Sermon Illustrations for Easter Day (2024)
Illustration
Acts 10:34-43
This text is all about how Easter has changed things, how now we can recognize that we are one in Christ in all our diversity. We badly need that Word in our present political context in which it has become fashionable to bash immigrants. One of the Presidential candidates has claimed that illegal immigrants are not people. And a February poll by Gallup indicates that Immigration is perceived as the Number #1 problem facing America by the largest number of potential voters. We know that there is discrimination in the American air: An earlier 2021 poll by Gallup revealed that 80% of Americans say there is at least some discrimination against Black people, 76% say we discriminate against Hispanics, and 70% believe there is discrimination shown towards Asians. We need to keep these issues before us in the upcoming elections and in our daily lives.
Martin Luther King, Jr. offered a pithy remark which can help us and well reflects the meaning of this text: “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Famed 20th century Roman Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin made a similar point about how God’s creation tilts us all towards unity among different people. He wrote:
The world is round so that friendship may encircle it.
It is clear that we are certainly not behaving this way. Famed Evangelical theologian Carl Henry directs us to the Trinity as inspiring unity of different people. The Trinity, he claimed, is relational. In the Trinity God makes many (Three) into One. If we are made in God’s image then we can’t help but be people always in relation to others different than we are, relations that ultimately make us one.
Mark E.
* * *
Acts 10:34-43
Peter recounts that we are all invited into the redemption of God, the God who shows no partiality. We are called to be in relationship with God and to know the peace of that relationship, no matter where we have come from, no matter how long it has taken us to see and fell the love of God and respond with faithfulness. We are loved. We are ALL beloved of God.
Sometimes we humans make decisions about who is good enough, who is qualified enough to be in relationship with the church and thereby with God. Our sense of exclusion hurts many who would come to God, who would follow Jesus. We turn people away for all kinds of reasons. Yet, Jesus lived, died, and rose for us all, everyone, every single person. We are not to decide or to judge. We are to love, to welcome and to enable relationship with God and God’s people to flourish.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthains 15:1-11
Paul opens this iconic section with the words, “Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you…” which we received, in which we stand, in which we are saved. Now that Greek word euangellion, “good news,”often refers to the announcement of victory that triumphant troops sent to the people waiting anxiously at home. Typically, people in a town might well know that an important battle is taking place a few miles, or a few days journey away, and that their fates are held in the balance while they wait for the news of events beyond their control, but upon which their freedom and their lives depended on. The good news of Victory, once proclaimed, would bring acclamations of joy, followed by riotous celebrations. One of the most famous stories involving the good news is tied to the Greek victory against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. The messenger Pheidippides ran 25 miles from the battlefield to Athens, arriving spent and exhausted, living long enough to speak one word – nike – Victory! His actions made him a hero.
Victory could not be announced fast enough. When I was at the Louvre in Paris, I was told there were three things I had to see. The Mona Lisa (check!), the Venus de Milo (check), and the Winged Victory of Samothrace (check!) The latter statue is missing her head and an arm, but she’s depicted as a winged figure who is riding a ship, combining two swift means of travel to bring the good news.
Having said all that, it’s worth reflecting that in contrast to the type of victory normally proclaimed that Paul is fully aware that this term refers to, he has come to proclaim the victory of a man who was tortured, brutalized, humiliated, stripped naked, and who endured an agonizing death on a cross – and was resurrected. This is the good news “which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you….” (1 Corinthians 1:2) That contrast between a temporary military victory, no matter how glorious, and an eternal victory of death, achieved through obedience and suffering, is central to the good news proclaimed by Paul.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous work, The Lord of the Rings, there is a scene in the book that especially resonates today. After accompanying Frodo on a terrifying and exhausting quest to destroy the ring, Sam Gamgee collapses. When he awakes, the first thing he sees is the wizard Gandalf, whom he thought was dead. At that moment, he asks a question that still impacts. “Is everything sad going to come untrue?”
That’s a question that might have been asked the first Easter morning. The sorrow and disappointment of Jesus’ death is tossed aside like the huge stone that sealed a tomb. Paul’s words in this passage flow nicely. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried. He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures” (vs. 3-4). What is hidden behind those words is the sense of despair turned into joy; the sense of loss turned into victory; and the sense of hopelessness replaced by confidence. Everything sad was made untrue. Jesus rose from the dead!
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthains 15:1-11
Paul has an impressive roll call of witnesses to the resurrection. Peter, the twelve (really ten since Peter was already named and Judas, well, was no longer on the scene), James, and everyone else who is labelled an apostle. That should also include Mary of Magdala and the rest of the women who witnessed the resurrection, but we’ll take that up with the apostle when we get to heaven.
Instead I want to focus on the “more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.” (1 Corinthians 15:6)
Lights are going off in my head. Bells are ringing. Five hundred and more?! Hold the phone. Get me pen and paper so I can write down all their names. Better yet, let me tap the app on my smart phone and take a picture. What a group shot. I’m sure there are a few famous people, as well as some real doubters who came to scoff, some sympathetic to Jesus, and others who’d said a few days before that he got what he deserved, and that where there’s smoke there’s fire.
