Easter Sunday 2021
Christ was resurected!
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
(Romans 6:4)
It wasn’t that long ago. I remember joining my young family for Easter worship and hearing people greet each other in an unfamiliar way. I thought that on Easter, you would greet someone by saying “Happy Easter.” You know, like Christmas. Ok, we say “Merry Christmas” but the word happy is just a synonym for happy, right? Then I wondered if this strange greeting was because the church we were in was in the farmland of Dover, Pennsylvania. After all, I lived in New York City and for a while in New Jersey. I didn’t go to church until after I got married. So going to church on that first Easter was a new experience.
People said: “Christ is risen!” They would reply, “He certainly has risen!” I first wondered if these people understood basic English grammar because I thought Jesus died a long time ago. Since some of the people I knew were very polite, I had to ask Sandy (my wife) what was going on. She explained it quite well. Jesus Christ was crucified on Good Friday, and on Easter morning, he was found to have risen from the dead. The present tense is used because, in Christians’ minds, He is alive and risen from the grave. The purpose of this saying was to glorify the risen Savior.
Well, this caught my attention, and I sat in the worship service listening to the singing and the preaching. Who was this Jesus who rose from the grave? The Bible reading says that the angel who met the visitors at the empty tomb told them to go out and tell his disciples that He had risen from the dead. I thought that the word of Jesus rising from the grave would be passed down from generation to generation. It seemed like a big problem.
That greeting has vanished. Now, most people in the church talk about their new clothes, holiday food, holiday programs, and their gifts for their children and grandchildren. I even heard one person talk about a giant bunny that left candy eggs for the kids. Of course, that’s better than the pellets left behind by rabbits. Everything seemed strange. If this Jesus was raised by God from the grave, shouldn’t that be what people talk about? I learned that Jesus died and was raised from death to life by God the Father for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Isn’t this more important than Easter eggs from Peeps and Cadbury? Well, okay, even more critical than Cadbury’s mini-eggs. Of course, Jesus’ risen for the forgiveness of sins is much more vital to focus on all the time than anything else. So what was going on?
To me, it’s sad that Christianity allowed our secular society to take over Christmas. Christmas was initially called Mass of Christ. It was a Eucharistic cult where the followers of Jesus took communion for Jesus. But secular society took over. I wonder how many people in the church know what Christmas was all about in the first place. Today it’s all about maximizing credit cards to buy things that will be used for a day or two. Ok, maybe three days. We lost Christmas for the secular world. It is the busiest selling season for stores in the year.
Do you know what the second most important event for stores is? If you said Easter, you are correct. We cannot allow society to steal the meaning of Easter. The Christmas message is something dark in our time. But we can’t let this happen to Easter. The world needs to know what happened that morning and what it means. It does not imply a new hat or shoes. It means that God loves us very much. How much does he love us, you ask? That he raised his Son Jesus from the dead to life. Paul said in Romans 6:4
“As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too walk in newness of life”
What does Easter mean to you? First, it is a mystery how God raised Jesus from the dead. You need not worry about proving this fact. God raised Jesus from the dead. Period. It is a supreme truth that all who call themselves Christians must believe. If you don’t believe so, then you are not a follower of Jesus Christ. This last truth should never be debated. There should be no long explanations for this truth. Either you believe in the event or you don’t believe in the event. There is no middle ground!
Jesus risen from the dead is the uncompromisingly accepted grand climax of the truth of our faith. He is necessary for redemption, salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life. Period. If there was no open, empty tomb, then there is no opening in Heaven to receive us. If there was no resurrection, then there is no risen Christ. Therefore, there are no Christians. There would have been no sign of hope in this world.
Don’t let any naysayers stop you from proclaiming the truth of Easter. Jesus Christ was raised by God, his Father, from the dead. Jesus Christ is ALIVE and he is with us. May your faith be heard throughout the lands. It must be a louder exclamation than people yelling that they got a great deal at Kohls, Target, or Walmart. Easter is not about presents, candy, bunnies, or even peeps. It is about salvation and eternal life because Jesus was willing to sacrifice his life to live with God in peace and harmony, and good will to all.
