mary Magdalene still didn't really recognize Him (vv. 14-15). We've grown up with this story, and its real significance has not hit us yet. If it did we would be doing a lot more for the church, a lot more to help the world.
* Use the second quotation by John Calvin (the one concerning Mary) in Theological Insights. Stress the point about how readily our powers of understanding, our abilities to see Jesus and the work of God in everyday life, are bewitched by the things of the world.
* Invite the congregation to consider the things of the world that have bewitched them from taking Easter, the Resurrection, and the things of God seriously enough. What we need to do is go back to where we began, to come to an appreciation of how extraordinary the Resurrection of Jesus is. In a way we did that in pointing out how the idea that someone could revive from the dead is so foreign to reason and our natural ways of understanding the world. As the great theologian of the last century Karl Barth once put it: Jesus Christ (and so the resurrection) is "truly beyond our comprehension" (The Epistle to the Romans, pp. 279-280). It really is as inspirational author Carl Knudsen wrote: "The story of Easter is the story of God's wonderful window of divine surprise."
* John Calvin and Martin Luther provide some helpful insight about the wonderful, awesome character of what happened that first Easter. Read the second and last bullet points of Theological Insights. Stress the amazing character of the fact that now Christ is born in us and we in Him (the intimate fellowship we can now have with Him) and how Jesus' Father is now our Father. Wow! We clearly do not deserve such intimacy with God. Wake up to the awesome, supernatural character of everyday life. With God the Father and the Son intimately bound in our lives, they are truly supernatural and new. The Resurrection certainly changed the lives of Jesus' first followers. Think of how these all too ordinary and flawed human beings became the nucleus for the church and its worldwide impact.
7. Wrap-Up
Note that there are many miracles on Easter -- matters to surprise us and leave us in awe. The fact that a dead man could rise from the dead is the most significant of these. Don't let familiarity on your part with this miracle breed contempt (or more properly, apathy). We already noted the miracle of what Easter did to ordinary men and women who followed Jesus, how it drove them successfully to start a worldwide movement. Easter can embolden us to break with old destructive behaviors and attitudes, to overcome the sense of dull routine, the boredom and the burnout, to see life as the glorious miracle lived in the presence of a nearby God that it is! Happy Easter. WOW!
Easter surprises.
Collect of the Day
Two alternatives are provided. In the first, after praising God for delivering us from death, petitions are offered to make us die daily to sin so we might live forever in the joy of resurrection. The focus in this prayer is on Sanctification. In the second alternative, we pray that there be an increase in our hearts and minds of the risen life we share in Christ, and that we grow toward the fullness of eternal life. This prayer also focuses on Sanctification (with a growth in grace profile).
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
* A thanksgiving for deliverance in battle. One of the Egyptian Hallel Psalms used after the Passover meal.
* Praise to God and His love (vv. 1-2, 16).
* Reference to not dying but living, to being punished but not being given over to death (vv. 17-18) foreshadows the Cross-Resurrection sequence. Likewise, the concluding call to rejoicing (v. 24) suggests this Easter reading.
* Reference to the gates of righteousness and the gate the righteous enter (vv. 19-20) implies the outcome of Easter, the righteousness associated with Justification by Grace (Romans 3:21-26).
* The Christological interpretation further reflects in verses 22-23 and its reference to the stone which the builders rejected. This is frequently attributed to Christ in the New Testament (Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11; 1 Peter 2:7).
Sermon Text and Title
"The Lord Has Wiped Away All Tears"
Isaiah 25:6-9
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the joy of Easter and the resurrection (Justification by Grace and Realized Eschatology).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* A prophecy of the historical Isaiah in the late eighth century BC.
* Following a psalm of thanksgiving, the lesson is an eschatological discourse following those begun in the previous chapter. This so-called Isaiah Apocalypse prefigures references to the end of the world in Revelation.
* On the day promised, a festival is to be made for all people on Mount Zion (the site of God's rule [24:34]) (v. 6). The king usually celebrated his enthronement with feasts (1 Kings 1:24-25).
