He is not Here; He is Risen!

Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” And they remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.

It’s Easter time again. And again we are challenged with what Easter is all about. In some circles, robed choirs, priests and congregations go through the prescribed Easter ritual, some of which goes back nearly two thousand years. I have found Easter services such at that held at Westminster Abbey to be inspiring. the great hymns of the faith are sung. there is the sound of royal trumpeters, and the thunder of the pipe organ is heard. The canonical Easter texts are read. there seems to be a sense of joy on people’s faces. It is a splendid show. If you want great theater, you will find it among the Brits. Yet, under the surface, something is terribly wrong. British society is badly fractured. One rank of society is set against another. Inflation is rampant. there is war mongering going on. One wonders is the Empire of which was said the sun never is setting for good. is the day coming that the sun will no longer rise on the British Empire anywhere again.

Now, I don’t want to single out the British here. there are many other places in this world where a good Easter show will be had, including here in America. America, like the UK, once called itself a “”Christian nation.” One can argue from the past how “Christian” Christian” is, but the rejection of the Christian faith is becoming rampant in this country. Christians here face the true prospects today of severe persecution. So it behooves the remnant here to understand what the message of Easter.

The first thing we must come to grips is that Easter is really a poor name for this Sunday, The name itself comes after the goddess Astarte (Asherah) which is a pagan fertility goddess. The pagan roots of Easter go far before the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Some of the “innocent” tokens of this holiday represented the fertility of the earth by rabbits and colored eggs. Parts of these rites of spring were R and even X rated. The Bible does not look favorably upon the rites of Baal and Asherah. Yet when the Roman Empire became “Christian,” the more innocent practices of the ancient Pagan Easter practices were incorporated into the Church. There was some degree of good intention by those in the church who tried to incorporate these practice as a means of analogy to teach the newly “converted” Christians to understand what the Christian Easter was all about. the idea of new life from the old festival is compared to the new life of the Christian. But the message “He is Risen” is much more profound than this.

Along with the good theater of the Easter service, the churches often have Easter egg hunts for the children. The good intention is to attract the young people to come to church with their parents. It is hoped that these would be drawn into the life of the Church and the profession of faith in Jesus Christ. I can’t say that this does not happen on occasion, but in my career as a pastor, I cannot name a single person who came to Christ and the Church because of an Easter egg hunt. The message of “He is risen” does not penetrate the surface of our rituals.

It’s Easter time again. It is time for the “Chreaster” Christians to make their semi-annual pilgrimage to church. Christmas and Easter are often the only two days that they come to church at all. Even this is dwindling rapidly. More will come to the Christmas play or the Christmas Eve service. It is easier to deal with a baby in a manger than with the risen Christ who will judge the living and the dead. There is a big difference between Jesus as an infant, God in the hands and care of people than people in the hands of the judge of all. The audience which Paul preached to at Mars Hill listened until he told them that Anastasia was not the female consort of Jesus but a historical event in which Jesus rose from the dead. the fact that this resurrection qualified Jesus to be their judge was more than they could stand.

Our pageant of our Easter service rightly proclaims that Jesus rose from the dead, but soft pedals His right to judge the living and the dead. There is certain hope for the Christian because of the resurrection of Jesus. But there is certain condemnation of those who are not, unless they repent. It should make everyone more serious about the Resurrection. It is no casual holiday.

It’s Easter time again. And if our theater is insufficient without faith to save us, even though the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus are read, theologically appropriate hymns sung, and artistically beautiful worship are not sufficient, then where do other views about Easter stand? First of all, one must believe in the historical and bodily resurrection of Jesus. There are some who hold to some “spiritual” resurrection of Jesus such as “Jesus lives in my heart.” But while there is symbolic value to the resurrection, we must also remember that Mary Magdalene grasped the feet of the bodily resurrected Jesus. Jesus invited the eleven to grope Him and even ate food in their presence. He was not a phantom.

Nor is the resurrection a yearly celebration in which we remember that the apparently dead and leafless trees spring back to life. Those trees were not truly dead, only the sap was drawn back into the roots and trunk unto spring. But Jesus truly died and was buried. The Pagan worshipers of Baal and Asherah mourned the death of their gods every winter and celebrated their resurrection every spring. One of the places in which this was celebrated was at a place called Caesarea Philippi in Jesus’ day. there was a large rock outcropping there under which was cave which one of the sources of the Jordan River flowed, It was called the “Gates of Hades.” (hell) There was a Greek Temple dedicated to the Greek God, Pan, in that day. But previously there was a temple dedicated to Baal and Asherah. Every year they retreated into the cave and died for the winter. In the spring, they came forth alive to bring fertility to the earth. Jesus died and was buried in a hand hewn cave in the rock. the same word “petra” is used in both Matthew 16 and here. But unlike the symbolic death of fake gods, Jesus truly is God, and truly human as well, who died and was buried. And unlike a the symbolic resurrection of these fake gods, Jesus emerged from His rock hewn tomb, once, never to return. He ascended on the 40th day after showing Himself alive on many occasions to the apostles and other selected believers. He is enthroned at the right hand of the Father. He lives for evermore, never to return to the tomb again. His resurrection brings far greater a gift than seedtime and harvest.

Jesus came to bring eternal life to His followers. Some try to water down “eternal life” from its traditional understanding to the translation “life of the age.” In other words, it is not the eternal quantity of life but a higher quality and consciousness of life. Salvation is no longer seen in culminating in our own bodily resurrection to be with Jesus forever. Rather is is seen as some sort of temporal healing from brokenness. Although Jesus brings us a higher quality of life, He also tells us that this life will be unending as well “He is Risen!” We, too, shall rise.

It’s Easter time again. And it is so sad than many ministers I have worked with over the years have lost their grip on the importance and joy of this day. I even heard one who could not think of any text to use for Easter, This person had used them all before, so it was kind of boring to tell the story again. This minister decided to preach from “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” instead. What a sad commentary. bored of the Easter message! With all due respect to C. S. Lewis, a determined Atheist who became a Christian, it is just not appropriate to substitute his allegory of the Christian faith for the clear annunciation of “He is not Here. He is Risen!” This is the life giving message of the Bible.

It’s Easter time again. Let us have our vigils and our pageantry of true worship. Let us sing the hymns with a renewed joy. Let us hear the readings from the Scripture concerning Easter with renewed commitment. Let us have the true joy which never bores. We may be creatures just like the people at Mars Hill who were bored with their philosophies and wanted to hear something new. But there is no need for novelty when it comes to the Easter message. We must remember that telling the old, old story makes us new creatures in Christ.

It is going to take more than the Easter mask of pageantry to deal with the difficulties we are facing today. what we believe about Easter will be revealed in the Monday following Easter when the news blares about wars and rumors of wars, upcoming recession, bank failures, moral decay and all the other issues which makes us depressed. We don’t need to don the Easter mask. We must instead put on Christ and rest in His promises, even when it seems like Good Friday to us. We know that He is not here, His is risen. We too shall rise from death and suffering. This does not negate suffering and difficulties, but it does give us sustaining hope. So let us celebrate Easter every day.