A Sunrise Easter Message for 2022

 

Scripture Reading            Luke 24:1-12 from the Message

24 1-3 At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.

4-8 They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.

9-11 They left the tomb and broke the news of all this to the Eleven and the rest. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them kept telling these things to the apostles, but the apostles didn’t believe a word of it, thought they were making it all up.

12 But Peter jumped to his feet and ran to the tomb. He stooped to look in and saw a few grave clothes, that’s all. He walked away puzzled, shaking his head.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God; thanks be to God. Amen.

            In December, we come together on a very holy night and remember Jesus’ birth. Jesus, God incarnate in man, came to earth in the form of a tiny, fragile, human baby. And, despite Jesus’ divine origins and royalty, Jesus chose to enter the world in a very modest way: born to a young mom and a man who worked with his hands, born in a stable instead of a palace. Other than the animals who found themselves in the stable with Jesus, the first witnesses to his birth were humble people – angels appeared to a group of shepherds and told the herdsmen to go meet the baby. Jesus made his earthly debut to a tiny group of people, not a crowd.

            When Jesus returned after his resurrection, the events shared some things in common with Jesus’ birth. There were prophesies foretelling of the birth of the Messiah; there were prophesies foretelling of the resurrecting of the Messiah. Jesus didn’t make a grand entrance either time – his first birth was in a stable – his resurrection happened at a tomb in a garden. No palaces or hospitals were involved.

            The first witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection were a group of lowly women….Like the shepherds, women did not have high status in the First Century. They weren’t experts about religious laws. They were not scholars. They weren’t government officials. They weren’t wealthy rulers. The witnesses were a group of women who had come to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with spices, to prepare the body for burial. They assumed that since Jesus was born in the body of a typical baby, Jesus’s body would undergo a death and decomposition like all other bodies.

            It is so appropriate that we gather here to remember Jesus’ resurrection in a cemetery surrounded by graves. On the first Easter morning, the women who witnessed the resurrection were also in a cemetery surrounded by graves. And, that adds to the shock of the resurrection. In a place we come to acknowledge death, to acknowledge human frailty, Jesus was restored to life. In a place of death, Jesus was reborn. In a place of sadness and despair, Joy broke forth. For Christ the Lord is risen today. He is risen indeed.

            When the women tried to tell the other disciples about what they found in the tomb, the others had trouble understanding them. The others had trouble believing. We get this. We all would have trouble believing it too. But, on the first Easter Sunday, Jesus defied all laws of science and logic and broke all the rules. Dead people just don’t come back to life….Dead people stay dead….but, Jesus rose from the dead, rose from the grave, and returned to earth.

            This morning, we gather to remember the Greatest Story Ever Told. Nothing could keep Jesus down…not death, not the Romans, not the Temple Authorities who were out to get him, not the powers of the world, not the power of sin….Nothing could separate Jesus from the people of the Earth. Nothing the world can do is powerful enough to stop God.

            And, God loves us and forgives us for nailing Jesus to the cross. God loves us and forgives us for putting Jesus to death. God loves us and forgives us for all the ways we fail. God loves us and forgives us.

            Christ the Lord is Risen today. Hallelujah! Amen.