Sermon Illustrations for Easter Day (2016)
Illustration
Object:
Acts 10:34-43
On September 11, 2001, three commercial airliners were hijacked by a couple dozen terrorists. Their plan was to kill as many Americans as possible by crashing those planes into public buildings. More than 3,000 innocents died. The world was shocked. Our nation was changed.
Church attendance that Sunday morning nearly replicated the typical Easter Sunday. Bewildered worshipers came anticipating a word of comfort, encouragement, hope. With trembling hearts and tear-filled eyes, the unspoken concerns flowing from the pews were “Pastor, help us understand what this week means to this nation. Preach to us the gospel of the Risen Christ. Reassure us. Remind us that there is still the possibility of resurrection and new life. Tell us it is still true.”
What a disappointment to hear stories about how some ministers failed to sense the deep hurt of the people on the Sunday after 9/11. They simply preached on whatever the lectionary reading was for that Sunday.
This Easter Sunday, preach the gospel of the risen Christ. More than the average number of worshipers will be in church waiting to hear a word of hope. Don’t miss that great opportunity.
R. Robert C.
Acts 10:34-43
A few years ago, Fox News correspondent Megyn Kelly created an uproar when she declared that both Jesus and Santa Claus are white men. This of course does not correspond with culture, since Santa Claus is a fictitious character based on a Turkish figure and Jesus was a Jew in Palestine. Yet Kelly’s assessment does coincide with the many children’s storybooks she grew up with and the popular belief held by many Americans.
Application: In relating the Easter story, Peter said “that God shows no partiality.” Jesus is for all people.
Ron L.
Acts 10:34-43
A 2015 Pew Research Center found that nearly half of us (41%) don’t welcome immigrants, for they are a burden to America. According to a 2014 U.S. Census Bureau report, while 12.7% of whites are in poverty, 23.6% of the Hispanic community shares that fate, and 26.2% of the African-American community endures poverty. What Martin Luther King wrote in 1963 is still true today: “We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers [and sisters].” In response to these realities, King offered a powerful word explaining how Christ’s work on Easter brings us all together: “But in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. In Christ there is neither male nor female. In Christ there is neither communist nor capitalist. In Christ, somehow there is neither bound nor free. We are all one in Christ Jesus. And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won’t exploit people, we won’t trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won’t kill anybody” (A Testament of Hope, p. 255). Easter reminds us, as literacy coordinator Joe Bishop says, that “If we’re going to live up to our potential, then we need to be inclusive of everybody.”
Mark E.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Resurrection. I believe in resurrection. That is a bold belief -- to believe in resurrection. It is important to celebrate the actions of God in the world, and one of God’s mightiest acts -- after creation -- is resurrection. Jesus was raised from the dead, raised by a God who proclaims that good defeats evil, that hope defeats hopelessness, that life defeats death. Resurrection is foundational to our Christian ways of believing, even of living.
I worship a God who loves with such depth and breadth that all are welcome into the family of God, that all are welcome to celebrate and commune, that all are welcome to resurrection, both the resurrection of Jesus and our own resurrections. We have hope because we are children of a God who loves us so much that we cannot be separated from God -- not by fear, not by principalities, not by grief, not by pain or loss, and not even by death. That is resurrection! I believe in resurrection!
Bonnie B.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
We’ve all been there. The chairs are lined up under the tent. The casket sits atop the vault. The mourners gather close. The minister says a few words and prays. The family gets a few flowers and people head to their cars. They leave and the casket is lowered into the ground. It all takes about 30 minutes. It seems so final, so permanent.
Human beings have a lot of enemies. There are all kinds of things that harass and attack. Despair seeks to drag people down. Discouragement wants to stifle the future. Difficulties aim to overwhelm people and deny them opportunity. All of these are formidable enemies, but there is one that seems even greater: Death. For the first three “Ds,” there are some things that can be done. A good talk can lift people from despair. A change of perspective can dissipate discouragement. Help can overcome difficulties. What can be done about death? It is sure and certain. The message of the resurrection cuts through the finality of death, shattering its power and rendering it meaningless. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Are there any more important and uplifting words? The resurrection means a lot of things. At its core, though, it is the disarming of death -- making it not the end, but the beginning.
