St. Luke's Episcopal Church
Cleveland, Tennessee

Easter Sunday
8 April 2007

These words that the angel speaks from this passage in Luke are some of the most beautiful and powerful words in all of Scripture. Just imagine that first Easter Day when these women went to the tomb to go through the Jewish burial customs. That is what they went to do. They did not come expecting the tomb to be empty. They came to do what was expected of them to honor the body of the deceased. So they bring their spices with them. And then they see that the stone has been rolled away, and that there is no body in the tomb. And then just imagine the indescribable awe that must have been welled up inside of them when they heard the angel say, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” Some of the most beautiful words in all of Scripture: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”
There can no doubt historically or biblically that the resurrection is the foundation of the Christian Church. Christian ethics, Christian fellowship, Christian outreach, everything is built on the fact that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Without the resurrection, the Church would not have been born. So today we celebrate not just an historical fact, but a living reality.

I think sometimes that the very familiarity of this story unintentionally lessens its impact on us. Most of us have heard this so many times. And yet today if we can just step back a little and hear these words afresh. “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” We believe that Jesus Christ the Anointed on is alive. And we believe that his love is active, and his Spirit is within us. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is not an abstract theological proposition. The doctrine is not an intellectual concept, with which we either agree or disagree. The Holy Spirit is our Lord’s gift to us. His very spirit is in us because he is alive. He is not among the dead. He is risen. And what a difference it makes in our lives when we understand that Jesus is with us. Whatever it is that we are experiencing, whatever it is that we are going through, to understand that our Lord is with us, through his gift to us of the Holy Spirit. And that gift comes to us because he is alive. We don’t worship a great religious prophet of the past. We worship our risen Lord Jesus.

Emil Brunner says about the parable of the Prodigal Son, “If we truly understood the love of God that this parable teaches us, our lives would overflow with wonder, love, and praise.” And that is true of the resurrection. If we truly believe that the power of God raised Jesus from the dead, then our lives can’t help but overflow with wonder, with love, and with praise.

I offer you something very simple, ultimately, this morning, as I offer it to myself. Step back a little today from the familiarity of this story. Step back a little from the cultural trappings that accompany Easter in our culture and hear this afresh today. I am challenging myself to hear this afresh. An angel saying to these women, who are deep in grief and sorrow, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead. He is not here, he has risen.” May the love of Jesus take hold of us today. Not love in the abstract. Not a doctrine. May the love of our living Lord Jesus take hold of us today. And may we leave here this morning committed in a new way to serving him in the world. I wish for each one of you a blessed, very holy Easter. Amen.