They came, no doubt, from all walks of life, from slaves and people in abject poverty, to those who practiced a trade, and those who were rich beyond our imaginations today. Do they hold an annual reunion in heaven?
Why don’t we have all their names?
This is the part of scripture that drives me crazy. I am trained to ask who, what, when, where, and why, to write down names and get the facts straight. Under no circumstances would I count looking it up on the internet as a quotable source, but I’d go to the internet just to start looking up potential sources.
You can convince me that three, or five, or twelve friends of Jesus are guilty of wishful thinking, of imagining they sese Jesus alive because they desperately want to. But there’s this number. More than five hundred. At the very least, I’m going to call them a reliable source.
Frank R.
* * *
John 20:1-18
The great reformed theologian of the 20th century Karl Barth once observed that Jesus Christ and the resurrection are “truly beyond our comprehension.” (The Epistle to the Romans, pp.279-280). It really is as inspirational author Carol Knudsen wrote: “The story of Easter is the story of God’s wonderful window of divine surprise.” In one of his Easter sermons, Martin Luther suggested a way to cope with the surprise. He claimed that “when the heart and conscience cling to the word in faith, they overflow in works... all the members become holy, and good works follow naturally.” (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/2, p.46)
Such an Easter faith has implications for daily life. Well-known evangelical evangelist Josh McDowell once remarked about the meaning of Easter:
No matter how devastating our struggles, disappointments, and troubles are, they are only temporary. No matter what happens to you, no matter the depth of tragedy or pain you face, no matter how death stalks you and your loved ones, the resurrection promises you a future of immeasurable good.
And ancient African theologian Athanasius offered an image for living with the Easter faith. He tells us that this word makes Christians colonizers of heaven here on earth. He wrote:
Jesus's 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.
Mark E.
* * *
John 20:1-18
I am still amazed that there are congregations and denominations which discount the call of women to ordained ministry, to preaching the word. One need only read this gospel lesson to know that Mary preaches, Mary teaches. Mary goes forth to share the good news. Granted the time and place in which this teaching and preaching happens, discounted the value and skills of women. The patriarchal culture used women as chattel, as commodity. Yet, this proclamation of having seen the Lord, having experienced the living Christ cannot be discounted. Mary shares the good news. Mary preaches. Mary proclaims. Hold on to this memory, this scripture and allow the women among you to serve as they are called.
Bonnie B.
This text is all about how Easter has changed things, how now we can recognize that we are one in Christ in all our diversity. We badly need that Word in our present political context in which it has become fashionable to bash immigrants. One of the Presidential candidates has claimed that illegal immigrants are not people. And a February poll by Gallup indicates that Immigration is perceived as the Number #1 problem facing America by the largest number of potential voters. We know that there is discrimination in the American air: An earlier 2021 poll by Gallup revealed that 80% of Americans say there is at least some discrimination against Black people, 76% say we discriminate against Hispanics, and 70% believe there is discrimination shown towards Asians. We need to keep these issues before us in the upcoming elections and in our daily lives.
Martin Luther King, Jr. offered a pithy remark which can help us and well reflects the meaning of this text: “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Famed 20th century Roman Catholic theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin made a similar point about how God’s creation tilts us all towards unity among different people. He wrote:
The world is round so that friendship may encircle it.
It is clear that we are certainly not behaving this way. Famed Evangelical theologian Carl Henry directs us to the Trinity as inspiring unity of different people. The Trinity, he claimed, is relational. In the Trinity God makes many (Three) into One. If we are made in God’s image then we can’t help but be people always in relation to others different than we are, relations that ultimately make us one.
Mark E.
* * *
Acts 10:34-43
Peter recounts that we are all invited into the redemption of God, the God who shows no partiality. We are called to be in relationship with God and to know the peace of that relationship, no matter where we have come from, no matter how long it has taken us to see and fell the love of God and respond with faithfulness. We are loved. We are ALL beloved of God.
Sometimes we humans make decisions about who is good enough, who is qualified enough to be in relationship with the church and thereby with God. Our sense of exclusion hurts many who would come to God, who would follow Jesus. We turn people away for all kinds of reasons. Yet, Jesus lived, died, and rose for us all, everyone, every single person. We are not to decide or to judge. We are to love, to welcome and to enable relationship with God and God’s people to flourish.
Bonnie B.
* * *
1 Corinthains 15:1-11
Paul opens this iconic section with the words, “Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, the good news that I proclaimed to you…” which we received, in which we stand, in which we are saved. Now that Greek word euangellion, “good news,”often refers to the announcement of victory that triumphant troops sent to the people waiting anxiously at home. Typically, people in a town might well know that an important battle is taking place a few miles, or a few days journey away, and that their fates are held in the balance while they wait for the news of events beyond their control, but upon which their freedom and their lives depended on. The good news of Victory, once proclaimed, would bring acclamations of joy, followed by riotous celebrations. One of the most famous stories involving the good news is tied to the Greek victory against the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. The messenger Pheidippides ran 25 miles from the battlefield to Athens, arriving spent and exhausted, living long enough to speak one word – nike – Victory! His actions made him a hero.
