CELC The Resurection of Our Lord, Easter Sunday

The Resurrection of Our Lord, Easter Day – March 27, 2005

Matthew 28:1-10

The long awaited day is here. Christ is raised and you gather to give thanks to God. Christ is raised and nothing remains the same. Christ is raised and all rejoice. You loudly sing “Alleluia,” praising God for all that you are given in the risen Christ: grace, forgiveness, life and salvation. How blessed you are. How easy it becomes for you to join the psalmist and proclaim, “O give thanks to the Lord!”

You give thanks to the Lord for taking what was meant for evil and making it good. Recall Joseph from the Old Testament. The youngest of twelve sons, he is sold into slavery by his jealous brothers; yet he goes from the pit in which they placed him to the pinnacle of power in Egypt. It was a rocky road certainly, but who of you has not known a few rocks in the roadway, a few boulders in the boulevard?

Joseph finds himself in power. Because of famine, his brothers are starving and come begging. Time and famine in the land have changed everything. Once Joseph was oppressed by his brothers; now he has the upper hand. He could get even. He could be the oppressor.

As the story ends, Jacob, Joseph’s father, has died. The brothers are very anxious. They are afraid that with their father dead Joseph will now get even. They are afraid Joseph will bear a grudge against them. Instead he assures them that what they meant for evil, God used for good. Joseph says to his brothers: “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.”

Indeed, that is what God is doing today: preserving the faithful. The world took our Lord Jesus and did harm, hanging him on a cross, a painful death. But, God made it good. God raised Jesus from the dead and promises you the same resurrected life now and forever. Today, God makes good on the best evil can do. Today, God has the victory over death itself.

So, you give thanks to God. You give thanks to the Lord that when you become like the prodigal son and wander off into your own selfish desires, God welcomes you back. It is called forgiveness. Like a loving father God welcomes you back from your wandering and foolishness.

Such love makes you shout out with the psalmist, “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!” Yes, God’s steadfast love endures even your foolish wandering. How blessed you are to be so loved by God.

There are times, though, where you feel you could be like St. Paul. Remember that he was persecuting the early Christians, even present when Stephen, the first Christian martyr was stoned to death.

It was Paul who would later say, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Can you say to Paul’s insight, “been there, done that?” Can you say, “The good I would do, I do not do?”

Yes, you know that as our Lord Jesus turned St. Paul from persecutor to proclaimer, God in Christ likewise turns you from your old self, steeped in sin, to a new person of grace and love. Today is the glorious day of the resurrection of Jesus. As he lives you, too, live in grace and love that is never ending, and always unconditional.

The message of the day is that God is at work granting life where there is death. God is at work calling back those who have wandered and those who are struggling each and every day. God is at work loving those who hold grudges against a brother or others. Today is the day where God in Christ promises you forgiveness that makes possible a new life for you.

This miracle is possible because the proclamation of the angel is true: “He has been raised from the dead.” Indeed, Christ is raised and you are never the same. In the promise of resurrected life you are gathered to be the reconciled, forgiving and merciful people of God.

Makes you want to shout, “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!” Amen.

Pastor Robert F. Holley