Easter Sunday Sermon
Sermon
Location St. Luke and Faith Lutheran – Date April 12, 2009
Easter Sunday – Year B
Primary Text: Mark 16:1-8
Alleluia, He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia, He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia, He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
That is what we declare on Easter Morning. We declare the one who came to us and died for us as risen!
It is extraordinary to be able to declare that, God has completed victory over death. Through that, we have been given eternal life. Halleluiah, Jesus is Risen.
In one Sunday Comic from Calvin and Hobbes, the two are out in a field of snow with a sled on an overcast day. Calvin remarks to Hobbes, “On these cloudy winter days, sometimes I like to lie back on my sled and look at the sky.” Calvin has Hobbes lay down on the sled and look up at the sky. Calvin continues. “It’s just grey and silent. No birds singing or bugs buzzing. Everything is muffled by the snow.” Calvin standing next to Hobbes looks up at the sky with him, “Imagine what it would be like without any people or houses around. It would be perfectly still.” There is a moment of silence as they both just look up at the sky. Calvin remarks, “Pretty neat, huh?” “Yes, Very Peaceful.” Hobbes answers. And then with a kick from Calvin, Hobbes is sent screaming down a hill, and Calvin states, “I hate all that silence.”
We see Easter as only a happy, joyous occasion, but when we look at the recount found in Mark we see people not joyous, but full of terror and amazement and “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” It is hard to understand that image. But it occurs today as well, there are people in this world, maybe even in this congregation, who even on this happy day, feel overwhelmed with fear and pain. On days where we can finally find peace and quiet, a Calvin of some sort erupts in our life and kicks us screaming down a hill. Even today we find ourselves being distracted by problems in this world.
The disciples find it hard to believe that Jesus is in fact resurrected. The women who find the empty tomb in Mark are so afraid that they do not tell anyone. They are amazed, but they are also are fearful. It was something that is actually addressed in the construction of Mark. The text that we read today is the original ending of Mark. However, if we look in our bibles, we see two other endings of Mark, the Short and Long endings. This shows the same fear that the disciples had. Years after being originally written, people found that they had the same fear. Even when told that Jesus was raised from the dead and is not in the tomb, they needed more. They need to see Jesus, and so they added two other endings to Mark. Not making them up, but taking other accounts of Christ’s appearance to the disciples and placing them in Mark.
I recently saw the movie “The Wrestler.” It was good, it had a bit too much language and nudity to be a good movie to recommend to people, but it had an interesting storyline. The final scene is the main character, an aging pro wrestler, wrestling in the ring, for what could be the last time. A couple months before this he had a heart attack and was told that if he would continue to wrestle he could die. At first he does give up wrestling. He tries to settle down with his stripper girl-friend. Tries to fix things up with his daughter. But everything falls apart on him, he is at first shot-down by his girlfriend, telling him that she can’t date clients, he responds to this with a drunk and drug filled bender that causes him to miss a dinner appointment to his daughter. His daughter sees that he will never change, he will always be the father who ran out on her. Finally, he decides that the only thing he can rely on is wrestling. And so, even though his girlfriend finds him before he goes in the ring and apologizes, he realizes that he has to trust the ring. He enters and halfway through begins to feel signs of another heart attack, but not giving up, he climbs to the top rope, gives his signature arm pump, and jumps. And the screen goes black and the credits roll.
We do not know what we think is the ending, we think we need to know what happens next. Did he die? Did he live? When in fact it does not matter, all that matters in the story is that he is complete, he is where he needs to be, in the ring.
The same is for us, the ending of Mark is just the ending of Mark’s story. We do not need to know what happens in next in Mark, because Mark’s ending is not our ending. Christ died, and was raised, we trust in that. That is what we need to know, that no matter what we go through, even if we seem to think that we will always fail at everything, we trust in Jesus. We do not need to see how many times he appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, they are important, but what truly matters is that he died, but he is no longer dead, he is arisen. We will die, but we have gained eternal life through Christ’s resurrection.
Let us pray,
Lord of Resurrection, we praise you this day, we thank you for your gift of eternal life we received in your death and resurrection. We ask you to give us peace and quiet, and hold us when we may not be able to find it. Remind us of your love and grace. Give us your mercy and protect us from danger. We ask you to be with all in this world, especially those who are away from families on this day, those who are undergoing suffering and violence, give them peace and justice.