Bill T.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Anyone who has labored in their own personal garden knows what a reward waits with the first sure-nuff fresh tomato. Long months of deprivation only sharpen the appetite for the strong flavors of something fresh from the dirt. The experience is so special we sometimes forget that in the Hebrew scriptures the first fruits are set aside for God! The festival translated as Pentecost, the feast of the first fruits, shared the joy that came with the confirmation that God and creation are faithful, and life continues, rich and blessed.
In this passage, the resurrected Jesus is celebrated as the first fruits of the new creation.
The chapter begins with a catalog of the many individuals who witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. That resurrection is more than a good idea -- it is reality, and that reality lives in the first witnesses, and in us as well. Were it not for the resurrection, we would be the most pitied of people. Instead we are the most blessed, the evidence of the continuing harvest that follows the first fruits. This is why Easter Sunday is an excellent occasion for baptisms -- the story continues to be lived in our transformed lives.
Jesus is seen triumphant, conquering every enemy, including (at the last) death! We do not see this victory yet, but through the manner of our living we can demonstrate that death’s days are numbered.
Frank R.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
This lesson seems to imply that life and death come through a human being. God does not wave his hand over us to save us. He sent a human being -- his Son -- to save us... at a great price! Jesus died and rose from his grave. Forgiveness is not an easy thing. If it were not for Jesus’ death and resurrection, there would be no proof.
I question one statement in this passage. Jesus was not the first one to rise! He raised Lazarus, the scripture tells us -- unless Lazarus didn’t die and was only sleeping in his tomb.
One man (Adam) caused us all to face death, so it took another man, Jesus, to save us. If we put our trust in him, then we no longer have to fear death. That is the wonderful Easter message! On that day one man, Jesus, rose from the dead, and so all who believe in him will also rise from the dead -- no, not here on earth as he did, but in a place too wonderful to describe.
The only problem that we have is that we have never seen that great place. All we can do is believe and trust.
When one man got a job in Hawaii where neither he nor his family had ever been, they wept when he went on ahead of them. They missed him, but all his family could do was believe in him and wait. He had never seen Hawaii, but he believed the one who had given him the job. So his message to his family was not a firsthand experience. They had to also trust the words of the ones who hired him.
When I was a kid, I was having fun with my blocks on the living room floor when my dad came in and said, “Go get your coat. We are going out.” I was having fun and didn’t want to leave. I complained, but all I got was the command to get ready to leave. When I grudgingly left my blocks, I found out that my dad was taking me to a circus. I had the time of my life! I only complained because I didn’t know what he had planned for me. It taught me not to question him the next time he told me to get ready.
We don’t get a preview of what the Lord has in store for the faithful. All we get is the assurance of our heavenly Father that there is something ahead of us that we will love if we just trust him. But we human beings want some evidence in advance. We want a travelogue magazine with photos!
It sounds from this passage that God still has a lot to do with us to get us ready, so we must believe and be patient.
What blocks are we playing with today? Are we ready to trust in God and get ready to go -- whenever that might be?
It may be harder when we are young, but when you are almost 90 like me, you are more likely to go and get your coat!
One lady in her 90s who I visited in the hospice ward had her coat on and was ready to go, but it wasn’t the Lord’s time. She had to wait another week!
You younger ones don’t want to get your coat yet. You are having a good time here on earth right now -- even though you may have a few problems, like all of us. We don’t want our coat yet, because we don’t have any pictures to show us what it will be like up there. We aren’t ready to trust in the Lord! Faith is not easy. The only thing that can help is to read that Jesus rose from the dead and his first words were “Rejoice!” So we have to trust in him and his word!
Bob O.
John 20:1-18
“Mary, Mary, Mary, what is it with you? You were up early that morning and arrived at the tomb before dawn. Did you go there simply to grieve and say a prayer for the now-deceased Jesus? How could you have been surprised to find that the stone had been rolled away and the Lord was no longer in the grave? Did you not expect that he had risen from the dead? The Lord had told you and his other followers this was going to happen. Were you not paying attention? Did you forget what Jesus had said? Did you not believe what he said?