Victory could not be announced fast enough. When I was at the Louvre in Paris, I was told there were three things I had to see. The Mona Lisa (check!), the Venus de Milo (check), and the Winged Victory of Samothrace (check!) The latter statue is missing her head and an arm, but she’s depicted as a winged figure who is riding a ship, combining two swift means of travel to bring the good news.
Having said all that, it’s worth reflecting that in contrast to the type of victory normally proclaimed that Paul is fully aware that this term refers to, he has come to proclaim the victory of a man who was tortured, brutalized, humiliated, stripped naked, and who endured an agonizing death on a cross – and was resurrected. This is the good news “which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you….” (1 Corinthians 1:2) That contrast between a temporary military victory, no matter how glorious, and an eternal victory of death, achieved through obedience and suffering, is central to the good news proclaimed by Paul.
Frank R.
* * *
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
In J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous work, The Lord of the Rings, there is a scene in the book that especially resonates today. After accompanying Frodo on a terrifying and exhausting quest to destroy the ring, Sam Gamgee collapses. When he awakes, the first thing he sees is the wizard Gandalf, whom he thought was dead. At that moment, he asks a question that still impacts. “Is everything sad going to come untrue?”
That’s a question that might have been asked the first Easter morning. The sorrow and disappointment of Jesus’ death is tossed aside like the huge stone that sealed a tomb. Paul’s words in this passage flow nicely. “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried. He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures” (vs. 3-4). What is hidden behind those words is the sense of despair turned into joy; the sense of loss turned into victory; and the sense of hopelessness replaced by confidence. Everything sad was made untrue. Jesus rose from the dead!
Bill T.
* * *
1 Corinthains 15:1-11
Paul has an impressive roll call of witnesses to the resurrection. Peter, the twelve (really ten since Peter was already named and Judas, well, was no longer on the scene), James, and everyone else who is labelled an apostle. That should also include Mary of Magdala and the rest of the women who witnessed the resurrection, but we’ll take that up with the apostle when we get to heaven.
Instead I want to focus on the “more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.” (1 Corinthians 15:6)
Lights are going off in my head. Bells are ringing. Five hundred and more?! Hold the phone. Get me pen and paper so I can write down all their names. Better yet, let me tap the app on my smart phone and take a picture. What a group shot. I’m sure there are a few famous people, as well as some real doubters who came to scoff, some sympathetic to Jesus, and others who’d said a few days before that he got what he deserved, and that where there’s smoke there’s fire.
They came, no doubt, from all walks of life, from slaves and people in abject poverty, to those who practiced a trade, and those who were rich beyond our imaginations today. Do they hold an annual reunion in heaven?
Why don’t we have all their names?
This is the part of scripture that drives me crazy. I am trained to ask who, what, when, where, and why, to write down names and get the facts straight. Under no circumstances would I count looking it up on the internet as a quotable source, but I’d go to the internet just to start looking up potential sources.
You can convince me that three, or five, or twelve friends of Jesus are guilty of wishful thinking, of imagining they sese Jesus alive because they desperately want to. But there’s this number. More than five hundred. At the very least, I’m going to call them a reliable source.
Frank R.
* * *
John 20:1-18
The great reformed theologian of the 20th century Karl Barth once observed that Jesus Christ and the resurrection are “truly beyond our comprehension.” (The Epistle to the Romans, pp.279-280). It really is as inspirational author Carol Knudsen wrote: “The story of Easter is the story of God’s wonderful window of divine surprise.” In one of his Easter sermons, Martin Luther suggested a way to cope with the surprise. He claimed that “when the heart and conscience cling to the word in faith, they overflow in works... all the members become holy, and good works follow naturally.” (Complete Sermons, Vol.1/2, p.46)
Such an Easter faith has implications for daily life. Well-known evangelical evangelist Josh McDowell once remarked about the meaning of Easter:
No matter how devastating our struggles, disappointments, and troubles are, they are only temporary. No matter what happens to you, no matter the depth of tragedy or pain you face, no matter how death stalks you and your loved ones, the resurrection promises you a future of immeasurable good.
And ancient African theologian Athanasius offered an image for living with the Easter faith. He tells us that this word makes Christians colonizers of heaven here on earth. He wrote:
Jesus's 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.
Mark E.
* * *
John 20:1-18
I am still amazed that there are congregations and denominations which discount the call of women to ordained ministry, to preaching the word. One need only read this gospel lesson to know that Mary preaches, Mary teaches. Mary goes forth to share the good news. Granted the time and place in which this teaching and preaching happens, discounted the value and skills of women. The patriarchal culture used women as chattel, as commodity. Yet, this proclamation of having seen the Lord, having experienced the living Christ cannot be discounted. Mary shares the good news. Mary preaches. Mary proclaims. Hold on to this memory, this scripture and allow the women among you to serve as they are called.
Bonnie B.