* Death is to be swallowed up forever (v. 7). This reverses the Canaanite myth that death swallows up everything (5:14).
* The Lord wipes away all tears, as well as the disgrace of His people (v. 8). Reference is made to the salvation of this people (v. 9).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* Read as prophecy of Christ's work on Easter, the text pertains to the atonement, Justification (by Grace), and Realized Eschatology (insofar Isaiah's vision of the end is applied to Easter). For more on Realized Eschatology, see the last bullet points in this section for the First Lesson, Advent 2.
* Classic View of atonement is suggested by verse 7.
* John Calvin stressed that the feast (and so Easter) was for all nations and classes (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. VII/2, p. 196).
* Martin Luther offers intriguing insights about the nature of those for whom Christ died and rose:
Since the godly are nothing but the cast-offs and off scouring and the reproach of the whole world who are rejected by all, so that nothing remains for them but sufferings without and within inflicted by the devil, O that these consolations of Christ may by all means find a place in us, so that He can console us in our wretchedness and affliction….
(Luther's Works, Vol. 16, pp. 197-198)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* On the biological virtues of experiencing a loving God, see the section of the Second Lesson, Lent 4 for references. Also see Second Lesson, Advent 1, for the positive biological impact of living with a sense of eschatological urgency.
* For statistical data on segments of American society that have been castoffs, see First Lesson, Advent 3. Also note that at the height of the Great Recession in November 2009, while about 10% of the American labor force was out of work, the figure was 16% among African Americans.
5. Gimmick
Happy Easter! But not just another Easter. The end of the world has begun! Death has been swallowed up forever (v. 7). God is wiping away all our tears (v. 9)!
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Ever feel you were at the end of your rope, that the way life was going just offered no hope at all? The recession that began late in the last decade has cost many hope for the future. Maybe it's the fear of death that has robbed hope. Introducing the congregation to Harry and family (who struggles with downsizing, declining benefits, and job-loss rumors as well as credit-card debt), Janet (in late middle age, fearing death), and teenage Janelle (whose social life in school doesn't exist, few friends, and only an average student) might be a way to illustrate these situations of hopelessness.
* The people of ancient Judah encountered such despair sometime late in the eighth century BC. Explain the background on the lessons -- how this is a prophecy of the breaking-in of the end times, written at a time when it seemed that the nation of Israel (Judah) had seen its best days.
* God sent the prophet Isaiah to His people (sent him to us) to dream of a better day -- a new day in which all the evils would be overcome. We Christians believe that the end times that the prophet depicts foreshadow what happened on that first Easter.
* After praising God (including his care for the poor and those in distress) (vv. 1-5), Isaiah began to dream of a feast on Mount Zion (a hill in Jerusalem that the Judeans since David's time had used to protect the city, also known as the mountain of the Lord) (v. 6). It seems that kings of Judah often celebrated their enthronement with such feasts. Think about this now: Was not Jesus called the king of the Jews, even by those who killed Him (John 1:19; 19:3, 15, 19, 21-22)? The feast about which Isaiah proclaims suggests Christ's coming, His triumph!
* Give the matter more thought: Are not the glorious events of Easter a sign of the end times? That's what you have to say if you apply Isaiah's vision of the end today to Easter, like the church does in assigning this lesson to be read on Easter as it does. Had our Second Lesson continued in 1 Corinthians 15, you would see how Paul equates the Resurrection with the first signs of the kingdom of God (vv. 20, 24). Jesus made this connection when at the Last Supper He said that He would not drink again until the kingdom of God came (Luke 22:18), but then after the Resurrection He took a meal when He presumably drank the fruit of the vine (Luke 24:30).
* Yes, the end comes with Easter. It is the end of the dominance of death. It no longer has the final say over life, over the empty tomb.
* Easter, this very day, is the beginning of the end! It is the first day of our new lives. Cite the quotation by Rudolf Bultmann in Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Advent 2, stressing how Easter sets us free from the past; it is a fresh start. The old destructive patterns, the fears of death, have been overcome! Isaiah promises that the Suffering Servant will and so has destroyed the shroud cast over the people, "will swallow up death forever" (v. 7).