“You were the first witness of the resurrection of our Lord, the greatest event in human history. You were given ample warning and information. Apparently your eyes were clouded and your mind was closed to what was happening. Good heavens, you mistook the Savior for a cemetery sextant. What was it with you, Mary?”
Lest I become too critical of Mary Magdalene, I should confess that I understand. I can identify with her surprise at the empty tomb. I have come to church on many occasions expecting nothing out of the ordinary to happen. With clouded eyes or a closed mind, I have drifted off as the pastor preached the gospel of eternal life, and on more than one occasion I have paid no particular attention to the choir praising God. I have let my mind wander during the prayers and failed to catch a glimpse of God’s presence in the midst of the gathered community of believers. With most folks, I envy Mary Magdalene. The risen Christ got her full attention by calling her name. Would that God would get our attention more often that same way.
R. Robert C.
John 20:1-18
Several years ago two scientists -- Richard Dawkins of Oxford University and Lawrence Krauss of Arizona State University -- set out on a mission to disprove God, becoming the spokesmen for the “new atheists.” In their testimony they said, “Science is wonderful; science is beautiful. Religion is not wonderful; it is not beautiful. It gets in the way.” They went on to say that “you create your own meaning.”
Application: Upon discovering the empty tomb, Mary realized that religion is beautiful -- and when she encountered Jesus in the garden, she realized that he does give meaning to life.
Ron L.
John 20:1-18
John Calvin nicely summarizes what Easter and the resurrection are all about: “...Christ is born in us, and that we, on the other hand, are born in him” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/1, p. 250). The risen Christ lives in us, is personally present to us. Easter is not just somebody else’s story. The father of existentialist philosophy, Soren Kierkegaard, had it right. There can be no disciples at secondhand; the faithful are people who are contemporary with Christ (Philosophical Fragments, pp. 81ff). This sort of living with Jesus changes life. According to N.T. Wright (the former Bishop of Durham, England), Easter reminds us that “Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.” And then with Easter in view, we can say confidently with certified life coach Craig Lounsbrough that “An end is only a beginning in disguise.”
Mark E.
On September 11, 2001, three commercial airliners were hijacked by a couple dozen terrorists. Their plan was to kill as many Americans as possible by crashing those planes into public buildings. More than 3,000 innocents died. The world was shocked. Our nation was changed.
Church attendance that Sunday morning nearly replicated the typical Easter Sunday. Bewildered worshipers came anticipating a word of comfort, encouragement, hope. With trembling hearts and tear-filled eyes, the unspoken concerns flowing from the pews were “Pastor, help us understand what this week means to this nation. Preach to us the gospel of the Risen Christ. Reassure us. Remind us that there is still the possibility of resurrection and new life. Tell us it is still true.”
What a disappointment to hear stories about how some ministers failed to sense the deep hurt of the people on the Sunday after 9/11. They simply preached on whatever the lectionary reading was for that Sunday.
This Easter Sunday, preach the gospel of the risen Christ. More than the average number of worshipers will be in church waiting to hear a word of hope. Don’t miss that great opportunity.
R. Robert C.
Acts 10:34-43
A few years ago, Fox News correspondent Megyn Kelly created an uproar when she declared that both Jesus and Santa Claus are white men. This of course does not correspond with culture, since Santa Claus is a fictitious character based on a Turkish figure and Jesus was a Jew in Palestine. Yet Kelly’s assessment does coincide with the many children’s storybooks she grew up with and the popular belief held by many Americans.
Application: In relating the Easter story, Peter said “that God shows no partiality.” Jesus is for all people.
Ron L.
Acts 10:34-43
A 2015 Pew Research Center found that nearly half of us (41%) don’t welcome immigrants, for they are a burden to America. According to a 2014 U.S. Census Bureau report, while 12.7% of whites are in poverty, 23.6% of the Hispanic community shares that fate, and 26.2% of the African-American community endures poverty. What Martin Luther King wrote in 1963 is still true today: “We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers [and sisters].” In response to these realities, King offered a powerful word explaining how Christ’s work on Easter brings us all together: “But in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. In Christ there is neither male nor female. In Christ there is neither communist nor capitalist. In Christ, somehow there is neither bound nor free. We are all one in Christ Jesus. And when we truly believe in the sacredness of human personality, we won’t exploit people, we won’t trample over people with the iron feet of oppression, we won’t kill anybody” (A Testament of Hope, p. 255). Easter reminds us, as literacy coordinator Joe Bishop says, that “If we’re going to live up to our potential, then we need to be inclusive of everybody.”