In your name,
Amen
Location St. Luke and Faith Lutheran – Date April 12, 2009
Easter Sunday – Year B
Primary Text: Mark 16:1-8
Alleluia, He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia, He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia, He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
That is what we declare on Easter Morning. We declare the one who came to us and died for us as risen!
It is extraordinary to be able to declare that, God has completed victory over death. Through that, we have been given eternal life. Halleluiah, Jesus is Risen.
In one Sunday Comic from Calvin and Hobbes, the two are out in a field of snow with a sled on an overcast day. Calvin remarks to Hobbes, “On these cloudy winter days, sometimes I like to lie back on my sled and look at the sky.” Calvin has Hobbes lay down on the sled and look up at the sky. Calvin continues. “It’s just grey and silent. No birds singing or bugs buzzing. Everything is muffled by the snow.” Calvin standing next to Hobbes looks up at the sky with him, “Imagine what it would be like without any people or houses around. It would be perfectly still.” There is a moment of silence as they both just look up at the sky. Calvin remarks, “Pretty neat, huh?” “Yes, Very Peaceful.” Hobbes answers. And then with a kick from Calvin, Hobbes is sent screaming down a hill, and Calvin states, “I hate all that silence.”
We see Easter as only a happy, joyous occasion, but when we look at the recount found in Mark we see people not joyous, but full of terror and amazement and “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” It is hard to understand that image. But it occurs today as well, there are people in this world, maybe even in this congregation, who even on this happy day, feel overwhelmed with fear and pain. On days where we can finally find peace and quiet, a Calvin of some sort erupts in our life and kicks us screaming down a hill. Even today we find ourselves being distracted by problems in this world.
The disciples find it hard to believe that Jesus is in fact resurrected. The women who find the empty tomb in Mark are so afraid that they do not tell anyone. They are amazed, but they are also are fearful. It was something that is actually addressed in the construction of Mark. The text that we read today is the original ending of Mark. However, if we look in our bibles, we see two other endings of Mark, the Short and Long endings. This shows the same fear that the disciples had. Years after being originally written, people found that they had the same fear. Even when told that Jesus was raised from the dead and is not in the tomb, they needed more. They need to see Jesus, and so they added two other endings to Mark. Not making them up, but taking other accounts of Christ’s appearance to the disciples and placing them in Mark.
I recently saw the movie “The Wrestler.” It was good, it had a bit too much language and nudity to be a good movie to recommend to people, but it had an interesting storyline. The final scene is the main character, an aging pro wrestler, wrestling in the ring, for what could be the last time. A couple months before this he had a heart attack and was told that if he would continue to wrestle he could die. At first he does give up wrestling. He tries to settle down with his stripper girl-friend. Tries to fix things up with his daughter. But everything falls apart on him, he is at first shot-down by his girlfriend, telling him that she can’t date clients, he responds to this with a drunk and drug filled bender that causes him to miss a dinner appointment to his daughter. His daughter sees that he will never change, he will always be the father who ran out on her. Finally, he decides that the only thing he can rely on is wrestling. And so, even though his girlfriend finds him before he goes in the ring and apologizes, he realizes that he has to trust the ring. He enters and halfway through begins to feel signs of another heart attack, but not giving up, he climbs to the top rope, gives his signature arm pump, and jumps. And the screen goes black and the credits roll.
We do not know what we think is the ending, we think we need to know what happens next. Did he die? Did he live? When in fact it does not matter, all that matters in the story is that he is complete, he is where he needs to be, in the ring.
The same is for us, the ending of Mark is just the ending of Mark’s story. We do not need to know what happens in next in Mark, because Mark’s ending is not our ending. Christ died, and was raised, we trust in that. That is what we need to know, that no matter what we go through, even if we seem to think that we will always fail at everything, we trust in Jesus. We do not need to see how many times he appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, they are important, but what truly matters is that he died, but he is no longer dead, he is arisen. We will die, but we have gained eternal life through Christ’s resurrection.
Let us pray,
Lord of Resurrection, we praise you this day, we thank you for your gift of eternal life we received in your death and resurrection. We ask you to give us peace and quiet, and hold us when we may not be able to find it. Remind us of your love and grace. Give us your mercy and protect us from danger. We ask you to be with all in this world, especially those who are away from families on this day, those who are undergoing suffering and violence, give them peace and justice.
In your name,
Amen
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