A sermon based on Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 and Matthew 28:1-10
In the name of Jesus; amen.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Today is the day that God made. But then God made all the days. It began when God separated the light from the darkness and called the light day. It happened in the creation of the world before time began when there was nothing but chaos and God’s spirit floated over the waters and said: “Let me make something brand new.”
Like that first day, this is a day that God made. It is a day meant for rejoicing, because on this day, like the very first day, God made something brand new.
And like everything else that God made it was given to us.
This is the day that the Lord has made… for us!
There is no other day in our history as a people of faith more important than this one. You could argue the importance of Christmas. Jesus being born in a manger was a necessary moment. We needed God to become incarnate, to become human and to do it in the exact circumstances in which it happened.
You could argue the importance of the day Jesus was baptized. It was the catalyst to his ministry, the moment that it began. We needed to hear the message of God’s love and acceptance for all people. We needed to know that Jesus went down into the waters just as we go into the waters of baptism and that Jesus went out to share the good news just as we are called to go out and share the good news.
You could argue the importance of Good Friday. Jesus’ death on the cross was his final act of obedience to God in his life, but it was for our sake that he was willing to suffer. And we needed to know just how far God was willing to go for us; that God is willing to even go to the grave for us.
You could argue the importance of the Ascension. When Jesus is taken up into heaven to sit at the right hand of God we know that he is judging over us in love and grace.
You could argue the importance of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit comes the Church is born, the place where we worship and find community, where we share all our sorrows and joys…
But Easter is the day. It is the day that God made like no other, when creation was begun again in resurrection. Without this day we would not be gathered here singing and shouting Alleluia, because the message would have been lost in a long forgotten cult.
Without Easter the disciples would have dispersed back to their families and their jobs. They would have spent the rest of their days fishing and reminiscing about the days they spent with Jesus.
Without Easter the women would have cried at the tomb, their hands pressed against the stone that sealed away his body. They too would have gone back to their families and their jobs of bearing children and cooking dinners. They would have spent the rest of their days wondering what might have been had it not been for that awful day outside the walls of Jerusalem.
Without Easter, the day that the Lord God made, there would have been no more of this radical message of love and welcome and acceptance and forgiveness as Jesus taught it.
But God made this day, the day when the stone was rolled away from the tomb and an angel proclaimed the good news that Jesus had been raised from the dead. God made this day when mournful women fell to the ground not from grief, but in worship. God made this day when the disciples were sent to Galilee, not to run from those who wanted to kill them but in order to see their friend Jesus raised from the dead.
God made this day for all our days. Because there was the first Easter the incarnation means that God is with us always. Because there was the first Easter our baptisms are not simple baths but rituals of adoption into God’s family. Because there was the first Easter the horrible day that Jesus died is called “good.” Because there was the first Easter Jesus didn’t just go up into heaven, but is seated at the right hand of the Father and will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. Because there was the first Easter the Church is a place of community where we find forgiveness and new life.
Because there was the first Easter we know that each day is a day that we live with this incredible message that Jesus gave us. God made Easter for us so that the message of love would continue. Without Easter Jesus’ words of forgiving one another, turning the other cheek, welcoming children, caring for our neighbor, healing the sick, treating those different from us with value, feeding the hungry, visiting those in prison, helping the poor and honoring God would have been lost in the grief of those who followed him.
But there was Easter and God made it for us so that this amazing message of how God loves us does not die, but live.
Because Jesus rose from the dead the message of God’s love lives in each of us. We are the reason that God made this day to rejoice in. We are the reason why Jesus was born and lived and died and lived again.
We are the reason that God made this day. It was for those who first followed Jesus and it is for us and for those who follow him even after we are gone. God made this day so that the word would not be lost; the word alleluia, and the word grace, and the word love.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Rejoice and be glad because Easter happened; that day happened so that we might experience resurrection not just after our deaths but in the right now of our lives.
The message that God cares for and accepts us and the message that we are to care for others and accept them is a message for every day because it is a resurrection message.
The message that God feeds us and the message that we are to feed others is a message for every day because it is a resurrection message.
The message that God is present with us and that we are to be there for others is a message for every day because it is a resurrection message.
The message that we are loved and that we are to love one another is a message for every day because it is a resurrection message.
The message that “Christ is risen” and that we too will arise is a message for every day because it is a resurrection message.
This is the day that the Lord has made; God made it just for us, a gift for the world, a message of love everlasting for each and every day. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen!
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