Mark E.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Resurrection. I believe in resurrection. That is a bold belief -- to believe in resurrection. It is important to celebrate the actions of God in the world, and one of God’s mightiest acts -- after creation -- is resurrection. Jesus was raised from the dead, raised by a God who proclaims that good defeats evil, that hope defeats hopelessness, that life defeats death. Resurrection is foundational to our Christian ways of believing, even of living.
I worship a God who loves with such depth and breadth that all are welcome into the family of God, that all are welcome to celebrate and commune, that all are welcome to resurrection, both the resurrection of Jesus and our own resurrections. We have hope because we are children of a God who loves us so much that we cannot be separated from God -- not by fear, not by principalities, not by grief, not by pain or loss, and not even by death. That is resurrection! I believe in resurrection!
Bonnie B.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
We’ve all been there. The chairs are lined up under the tent. The casket sits atop the vault. The mourners gather close. The minister says a few words and prays. The family gets a few flowers and people head to their cars. They leave and the casket is lowered into the ground. It all takes about 30 minutes. It seems so final, so permanent.
Human beings have a lot of enemies. There are all kinds of things that harass and attack. Despair seeks to drag people down. Discouragement wants to stifle the future. Difficulties aim to overwhelm people and deny them opportunity. All of these are formidable enemies, but there is one that seems even greater: Death. For the first three “Ds,” there are some things that can be done. A good talk can lift people from despair. A change of perspective can dissipate discouragement. Help can overcome difficulties. What can be done about death? It is sure and certain. The message of the resurrection cuts through the finality of death, shattering its power and rendering it meaningless. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Are there any more important and uplifting words? The resurrection means a lot of things. At its core, though, it is the disarming of death -- making it not the end, but the beginning.
Bill T.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
Anyone who has labored in their own personal garden knows what a reward waits with the first sure-nuff fresh tomato. Long months of deprivation only sharpen the appetite for the strong flavors of something fresh from the dirt. The experience is so special we sometimes forget that in the Hebrew scriptures the first fruits are set aside for God! The festival translated as Pentecost, the feast of the first fruits, shared the joy that came with the confirmation that God and creation are faithful, and life continues, rich and blessed.
In this passage, the resurrected Jesus is celebrated as the first fruits of the new creation.
The chapter begins with a catalog of the many individuals who witnessed the resurrection of Jesus. That resurrection is more than a good idea -- it is reality, and that reality lives in the first witnesses, and in us as well. Were it not for the resurrection, we would be the most pitied of people. Instead we are the most blessed, the evidence of the continuing harvest that follows the first fruits. This is why Easter Sunday is an excellent occasion for baptisms -- the story continues to be lived in our transformed lives.
Jesus is seen triumphant, conquering every enemy, including (at the last) death! We do not see this victory yet, but through the manner of our living we can demonstrate that death’s days are numbered.
Frank R.
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
This lesson seems to imply that life and death come through a human being. God does not wave his hand over us to save us. He sent a human being -- his Son -- to save us... at a great price! Jesus died and rose from his grave. Forgiveness is not an easy thing. If it were not for Jesus’ death and resurrection, there would be no proof.
I question one statement in this passage. Jesus was not the first one to rise! He raised Lazarus, the scripture tells us -- unless Lazarus didn’t die and was only sleeping in his tomb.
One man (Adam) caused us all to face death, so it took another man, Jesus, to save us. If we put our trust in him, then we no longer have to fear death. That is the wonderful Easter message! On that day one man, Jesus, rose from the dead, and so all who believe in him will also rise from the dead -- no, not here on earth as he did, but in a place too wonderful to describe.
The only problem that we have is that we have never seen that great place. All we can do is believe and trust.
