Scripture/Sermon of the Day.  April 20, 2025

Luke 24:1-12

The Resurrection of Jesus

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Reflection/Sermon:

I.      What do we know about Easter?  What can we be certain about?  First — it happens every year.  We can say for certain that next spring, there will be another Easter.  But why does it fall on different days from year to year?  Last year it was in March — the sunrise service was freezing cold.  Next year it’s April fifth.  Then March 28, April 16, April 1 — in 2030, Easter will be April 21.  Is Easter ever in May?  No.  The latest it can be is April 25.  Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox.

II.     I know you wanted to hear these interesting details this morning.  But I’m telling you things we can be certain about.  What else do we know about Easter?  We can be certain that if you want to buy Peeps — Easter is the best time.  Janet bought a few boxes yesterday from Price Rite for 30 cents a box!

III.    I try not to use cliches and trite phrases.  Another word for trite is hackneyed or boring from too much use — NOT FRESH OR ORIGINAL.  The dictionary says trite and hackneyed convey a lack of freshness that fails to evoke interest.

So what can we say about Easter that hasn’t been said already millions of times?  Because — don’t we all already know what Easter is?  Jesus was raised from the dead.  Do we know anything else?

IV.     Which brings us to something else we can be certain about Easter — when many of us are celebrating a few hours from now — we’re not going to be discussing the implications of the resurrection for their lives.   OR — what Jesus’ return from the dead has to do with the TARIFF wars that the U.S. has provoked — And I DOUBT many of us will be discussing the dreadful state of the poor foreign-born women and men and children who are on a bus or a plane somewhere being transported back to their countries of origin — even at this moment.

 What Easter message of encouragement could we say to them?  “Cheer up — because just as Jesus has risen — you shall rise too — back to where you came from!”

I don’t think anyone will say that — But I bet MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS ARE THINKING IT this Easter!

IV.     When I was young, and had been through a few Easters, I asked my mother, “Why do we say the same thing every year.  Why do we say “Christ is risen!  Surely he is risen!” — every year?”  I wanted to know the meaning of Easter.  Mom said, with her wonderful smile, “Because that’s what we do.”  And even at that young age I thought, with some concern, “My goodness — mom doesn’t have a clue…”

V.      I still ask myself what this means — what does it mean to say “Jesus rose from the dead”?  We have to keep asking this — and please — don’t let another answer it for you.  Because I’ve learned — and it took all these years — that we have to answer that question ourselves.  The Buddhists have helped me more than anyone with this.  I’ve mentioned this before.  They have something — I’ve said this before — called a “koan.”  It’s “a paradoxical anecdote or riddle used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment.”  Easter — like the parables Jesus told — is a koan.  When a koan was given to a monk, sometimes it took months or years to solve it.  Maybe one day he would understand what the master meant with the story.  But the monk couldn’t ask other monks — it wasn’t a team effort.  Every individual had to work on their koan by themselves, and in time they might understand.

VI.     Easter is like that.  We have to figure out the meaning ourselves.  WE HAVE TO BECOME THE ANSWER!

THIS IS WHAT I UNDERSTAND NOW:  Easter means that if we are still living, then God has more for us to do on this earth.  So the first thing we need to do is to be sure we're still living.  So check your pulse.  If we can feel something when we squeeze our wrist like this, it means the heart is beating and WE’RE ALIVE!  If we can’t feel a pulse, put a finger under your nose and see if there’s a stream of air coming out.  That’s also a pretty definite sign we’re still alive.  Once we've determined we’re alive, WE HAVE TO RISE FROM THE DEAD — figure out why God still wants us here.  What’s our mission?

VII.    ONE FINAL THING.  There’s no proof of the resurrection — we can’t prove that Jesus rose from the dead.  Except, actually, there is one way to prove Jesus rose from the dead — and that is from the witness of our lives.  Jesus — or some part of him — his compassion or patience or acceptance of everyone or endurance — some part of Jesus needs to be visible in us — right now.  That is the answer to the Christian koan, “What is Easter?”  That is only proof of the resurrection.  WE BECOME EASTER.