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The Gospel of Matthew Bible Studies
The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
The Book of Acts Bible Studies
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
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The Resurrection of Our Lord - Easter
Day (C) Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) Let’s say it again! CHRIST IS RISEN! (HE IS RISEN INDEED!) Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen! We begin our celebration of Easter in the same way that millions, yes even billions of our fellow Christians all over the world are doing today – by sharing joyful greetings of praise! And it is certainly good for us to do so. But in a way, it almost seems artificial – as if we have flipped on a light switch in a dark room, and suddenly – PRESTO! – the darkness becomes light and everything is different (in the same way that our church sanctuary here which was so bare on Good Friday is now decorated to the hilt!). But that is not the way Easter actually happened. It began in the same way that our gospel last week ended – with a group of women who wanted to pay their last respects to a dead Jesus. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James and others had prepared spices and ointments for the purpose of anointing Jesus’ body according to Jewish burial custom. No, that first Easter did not start out with an explosion of joyous “Alleluias”. It started with an assumption that Jesus was dead, just as he had been at the end of Good Friday. All of the grief, sadness, and fear that those women had felt on Good Friday were still surrounding them. And then to make things worse, the women discovered that Jesus’ body was gone. No, there was not much joy at the beginning of that first Easter morning! Isn’t that like many of us may be feeling on this Easter morning?! Sometimes we talk about Easter as if it erases what happened on Good Friday – much like the “delete” key on a computer. But deep down, we know that even after all the lights come on and all of the joyful Easter hymns are sung we are still living in a Good Friday world. We may proclaim that Christ is risen, but that really does not change the way things are around us. So it was for the women at the tomb on that first Easter morning. Two men in dazzling clothes (later identified in Luke’s gospel as angels) tell them that Jesus, whom they thought was dead, has RISEN! The angels also remind the women of Jesus’ own words to them while he was still in Galilee that he must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. And as Luke tells us; “Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.” (Lk. 24:6-8) Yes, the women become very excited as they are reminded of and then remember Jesus’ words! What wonderful and incredible news they had to share! But as I have said, they were still living in a Good Friday world – and the response of the eleven apostles and the others with them was unbelief. As our gospel puts it; “But these words seemed to them an idle tale (the Greek word actually means the babblings of a fevered and insane mind!), and they did not believe them.” (Lk.24:11) What a letdown that must have been for those women! So ends the Easter story according to St. Luke. To be honest, if it had been up to me I personally would have liked the story to have a bit different. I would have liked for the women to have actually seen Jesus walking out of that tomb – just like Lazarus had done in the eleventh chapter of John’s gospel. Think about the impression that would have made – to have actually seen the man whom they knew to have died now alive again! THAT would have been like flipping on the lights in a dark room! THAT would have been really something! In the Easter account from John’s gospel, this actually happens. Mary Magdalene gets to see Jesus with her own eyes and even touches him. She then goes and tells the apostles that “I have seen the Lord.” (Jn. 20:18) (Not just “heard” the news that the Lord has risen!) But not so in Luke’s version of the Easter story. The women never actually get to see the risen Jesus – at least at first. The only “proof” that they receive is a reminder about what Jesus had told them while he was in Galilee that he would die and then on the third day rise again. The emphasis in Luke’s Easter story is not about actually seeing Jesus, but upon remembering his words and promises. But for those women the remembering is enough! Remembering is what gives them hope even when others around them are calling their news “an idle tale” – the babblings of a fevered and insane mind. Remembering is what transforms their sadness into joy even in the midst of a Good Friday world! The remembering becomes so important to them that they see everything in a brand new way. So it is for us today! Our world on this Easter day may be the same as it always has been, but we are not! Our world may still be a Good Friday world, but we are an Easter people! Because we remember Jesus’ words and promises, we experience his love and power – a love and power so strong that nothing, not even death itself, can ever overcome it! People of God, this is what Easter means for us! Today we do not only celebrate that Christ is risen – but we also (perhaps most importantly) remember that Jesus is with us now even as we continue to struggle with the many burdens and problems that we face in our world, our nation, our community, and in our own personal lives. No matter how bad things might seem to be at times, we as Christians remember that Jesus is victorious and that we will share in his victory. Even without physically “seeing” him, we can remember and experience his living and loving presence with us. And that makes all the difference! There is a true story about how in 1930 Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, a Russian Communist leader who was the editor of the Soviet newspaper “Pravda”, addressed a huge assembly in Kiev about the subject of atheism. For over an hour he hurled insult, argument, and proof against Christianity and its hopes. But then, after he had finished, he asked if there were any questions. An old man came up to the podium and shouted out the ancient Easter greeting which we continue to proclaim today – “Christ is risen!” And the vast crowd immediately rose as one and returned the greeting – “He is risen indeed!” So may it be with us in our lives and in our world today. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary at times, we remember and believe and proclaim that Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! And because he lives, we shall live also. Because Christ is risen, nothing – neither sin, nor grief, nor suffering, nor the unbelief of others, and not even death itself, can ever separate us from the love of God. Because Christ is risen, we have a hope that nothing can destroy. May this hope continue to transform our lives and fill us with all of the love, and power, and forgiveness, and joy, and peace of God – even in the midst of a Good Friday world! And so on this joyous Easter day we again remember and proclaim the greeting that will never die: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!” Amen! -------------------- Pastor George Karres 418 W. Main St. Sidney, MT 59270
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