Easter Day, April 11, 2004
Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 51:9-11; Psalm 118:14-29 or 118:14-17, 22-24; Col. 3:1-4 or Acts 10:34-43; Luke 24:1-10.
When the women who came to the tomb at early dawn with spices they had prepared, and found the stone rolled back and Jesus’ body missing, they were “perplexed” (24:4). When they saw “two men in dazzling clothes” standing beside them, they were “terrified” and “bowed their faces to the ground” (24:5). Under the circumstances, these responses are certainly understandable and to be expected. The hope that they and all of Jesus’ disciples had had, that Jesus “was the one to redeem Israel” (24:21), by his death had been dashed beyond any human hope. The resurrection, however, sent all merely human hope reeling.
By the resurrection of Jesus, God changed everything in the world. Therefore, all the other lessons for this magnificent day proclaim boundless delight: “Everlasting joy shall be upon” the heads of “the ransomed of the Lord”; “they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isaiah 51:11). “Everyone who believes in him shall receive forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:43). “When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Col. 3:4). Two days earlier, the earth had become dark at midday during the crucifixion; now the world burst with life and exulted in its new cleanliness. The meaning of the resurrection is not just “The tomb is empty!” or even, “Christ is risen!” It is, “The old order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21:4b), and “What is mortal must put on immortality” (1 Cor. 15:53).
The resurrection is not only a statement about Jesus; it is a statement about humanity and the world. Jesus did not come to us for his own sake, but for ours. What began with perplexity and terror quickly became cosmic joy, once it was known and believed that Jesus was raised. Now and to the end of the ages there is no time, place, or event in which God cannot be found by those who look; those who look far enough find that all paths of healing lead to Jesus, by whom all are saved who shall be saved. And the means of all healing is always, ultimately, love; and all loves are radiances and extensions of the one great act of love for all time — the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Look It Up
Read Daniel 12:1-3 and 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8, lessons appointed for Easter Day in the evening, and see what each teaches about the need to change one’s life in the light of the resurrection.
Think About It
Luke 24:27 reports that Jesus, while walking with two disciples, interpreted the scriptures (meaning the Old Testament) wherever they referred to himself. Where do we find Christ in the Old Testament? Why did Jesus expect the two disciples to be familiar with and understand how these passages referred to him?
Next Sunday
The Second Sunday of Easter, April 18, 2004
Acts 5:12a,17-22,25-29 or Job 42:1-6; Psalm 111 or 118:19-24; Rev. 1:(1-8)9-19 or Acts 5:12a,17-22,25-29; John 20:19-31