* Inspirational author Robert Flatt has it right about Easter: "The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances."
* A fresh start, no matter the circumstances. Picking up on this theme, John Calvin noted this wonderful new reality. Cuing in on Isaiah's point in verse 4 of the chapter that the Lord is a refuge for the poor, for the needy in distress, the reformer of Geneva noted that the feast about which the prophet dreamed, that Easter, was for all nations and classes (see the citation in Theological Insights). Follow with the quotation by Martin Luther in that section, stressing how we are consoled in all our wretchedness.
* Easter is a word for and about the poor. As we celebrate the fresh start this holiday offers, as we revel in the confidence it gives that nothing is hopeless, that death is swallowed up, let's remember how we are reminded that the man in the street, the single mother in the tenement, the gang member pushing drugs has a fresh start too. An Easter spirit can't help but create a new attitude toward the poor and disenfranchised among us, maybe make us people dedicated to getting them fresh starts.
* So many wonderful hopes and dreams are initiated and realized in this festival of Easter. But perhaps best of all is that Isaiah depicts our God as giving hands-on comfort. Not only is death vanquished, comfort given, the poor comforted. Isaiah speaks in verse 6 of the Lord wiping away the tears from all faces. Wow. Easter is about a God who does not just give fresh starts, does not just give refuge and comfort, who wipes away all our tears. Can't you see that in Jesus' interactions with the women (John 20:15-16)?
7. Wrap-Up
Repeat the second part of the quotation from Luther in Theological Insights regarding the consolation God gives at Easter. Note the biological data above in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights regarding the benefits of believing in a loving God. A loving God, one that even dries our tears, implies the sort of physical contact that gets the brain to secrete an amphetamine-like brain chemical, dopamine, that acts like cocaine in giving you all sorts of good feelings and energy. Dopamine also stimulates social concern. Easter is a time for nurturing joy, for caring for others, for revving up boldly for fresh starts without fear, and for reveling in the love of a God who walks along lovingly with us!
OR
Sermon Text and Title
"Christ Rose for All"
Acts 10:34-43
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the universal character of the Resurrection and how it unites all people.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Peter's confession of the gospel justifying his efforts to convert the Gentile Cornelius in Caesarea. Cornelius summons Peter as a result of a vision (vv. 3-6), and Peter has a similar vision (vv. 7-17). Peter visits Cornelius and then proceeds with the confession (eventually culminating in the pouring out of the Spirit on Peter and other Gentiles, as well as their baptisms [vv. 44-46]).
* Peter refers to God showing no partiality, finding acceptable all with faith (vv. 34-35).
* Proceeds to recount the ministry of Jesus who preached peace and did good, healing all who were oppressed by the devil (vv. 36-38).
* Testimony is also given to Christ's death on a tree and His Resurrection, appearing to witness with whom He ate (vv. 39-41).
* He is reportedly commanded by these witnesses to preach and that whomever believes receives forgiveness of sin (vv. 42-43).
3. Theological Insights See Charts of the Major Theological Options
* The universal offer of grace provided in Christ's atoning work is affirmed.
* John Wesley noted, "[God] Is not partial in His love… He is loving to every man and wills that all men should be saved" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 480).
* Preaching on this text, Martin Luther calls it a "comforting message, a gospel of joy and grace, a message not accusing, threatening and terrifying with a vision of God's wrath for our sin, as did Moses with his doctrine of the Law" (Complete Sermons, Vol. 4/1, p. 195).
* Martin Luther King Jr. powerfully explained how Christ's work brings people together and the social and ethical implications of this. In 1967 he wrote:
But in Christ there is neither Jew not Gentile. In Christ there is neither male nor female. In Christ there is neither communist nor capitalist. In Christ, somehow there is neither bound nor free. We are all one in Christ Jesus. And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won't exploit people, we won't trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won't kill anybody.