When one man got a job in Hawaii where neither he nor his family had ever been, they wept when he went on ahead of them. They missed him, but all his family could do was believe in him and wait. He had never seen Hawaii, but he believed the one who had given him the job. So his message to his family was not a firsthand experience. They had to also trust the words of the ones who hired him.
When I was a kid, I was having fun with my blocks on the living room floor when my dad came in and said, “Go get your coat. We are going out.” I was having fun and didn’t want to leave. I complained, but all I got was the command to get ready to leave. When I grudgingly left my blocks, I found out that my dad was taking me to a circus. I had the time of my life! I only complained because I didn’t know what he had planned for me. It taught me not to question him the next time he told me to get ready.
We don’t get a preview of what the Lord has in store for the faithful. All we get is the assurance of our heavenly Father that there is something ahead of us that we will love if we just trust him. But we human beings want some evidence in advance. We want a travelogue magazine with photos!
It sounds from this passage that God still has a lot to do with us to get us ready, so we must believe and be patient.
What blocks are we playing with today? Are we ready to trust in God and get ready to go -- whenever that might be?
It may be harder when we are young, but when you are almost 90 like me, you are more likely to go and get your coat!
One lady in her 90s who I visited in the hospice ward had her coat on and was ready to go, but it wasn’t the Lord’s time. She had to wait another week!
You younger ones don’t want to get your coat yet. You are having a good time here on earth right now -- even though you may have a few problems, like all of us. We don’t want our coat yet, because we don’t have any pictures to show us what it will be like up there. We aren’t ready to trust in the Lord! Faith is not easy. The only thing that can help is to read that Jesus rose from the dead and his first words were “Rejoice!” So we have to trust in him and his word!
Bob O.
John 20:1-18
“Mary, Mary, Mary, what is it with you? You were up early that morning and arrived at the tomb before dawn. Did you go there simply to grieve and say a prayer for the now-deceased Jesus? How could you have been surprised to find that the stone had been rolled away and the Lord was no longer in the grave? Did you not expect that he had risen from the dead? The Lord had told you and his other followers this was going to happen. Were you not paying attention? Did you forget what Jesus had said? Did you not believe what he said?
“You were the first witness of the resurrection of our Lord, the greatest event in human history. You were given ample warning and information. Apparently your eyes were clouded and your mind was closed to what was happening. Good heavens, you mistook the Savior for a cemetery sextant. What was it with you, Mary?”
Lest I become too critical of Mary Magdalene, I should confess that I understand. I can identify with her surprise at the empty tomb. I have come to church on many occasions expecting nothing out of the ordinary to happen. With clouded eyes or a closed mind, I have drifted off as the pastor preached the gospel of eternal life, and on more than one occasion I have paid no particular attention to the choir praising God. I have let my mind wander during the prayers and failed to catch a glimpse of God’s presence in the midst of the gathered community of believers. With most folks, I envy Mary Magdalene. The risen Christ got her full attention by calling her name. Would that God would get our attention more often that same way.
R. Robert C.
John 20:1-18
Several years ago two scientists -- Richard Dawkins of Oxford University and Lawrence Krauss of Arizona State University -- set out on a mission to disprove God, becoming the spokesmen for the “new atheists.” In their testimony they said, “Science is wonderful; science is beautiful. Religion is not wonderful; it is not beautiful. It gets in the way.” They went on to say that “you create your own meaning.”
Application: Upon discovering the empty tomb, Mary realized that religion is beautiful -- and when she encountered Jesus in the garden, she realized that he does give meaning to life.
Ron L.
John 20:1-18
John Calvin nicely summarizes what Easter and the resurrection are all about: “...Christ is born in us, and that we, on the other hand, are born in him” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XVIII/1, p. 250). The risen Christ lives in us, is personally present to us. Easter is not just somebody else’s story. The father of existentialist philosophy, Soren Kierkegaard, had it right. There can be no disciples at secondhand; the faithful are people who are contemporary with Christ (Philosophical Fragments, pp. 81ff). This sort of living with Jesus changes life. According to N.T. Wright (the former Bishop of Durham, England), Easter reminds us that “Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven.” And then with Easter in view, we can say confidently with certified life coach Craig Lounsbrough that “An end is only a beginning in disguise.”
Mark E.