You know, some people read all four stories of death and resurrection. of Christ and say it is not the truth because the four stories do not match. You should stand in front of that person and tell them that the story is the same in every Gospel, just told differently. Yes, each Gospel has a different person who arrives at the grave first. So what is the problem? Our western teaching tells us that the stories are different. Tell the person who asks you about the four stories that these are stories from the Middle East. These are not Greek tragedies. No, they are simple Semitic stories. Near Eastern storytellers in the days of Jesus cared only that the meaning of the story be the same. Everything else is what we call window dressing. So the central point of these four different stories is different or the same. (PAUSE) They’re the same story.
The main point of all four stories is that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. His body was placed in a tomb, and a large stone covered the tomb. Three days later, the tomb was open and Jesus the Christ was not in the tomb. He appeared to the disciples and followers of him ALIVE!! Yes, ALIVE!! For Middle Eastern storytellers, the window display doesn’t matter. They didn’t care which woman got there first. Or was it a man who got there first? They didn’t care and it shouldn’t matter to us. Jesus the Christ rose from the grave that morning. Spot.
Perhaps your friend to whom you are telling the story of Christ wants proof. We live in a technological society. You are ready? Let me give you the evidence you need. Mary Magdalene hurried to the tomb on the third day to speak with the LORD, as was the custom on that day. She saw the risen Christ and went to embrace him. Several other women on the cross on Friday who saw Jesus die came to the tomb and testified that they saw the risen Christ. A man named Peter, who denied Jesus three times, witnessed the Risen Christ and told everyone who would listen that Jesus was alive as the Risen Christ just as Jesus promised. How about Thomas, who refused to believe in the Risen Christ until he was told to put his fingers in the holes of Christ’s hands and feet? He attested to the Risen Christ.
Two men were on the Emmaus Road when the Risen Christ approached them and ate with them. Oh yes, your friend can tell these are biblical people, so of course they saw the Risen Christ. Well, then your response to this friend is to tell him that the historians Josephus and Philo wrote about the Risen Christ. Even the Koran, which is the Muslim holy text, has a chapter on Jesus of Nazareth, who was killed and rose again as the Risen Christ. The Old Testament clearly foretold the Risen Christ, who is the Savior of mankind. With this ammunition, you can more than prove to your friends that the Risen Christ came out of the grave and was made alive. You will overwhelm them with these facts.
The Resurrection of Jesus proves without a doubt that Christ has the power over life and death. The ancient pharaohs of Egypt had their bodies embalmed and placed in large tombs called pyramids. What an elaborate burial. But have you ever met a Pharaoh of Egypt who has risen from the dead? Of course you haven’t. You can go to a museum and see the embalmed body of a pharaoh. You cannot see the body of the Risen Christ because he is not dead. The Risen Christ is alive. The claws of death and the grave could not stop Christ. His divine power would not allow humanity to fall into the clutches of Satan. Satan thought he won when Jesus was put in the tomb. Imagine his surprise when Christ rose from the dead.
Jesus had to rise from the dead because the resurrection was the climax of God’s love for us. God saw how his Son suffered and died on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus could have stopped the whole process. However, he did not. He allowed everything to unfold because he had faith in his Father who would rise from the dead. Then, God the Father used his divine love to raise Jesus from the dead. This act is the culminating climax of divine love for us. Yes, God’s love for us is seen in the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.
There is an additional guarantee offered by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. After all that divine love I described, can you believe there is one more? It’s critical, so I urge you to listen and believe. The resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees our resurrection. When your physical body dies, your spiritual body will separate from it. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees that we too will rise from the dead. How cool is that?? If you have Easter faith in your heart, you need not drag yourself in despair because through your repentance for sins, the Risen Christ will lift you from the grave and take you to Heaven to be with Him.
Jesus said that the way to the Father is through His Son. This is how it will happen. If you repent of your sins and your heart is filled with the hope of divine intervention, then Jesus, the Risen Christ, will raise you from the grave and give you a resurrection, taking you to an eternity with Christ and God in Heaven. Nothing can be more glorious than that being the end of your life….