(A Testament of Hope, p. 255)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* For data on who is exploited in America, see this section for the First Lesson, Advent 3.
* A 2007 Detroit News poll found that nearly half of the local white population preferred to live in an all-white neighborhood. For indications that crossing racial lines for social life and friendship are also not characteristically encouraged from the African-American side, see Beverly Tatum, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria.
* Note African/Black roots of the Bible, evident in the assigned Psalm.
5. Gimmick
Easter is a family day, right? Wrong! Easter is for everyone. Peter preached a sermon like that long ago.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Here's the background on Peter's sermon. He had been summoned to Caesarea, a port on the Mediterranean Sea about fifty miles to the northwest of Jerusalem, by Cornelius, a devout Gentile who was also a commanding officer in the Roman army (vv. 5-8, 17-23). Meanwhile, Peter had had a vision teaching him that the Gentiles were not unclean (vv. 10-16).
* This miraculous series of events led the apostle to give up his Jewish practices of maintaining social distance from Gentiles lest such fraternization render him impure and displease God (v. 28). He began socializing with Cornelius and his emissaries (vv. 23, 27, 29). And now we pick up with the sermon he delivered explaining his behavior.
* Okay, enough history, you might say. What of Easter? We are getting to the point. Peter does it for us.
* In his sermon explaining God's will to overcome barriers, he invokes the Resurrection (vv. 35ff). Get it? For Peter, Easter is all about overcoming barriers. Jesus rose for all!
* Peter makes this point to some extent when he says everyone who believes in Christ receives forgiveness of sins (v. 43)!
* Everyone. Easter breaks down the barriers. Christ rose for all. Cite the text by John Wesley above in Theological Insights. Easter is for everybody.
* We don't really believe that (or at least don't act that way), do we? Despite all the Christians in our nation, we still don't act like we're all in this together, do we? Cite the first two bullet points in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
* We may get along with folks of other ethnicities on the job or at a meeting, but we don't typically socialize. Sunday at worship time remains the most segregated hour in this "Christian" nation of ours. We keep bashing those immigrants who don't speak English and "those welfare chiselers," who more than likely are of a different ethnicity than ours.
* Nevertheless, Martin Luther had it right. The Easter word is a comforting message. (Use the Luther quote in Theological Insights.) What a comforting message to know that everyone can have forgiveness of sin. No one has priority.
* The fact is that this joyous Easter word is for all when you consider what transpired that first Easter. Prophesying the resurrection of Jesus, Isaiah 26:7 says that death is swallowed up. We all have to die, so if death is swallowed up, Easter impacts us all. Likewise, we have all sinned (Romans 5:19), so the forgiveness of sins affected by the resurrection must be for all (v. 43). Get it? Christ rose for all!
* Martin Luther King Jr. had it right. Cite the King quotation in Theological Insights. Christ rose for all. Easter really is for everybody. And that means that trampling people, oppressing them, failing to celebrate our unity and working to enhance it is what the empty tomb is all about.
* Forgiven sinners like us can be brave. We can be brave because we now know that we are acceptable in God's sight and that Jesus has overcome all the roadblocks. We can also be brave because we are all in this together, all heirs of the Resurrection. And in this unity, there is strength.
7. Wrap-Up
Close by noting how the unity Easter creates among human beings might change America, change the world, certainly we can be changed. It's like the ancient Greek storyteller Aesop put it: "In union there is strength." Though not a Christian, Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i faith, offers a compelling observation certainly appropriate to explaining Christianity's growth and impact on the world in view of how it brought Jew and Gentile together. He is credited with observing: "So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth." Christ rose for all. Note that we are now part of a great company of forgiven sinners who are unified and cannot any longer abide our divisions. Point out to the congregation that we celebrate Easter each Sunday, since the reason for worshiping on Sunday (rather than the Jewish Sabbath, Saturday) was to commemorate the Resurrection. Thus Easter is not over for us after today. And so the unity created by Easter is a year-round thing for us. To celebrate Easter all year is to celebrate it and work with others in unity!
