Easter Sunday

First Reading
  Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 25:6-9
  Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Second Reading
  1 Corinthians 15:1-11 or Acts 10:34-43
Gospel
  John 20:1-18 or Mark 16:1-8

Happy Resurrection Sunday! The Church celebrates some holidays on basically arbitrary dates, but Easter is the one holiday, connected to Passover, where we can actually date the time of year when the event occurred. So every year, around the time the Jews celebrate Passover, Christian's celebrate the new meaning of Passover given through Jesus. The Resurrection is the the central event that makes Christianity legitimate and true. I know I brought this Scripture up last year, but it becomes so crucial as to why Easter is such a big deal. In 1 Cor. 15, a few verses after our reading today, Paul writes:

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. (17-19)

The Resurrection is the vindication and validation that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus also predicted that he would rise again after three days, had he not done so, then he would have been a liar. The Resurrection also anticipates and provides the hope for the new heaven and new earth coming (and indeed already breaking in) in Christ. The Resurrection also anticipates the resurrection all who follow Christ will experience.

We probably all heard Resurrection sermons this morning, which is appropriate. Our pastor preached that because of the Resurrection, Christ is able to be present in our own lives today. He left us with the question: where does the Resurrection need to appear in our own lives?  Where do we need the hope of life in Christ in our day-to-day experiences?

Since we all probably heard a sermon exploring those type of ideas, I will take a more historical/random assessment of what struck me as I read the texts this year. First, last night as I read the scripture for Good Friday (John 18-19), I was reminded that Jesus died for and forgave those people who tortured him. As he hung there and suffered, Jesus knew what he was doing. We know that he gave his life for the world and the re-creation of all things. We know that he died for the salvation of everyone who as ever lived--past, present, and future. But he was actually able to look down and see the person who nailed his hands. In the crowd were the soldiers who mocked and beat him, the one who hung the mocking sign above his head declaring him the "King of the Jews." He could also see his disciples, or the fact that so few were there, and think how they had let him down. These were the people Jesus saw in his last moments. And it was to people such as these, people such as us, that Jesus died for. To me this realization took an abstract thing--Jesus died for sinners-- and made it concrete--Jesus saw his torturers from the cross and died even for them.

As I read the actual Easter story again this year, the one thing that stands out to me is the fact that the Gospel writers were not able to avoid placing Mary Magdalene front and center in the narrative as the first person who saw Jesus risen. In John, she arrives at the tomb first, then goes and gets Peter and "the disciple whom Jesus loved," who come and also see the empty tomb. But after they leave, Mary Magdalene has the first encounter with the Resurrected Christ. She becomes the first evangelist, and in a sense, the first believer of the Resurrected Lord. I have heard this fact as a way of arguing that the Gospels must be true because in that culture, if you were making this stuff up, you would never pick a woman to have such a vital role. I don't know how effective these types of arguments are since belief in Christ always requires a step of faith, but it is intriguing the role Mary Magdalene played on Easter morning, but is then not really heard from again. But on Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene played her role and announced to the disciples that she had seen the Lord!

So, where does the Resurrection need to appear in your life? The hope of Christ's Resurrection is as powerful today as it was almost 2,000 year ago. Christ is alive and though his Spirit is present with us today. Let us become more aware of his presence and let the hope of the Resurrection continue to transform our lives.

Grace and Peace.