Good Shepherd sermon – Easter – 4.20.25 Luke 24. 1-12
“This IS the Day!”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God the Creator, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, thru the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
At 1st Lutheran Church, in downtown Dayton, where I pastored for about seven years, had a worship service follow a rather filling breakfast made for folks who were in the throes of much despair: homelessness, financial despair due to a host of different problems. Granted, many of those problems were due to decisions they had made, whereas some floundered in their woes often times due to society’s lack of concern for their many plights.
One day as we were getting ready to begin worship, a young man, Derek, asked, “Pastor why don’t we ever sing the song, “This is the Day?” You know, (Singing the song…) ‘This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made…’” Well, from that morning on, we sang that song from the 24th verse of Psalm 118 to begin worship every Sunday morning. It is a reminder of what scripture tells us – we only have this day to work with. Be anxious for…Nothing! Even though days before today may have gone badly, today is a different day, and today – THIS DAY – can be glorious! This day has great promise – THIS DAY is filled with Hope!
Because of the resurrection, the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, that Christ will, ostensibly, give us an escape route from the temptations of the world. Furthermore, in Romans 8:28 (and, you have heard this scripture more than once): “We know that TODAY all things will work together for our good!” Yes, friends, because Christ IS Risen…today is a new, exciting day, filled with magnificent possibilities! Yes, THIS is the day! Christ IS Risen!
Yet, in today’s passage from Luke, that day was one which found the women perplexed and terrified. “How could this be?” they must have wondered in their confusion. Jesus was dead. They saw it; that’s all the folks around Jerusalem were talking about.
And I imagine that in some way, many of us might identify with those women and mirror a similar reaction they had about death. They came to the tomb, prepared to anoint the body of Jesus, fully expecting to be surrounded by death. I mean, they saw Jesus nailed to the cross! They saw the spear pierce the side of Jesus without moving a muscle. He was dead.
But things aren’t always the way they seem, are they?
Let’s face it, death has an aura of finality almost with its own personality. Death might say to us at the funeral home, “Ha! Now, where is your God?” Then as we slowly go through the cemetery, the open grave may voice a similar question. Some folks may even hear death chanting “God has made a promise he can’t keep.”
Sadly those feelings and thoughts might accompany us home and be reinforced when we continue to receive sympathy cards from well-wishers, or look at the empty chair, or hear a song she/he would love to sing along with. Warm feelings remembering good times may put a smile in the heart, but, then the evidence of reality hits…with the conclusion that death has won.
Well…here’s the good news: Death has not won! Death has not even come close to winning. Never forget –
The tomb is empty!
Jesus is victorious!
His death put death to its final resting place! Death is what has been covered up with the love and grace of Jesus Christ! (Tenderly…) Absolutely, without a doubt, there is a separation of our loved ones and us, but let us never forget the words of the two in the tomb clothed in dazzling white – verse 5: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
“HE IS NOT HERE – HE IS RISEN!”
Friends, that’s the promise…
He has been raised!
That’s what the Lord had been saying all along!
And now…we can say —-
HE IS RISEN!!!
Death has no say-so at all! In a few minutes we will have a baptism, and through the promise of our baptism we have been buried with Jesus into death, so that just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of God, so we too might walk in newness of life!
AND…
Romans 6 continues: “If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his!!!” What a promise, indeed! Death is not the end of the story – it is the beginning.
As I mentioned, things aren’t always like they seem. On this Resurrection Sunday we are invited to believe in a God who has promised never to leave us…a God who has called us by name…a God who has redeemed us…yes, a God who invites us to believe in what has been promised, and that’s what was said to the women. He is raised, just as he told you he would. Just as he promised.
Say it again???
He IS Risen!!!
Thanks be to God that nothing can separate us from the love of God thru Christ Jesus!
So…when we are asked about the empty tomb and what it might mean to us…how we have been changed because of Christ’s death and resurrection…how our sins have been forgiven, how we can even forgive those who have sinned against us…and how we can honor and love everyone we come in contact with.
Let us take a page from the book of the women at the tomb, what we just read in verses 8 and 9: “Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told ALL this to the eleven and all the rest.”
They didn’t hold back – they told the story. Can we likewise tell the story of ALL the things in our lives – the promises, the love, the grace, the forgiveness with which the Crucified and Risen Savior has faithfully fulfilled?
Yes!
“Christ IS Risen!!!”
“He Is Risen, Indeed!”
THIS IS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE!
LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT!!!
ALLELUIA!
AMEN!