Sermon Text and Title
"The Things Easter'll Make You Do"
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To reflect with the congregation on what the good news of Easter (Justification by Grace through Faith) can compel you to do (Sanctification).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* Paul addresses the question of whether there is a resurrection of the body, in response to some who deny it (v. 12). This teaching is part of the gospel he has received, Paul claims, and so to deny the resurrection would be to deny the faith that has saved the Corinthians (vv. 1-2). (This particular pericope never gets us to the verses in which Paul actually argues for a resurrection of the faithful based on the reality of Jesus' Resurrection [vv. 12ff]).
* Paul recounts this gospel. Its focus is on Christ's death for our sins in accord with scriptures (the Hebrew Bible) and the Resurrection on the third day, also in accord with scriptures (vv. 3-4). He then proceeds to list those to whom Jesus has appeared, highlight Cephas/Peter, and then adds his own name to the list as the least of the apostles (due to his earlier anti-Christian activities) (vv. 5-9).
* Paul then proceeds to defend his ministry, claiming by the grace of God he is what he is and that that grace has not been in vain. He claims to have worked harder than any of the apostles. But then he adds it was not he, but the grace of God within him, that did the work (v. 10).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* Reflections on how the good news of Easter (Justification by Grace through Faith) spontaneously leads to a life of service and ministry (Sanctification).
* Martin Luther contends that in order to believe the resurrection of Jesus we must transcend feeling and understanding. "For reason does no more than merely to observe the facts as they appear to the eye, namely, that the world has stood so long, that one person dies after another, remains dead, decomposes, and crumbles to dust in the grave…" (Luther's Works, Vol. 28, p. 69).
* Noting Paul's reference to his days of persecuting the church (v. 9), John Wesley stated: "True believers are humbled all their lives, even for the sins they committed before they believed" (Commentary on the Bible, p. 521).
* John Calvin insists that the reference in verse 10 to the grace of God not being in vain does not entail that we should divide the praise for God and Paul, for all praise ought to be ascribe wholly to God. For "He confers upon us not merely the power of doing well, but also the inclination and the accomplishment" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XX/2, p. 15):
Let us learn, therefore, that we have nothing that is good, but what the Lord has graciously given us… not that we do nothing ourselves, but that we do nothing without being influenced -- that is, under the guidance and impulse of the Holy Spirit.
(Ibid., p. 16)
* Luther refers to Paul boasting in verse 10 and claims that everyone must be able to boast in his own vocation that God put him or her there to serve, and correspondingly exercise appropriate authority (Luther's Works, Vol. 28, p. 92).
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* Insofar as spiritual experience stimulates the release of dopamine in the brain, it seems to result in the faithful experiencing more energy (Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman, Why We Believe What We Believe, esp. p. 187; Daniel Amen, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, esp. p. 81).
5. Gimmick
Ever wonder why Easter doesn't seem to change life much? Seeing the Risen Lord changed the life of that first-century Jew named Saul. How come it's not changing our lives like that? Pause, then state, "Easter is making a difference; it can change your life; there's a lot of things it's making you do."
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* Paul, the author of the Second Lesson, is a good example of all the things Easter can make you do. He pretty much tells us that in our lesson today, as he needed to defend himself from his critics. He makes a big point that he had been a witness to the risen Lord Jesus (presumably at his conversion experience [Acts 9:3-6]) as much as any of the original followers of the Lord who saw Him risen (vv. 5-9).
* Then as a result of this experience, Paul adds, he is what he is, and that God's grace has not been in vain. He notes how hard he has worked (v. 10). Be careful: The Resurrection, Easter, can change you, make you do some things you never thought you could! Think how the encounter with the risen Lord changed Saul, that arch-persecutor of Christianity, to its greatest evangelist.
* What does the resurrection do to you, do for you? It's all pretty unbelievable. Cite the first Luther quote in Theological Insights, noting how the Resurrection gets you out of yourself (away from yourself and your ordinary perceptions). Easter truly is a miraculous experience to live with a miracle.
