Resurrection Day!
Holy Week
The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” Matthew 28:5-7
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him. Luke 24:13-16
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24:45-47
“He is risen!”
“He is risen indeed!”
These universal words are spoken thoughtfully throughout the Christian kingdom on Easter Sunday morning. We shout these words! We will repeat these words several times! There is such joy in serving the risen savior!
Yesterday, the day of uncertainty, gives way to the victorious risen savior!
I’ve heard as many Easter morning sermons as I’ve been alive. Every year of my life I have been in church on Easter Sunday morning. I can’t imagine being anywhere but with God’s people to celebrate the risen Savior. This celebration means different things to different people.
As a young adult, I heard a pastor speak about the Emmaus Road experience. He concluded his message with, “He is here. He is right here, now, with us.” It was incredibly moving to see myself along the Emmaus Road and not recognizing when Christ was actually (and is actually) beside me. Even now, even here, even in whatever my circumstances might be (and yours), Christ is here. Christ is beside me. He is beside you too.
Jesus’ resurrection shows us the beginning of a new world. A world that God had always intended for his creation. Jesus was thoroughly dead. The Roman executioners were experts at killing would-be rebel leaders. Jesus was dead and buried behind a very large stone in a tomb hewn from stone. He was not half alive when buried. He was completely dead.2
Likewise, when Jesus appears to the women and the disciples, he was completely alive. He was not a ghost or apparition. He had a body that could be touched. He had a body that needed food. But there was something different. We have to acknowledge that too. Somehow, he appeared in the upper room. He appeared and disappeared to the men on the road to Emmaus. He told Mary not to touch him and yet, he told Thomas to touch the scars in his hands and his pierced side. He cooked breakfast for the disciples along the shore and spoke with love, grace, and forgiveness to Peter.2
We tend to divide things up into categories like solid, human, alive and that which is unsubstantial, non-human, and ethereal. We do the same with our concepts of earthly and heavenly. To the Jews of this first century earth and heaven were much closer to each other. The Temple was the place where these two ideas came together and interlocked. We tend to believe in the Plato idea of heaven being totally beyond our reach and it is nonphysical, beyond space and time. Ancient Israelite scriptures explained heaven and earth as twin halves of God’s created reality, designed to come together eventually. What if that is the reality?2
Jesus birthed a new creation. He defeated that which tyrannized the old creation – that is he defeated death. God’s kingdom is now launched in power and glory, on earth as in heaven!2
Jesus brought a new power into the world. A power to heal the sick and fix the broken, to restore what was lost. He inaugurated this strangely and partially while he walked on this earth during his public ministry. He has let loose the power in a totally new way, in a new dimension. This resurrection is the beginning of the new creation – where we who believe become new creatures in Christ! Jesus is the prototype – new heart, new soul, new body, and new mind! A new creation has begun; and love is its motivating power.
“He is Risen!”
“He is Risen, Indeed!”