And I Hope

Opening Prayer

Lord, we have arrived on this day to be in your presence to celebrate Christ’s triumph over death. As the sun rises this glorious morning, so does your Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ. We have anticipated this Easter celebration for the past 40 days as we have wandered in the wilderness with Peter through the days of Lent. Today, with Christ’s Resurrection, we come to this place of worship to renew our hope that death is the beginning, not the end. We reaffirm our faith in Jesus Christ, as our Savior, who gave his life so we can live NOW in the kingdom of God. Yes. Death is real, but not the final word. Life gets the final word, and today, we celebrate with joy and thanksgiving. Lord, thank you for the rising Sun to brighten this day and your rising Son, Christ Jesus, who will brighten this day and all days forever more. Amen.

Sermon

Today’s lesson is Luke 24:1-12. I will read the ESV text, which differs slightly from your Bible's.

Luke 24:1–12 ESV

1But on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb at early dawn, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 As they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, seven that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third-day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, nine and returning FROM the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves and went home, marveling at what had happened.

Today is Easter Sunday, the first day of the week and the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. We celebrate this day in unity with all Christians everywhere as the most significant day in the life of Christ's followers. Without the events on this day 2000 years ago, we would only celebrate a change of season. Thankfully, we celebrate a risen Christ who has defeated death. When we celebrate Christ's resurrection, we celebrate resurrection hope, the hope that God is who he says he is and does what he says he will do. Today, of all days, we have irrefutable proof of God’s supernatural power. How can we believe otherwise? Jesus was alive just as each of us sitting here is today, and then he died a horrible, human death, not a fake death. He left this life, not gone forever, but alive forever. In accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, there is a new hope for life in eternity.

As we read the resurrection story, I am not convinced that the disciples of Jesus were paying attention to what Jesus had been telling them for months. As we follow Peter's wanderings, recall Matthew 16:21-23 when Jesus told his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem to be killed and be raised on the third day. Peter did not accept that fact and even boldly told Jesus that that would not happen. Not surprisingly, Jesus turns to Peter and says, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” Yes, I think Jesus is precisely correct. As humans, don’t we have human concerns? Who would want their best friend to die? We don’t hope for death. We are always concerned for our health, family, livelihood, safety, and friendships. I am not embarrassed to be human and think of myself and my feelings, just like Peter. It takes hope to believe everything will work out fine. How often do we say, “I hope I get that job.” “I hope I won’t be afraid when I go to the hospital.” “I hope I will behave myself.” Over time, I have learned about hope through faith in God.

After Jesus was placed in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy Jewish man who belonged to the Sanhedrin or Council that called for the crucifixion of Jesus, Mary Magedeline and the other women made plans to bring spices and ointment to anoint Jesus’s body as part of the Jewish burial ritual, hoping to accomplish that task after the Sabbath. When they arrived at the tomb with spices and oils, they did not expect the body of Jesus to be gone. Where, why, how, and who would be at least 4 questions to ask. When shiny guard people said that Christ had risen from the dead, the women went to tell the apostles.

Thankfully, after Peter remembered what Jesus had told him about rising after three days, he ran towards the tomb, most likely thinking, “Amazing, AND I HOPE it is true.” Yes, Peter had resurrection hope! He never wanted Jesus to die. But hope of the resurrection meant Jesus could never die again. When Peter saw the linen cloths lying where Jesus’s body had been, that was the proof he needed, and he was glad. At the end of Luke 24, it states that Peter went home “ marveling at what had happened.” Peter needed time to sort out what happened because of the empty tomb.

For Peter, the resurrection changed everything. In 1 Peter 1:3, Peter said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…”

The question for us today is, how has resurrection changed us? Do we find hope in being transformed as Jesus was transformed from life to death to life? The Resurrection of Jesus Christ has provided humankind with the only example of putting down death to raise up life to become more alive to love, worship, and forgiveness. Luke 9:24 reflects Jesus’s hope:

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

Accepting the resurrection means having hope that we can change. And I hope…really hope… that everyone becomes open this day to the eternal goodness of God. Amen.

To celebrate what Jesus has done and what he means for our lives, we shall now come to the Table to eat bread that represents Jesus’s broken body and to drink wine that represents Jesus’s spilled blood on the cross in remembrance of Him.