* Something else happens when you start forgetting about yourself; you lose the need to protect your territory, and so you can confess your sins, like Paul did (v. 9). Consult the quotation by John Wesley in Theological Insights.
* That sort of appreciation that you have fallen short, not done enough for the church, been too occasional with your commitments to Christ and His word (target your occasional worshipers on Easter as well as active members), drives you back to the grace and love of God. This is not easy to hear because most of us think we are pretty darn good people. But an awareness of our sin entails that the Easter word means that any good you ever do is God doing it for you and me. Cite the passages by John Calvin in Theological Insights.
* This awareness that all the good we have or have done is God's doing (the leading of the Holy Spirit) produces freedom and joy. Like Paul, Martin Luther says that it can produce excitement about your job, giving you the confidence to execute your job (understood as an opportunity to serve God) with clout (exercising authority). It's like the American Episcopalian Floyd Tomkins put it: "Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weaknesses and despair to strength and beauty and happiness. The things that the resurrection will make you do are awfully sweet, satisfying, and good for society."
7. Wrap-Up
Conclude by helping the congregation understand why the resurrection word (the denial of self and our accomplishments in order to become totally dependent on God's grace for any good we do) leads to the kind of joy in serving and energy we see in Paul. Use insights in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Note how the Easter word getting us away from preoccupation with the self and our circumstances gets more dopamine flowing. The result is not only positive, pleasurable feelings (happiness) but also energy. The are a lot of wonderful things the Easter word will make us do. Easter (this Easter) really can make a difference in our lives.
Sermon Text and Title
"Wow! He Has Risen"
John 20:1-18
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the joy and surprise of the Easter word (Justification by Grace through Faith), despite our sin.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
* The Johannine resurrection account.
* In accord with the Synoptics (except Luke 24), Mary Magdalene is given credit for first recognizing the Resurrection (or the empty tomb) (v. 1). John's version is the only gospel to claim that this happened to her alone.
* She runs to tell Simon and Peter and "the one whom Jesus loved" (John or the Christian community for which the gospel was written). She reports that the body must have been removed (v. 2). The two disciples hurriedly proceed to the tomb, with the one whom Jesus loved getting there faster than Peter (vv. 3-4).
* At first only seeking the linens that had wrapped the body of Christ, the disciples enter the empty tomb, and not understanding the biblical promises regarding the Resurrection, they return home (vv. 5-10).
* Mary remains outside the tomb weeping and angels sitting where the body of Jesus laid comfort her. She professes her agony over where the body has gone (vv. 11-13).
* With these words, Jesus appears. She does not recognize Him and His efforts to comfort her at first (vv. 14-15).
* Jesus then calls her name, and Mary recognizes Him (calling Him "rabbi"). Jesus asks her not to hold Him, because He has not yet ascended to their Father, to their God (vv. 16-17). She goes and reports these things to disciples, claiming she had seen the Lord (v. 18). John does not make clear if the disciples actually believed her testimony, since a personal appearance later in the day to them is reported (vv. 19-23).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
* An examination of our sin and the surprising word of Resurrection and forgiveness (Justification by Grace through Faith).
* John Calvin claims that Peter's response to Mary's news shows that "the spirit of God works in the elect in a secret manner" (Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/1, p. 250).
* Calvin also contends: "… Christ is born in us, and that we, on the other hand, are born in Him…" (Ibid.).
* The Reformer also notes how the reference to the disciples not knowing the testimony of Hebrew Scripture regarding a Resurrection is a useful instruction today, that by our carelessness we are ignorant of what scriptures reveal regarding Christ (Ibid., p. 252).
* Calvin also addressed Mary's initial failure to recognize Jesus:
In Mary we have an example of the mistakes into which the human mind frequently falls. Though Christ presents Himself to our view, yet we imagine that He assumes various shapes, so that our senses conceive of any thing rather than of the true Christ; for not only are our powers of understanding liable to be deceived, but they are also bewitched by the world….
(Ibid., p. 257)
* But in Calvin's view, Mary also gives us clues about how faith works:
Thus in Mary we have a lively image of our calling, for the only way in which we are admitted to the true knowledge of Christ is, when He first knows us….
(Ibid., p. 258)
* Martin Luther points out how awesome verse 17 is, where Jesus identifies his father with the Father of His followers. Those who deserted Him and so merit punishment share His Father and God (Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/2, p. 200)!
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
* The failure of the male disciples to understand what had happened that first Easter, and that it was to Mary that Jesus appeared, opens the way to a sermon on "It Takes a Woman," extolling female spiritual leadership.
5. Gimmick
Since we have grown up with it, Easter, the idea that a man could rise from the dead, is not so big a shock. But it should be. We need a little more of that "Wow" in our spiritual lives.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
* It certainly was a "Wow" experience initially for Mary Magdalene. Like her, we are more inclined to look for natural explanations of things (she first thought that someone had stolen Jesus' body [v. 2]) before we consider that God might be intervening in our lives. And so the job or the house we have, the friendships and loves we have, the teachings of Jesus we have heard and believed are not so astonishing to us as they should be, if we realized how miraculous they are.
* Note the fickleness of Peter and the apostle Jesus loved. They ran to the tomb excitedly. And then, pretty unmoved by what the actual site of the miracle looked like, went home (vv. 8-10). Isn't that the way it is with us? We get excited about something, even about our faith, but after a while the enthusiasm cools off.
* Part of the problem, John's gospel reports, is that they did not yet understand the Old Testament prophetic witness to Jesus' resurrection (v. 9). That's our hang-up too. We don't read and study the Bible like we should. (Cite the fourth bullet point in Theological Insights.)
* Even after the disciples returned home and the risen Jesus actually appeared to her, Mary Magdalene still didn't really recognize Him (vv. 14-15). We've grown up with this story, and its real significance has not hit us yet. If it did we would be doing a lot more for the church, a lot more to help the world.
* Use the second quotation by John Calvin (the one concerning Mary) in Theological Insights. Stress the point about how readily our powers of understanding, our abilities to see Jesus and the work of God in everyday life, are bewitched by the things of the world.
* Invite the congregation to consider the things of the world that have bewitched them from taking Easter, the Resurrection, and the things of God seriously enough. What we need to do is go back to where we began, to come to an appreciation of how extraordinary the Resurrection of Jesus is. In a way we did that in pointing out how the idea that someone could revive from the dead is so foreign to reason and our natural ways of understanding the world. As the great theologian of the last century Karl Barth once put it: Jesus Christ (and so the resurrection) is "truly beyond our comprehension" (The Epistle to the Romans, pp. 279-280). It really is as inspirational author Carl Knudsen wrote: "The story of Easter is the story of God's wonderful window of divine surprise."
* John Calvin and Martin Luther provide some helpful insight about the wonderful, awesome character of what happened that first Easter. Read the second and last bullet points of Theological Insights. Stress the amazing character of the fact that now Christ is born in us and we in Him (the intimate fellowship we can now have with Him) and how Jesus' Father is now our Father. Wow! We clearly do not deserve such intimacy with God. Wake up to the awesome, supernatural character of everyday life. With God the Father and the Son intimately bound in our lives, they are truly supernatural and new. The Resurrection certainly changed the lives of Jesus' first followers. Think of how these all too ordinary and flawed human beings became the nucleus for the church and its worldwide impact.
7. Wrap-Up
Note that there are many miracles on Easter -- matters to surprise us and leave us in awe. The fact that a dead man could rise from the dead is the most significant of these. Don't let familiarity on your part with this miracle breed contempt (or more properly, apathy). We already noted the miracle of what Easter did to ordinary men and women who followed Jesus, how it drove them successfully to start a worldwide movement. Easter can embolden us to break with old destructive behaviors and attitudes, to overcome the sense of dull routine, the boredom and the burnout, to see life as the glorious miracle lived in the presence of a nearby God that it is! Happy Easter. WOW!
