The Resurrection Of Our Lord (Easter Day)
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII Cycle C
Seasonal Theme
The resurrected Christ becomes a physical presence in the world again.
Theme For The Day
The day of victory over death for God's Son and for us. And the anticipation of Jesus alive with us here.
First Lesson
Acts 10:34-43
The Gospel To The Gentiles
This is Peter's sermon and a summary of Jesus' life, work, and interaction with his disciples. He was explaining the gospel to Gentiles, Cornelius in particular. Jesus told the disciples upon Ascension mountain that they were to make disciples of all nations. Perhaps they thought it meant to make them all Jews first. Now Peter was accepting table fellowship with the Gentiles. In this passage are more of the facts of Jesus' life than any other Acts speech. Verse 39 is especially powerful in that the disciples claimed first person eyewitness and also by the use of the very word martyrdom testify, witness, preach -- there is a commission there for all who follow even today.
Second Lesson
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
First Fruits
It would not have been an easy thing for those of a Greek background among the Gentile converts to accept. The historical resurrection of the Christ, and our resurrection as well, is fundamental to the Christian faith. To deny it is to place Jesus in a martyr's grave, and remove from us the hope of eternal life.
The first fruits of verse 20 refer to the first sheaf of the harvest which was always brought to the temple as an offering of thanksgiving to the Lord. See Leviticus 23:10ff. Jesus is that first fruit (Revelation 1-18; Romans 6:9) in anticipation of those of us who die but will be raised to be with him (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). Verse 26 is especially appropriate because this is Easter. It makes the Easter claim that the resurrection is victory over death's power for us who are in Christ. Paul doesn't concern himself with the unbelieving dead here -- I won't either! This is Easter, the day of resurrection, and we ought to concentrate on its effect for believers.
The Gospel
John 20:1-18
Mary Magdalene And The Empty Tomb
We are given two pictures through which we can get a handle on the resurrection: the empty tomb and Mary's experience of meeting the alive-again-Jesus in the garden. In John's account there is only the empty grave and some of Jesus' burial clothing. Yet John believed in this evidence. He already was confident of Jesus and his promises. So all it took was an empty grave and those clothes and John was sure Jesus had beaten death just as he said he would. We all need to take notice of this story before we move on in the Easter season to accounts of the risen Christ's appearance. Verses 11-18, Mary Magdalene in the garden with Jesus is a marvelously poignant narrative of grace and joy in Easter resurrection. Jesus' promise is kept; he would see them again and their grief would turn into joy (John 16:20-22; 14:18-20). Notice she is to tell them of the "Logos" in Jesus' return to God.
Cross/resurrection/ascension says The New Interpreter's Bible "... is the decisive eschatological event for the Fourth Evangelist, because it forever changes the way God is known in the world and makes God's new age a reality."
I cannot resist pointing out how this story of Easter garden and empty tomb portray Mary Magdalene as one of the early disciples. Verse 18 paints her as the first one to announce the fact of the resurrection and what Jesus told her. The two names she uses to speak of Jesus (vv. 11-18), Rabbouni and Lord, remind us of his farewell words in John 13:13. This also proves her discipleship. Let's be sure to say it in this Easter message. There were women disciples as well as men.
Preaching Possibilities
A. There are many possibilities for sermonizing today. One could use all three readings:
1. Acts 10:34-43 -- Easter for Peter: a message for everyone
2. 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 -- Paul's Easter: a matter of first fruits
3. John 20:1-18 -- Easter for Mary Magdalene: a matter of promises kept. Easter for John: the empty tomb was enough.
B. Any of the three readings will work separately as well; however, the John account is what your people have come to hear and experience again this year. I think a comparison of the beloved disciple John's believing by just seeing the empty tomb with Mary Magdalene's having to see Jesus face to face is worthwhile.
C. If you prefer to go with a single text and an exegetical sermon, these look strong and promising to me:
1. Acts 10:34 -- God shows no partiality
2. Acts 10:39 -- We are witnesses
3. Acts 10:40 -- God raised him on the third day
4. 1 Corinthians 15:20 -- The first fruits
5. 1 Corinthians 15:22 -- We die in Adam and live in Christ
6. 1 Corinthians 15:26 -- The last enemy: death
7. John 20:8 -- Seeing and believing
8. John 20:18 -- I have seen the Lord
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
The Easter Gospel from John begs for a simple narrative sermon. Here is an idea.
A. Begin by describing in your own words that which leads up to Easter Day.
1. Driving out the money changers in the Temple
2. Maundy Thursday foot washing and communion
3. Good Friday's crucifixion
4. Saturday's day of death and waiting
B. Retell in your own words John 20:1-9.
C. Talk about the difference between John (beloved disciple), and Peter. John believed first on the evidence of the empty tomb because he already believed (v. 8).
D. Tell your people how Easter's empty tomb has enabled many disciples to believe ever since.
E. Give your own witness as to what the empty tomb means to you:
1. At times of death
2. At time of a life crisis
3. When having doubts about your faith
F. Move to the story of Mary Magdalene in the garden. Tell in your own words. Explain she wasn't expecting Jesus, so she did not recognize him when he came to her.
G. Talk about how our expectations affect what takes place in our seeking the Christ.
H. Give your witness as to what it means to you that Jesus appeared first to a woman disciple.
1. Jesus appeared to those he loved and they were common salt-of-the-earth folks.
2. He will come to us also if we look beyond the empty tomb expecting his alive presence to be here with us.
I. Explain what our witness ought to be today. Use 17b, "But go ..." and 18, "Mary Magdalene went and announced...." So should we.
J. Frame the sermon by returning to the events of Holy Week and telling how this event cast them in a whole different light. Not only for Mary and John. But also for us.
Prayer For The Day
We thank you, dear God, that you brought your crucified Son out of the grave and that we might come here and celebrate it as glorious Easter. Help us to believe like John and go and tell like Mary Magdalene, and keep us full of expectation. In the Easter Christ's name. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
There is a small church called Saint Peter in the Parish of Saint Andrew about one half hour from Kingston, Jamaica, near Fort Charles, where the tombstone of one Lewis Gladly reads as follows:
Here lies the body of Lewis Gladly who departed this life in Port Royal the 22nd of December, 1739, aged 80. He was born in Montpelier in France, but left that country for his religion and came to settle in this island where he was swallowed up by the great earthquake in the year 1692. By the providence of God was he by another shock thrown into the sea and miraculously saved until a boat took him up. He lived many years after in great reputation. Beloved by all that knew him and much lamented at his death.
We also have a new life in Christ available to us.
Five grown children kept the remains of their mother in her bedroom more than eighteen months after she died, filling the room with presents and flowers in the belief that she would be resurrected. Blanche Riley, 56, died in March, 1990, in a second-floor bedroom. A niece of Mrs. Riley in Florida grew suspicious about the family's claim that she was unavailable and had been sleeping a lot. Family members cleaned the remains daily, changing the bedclothes and disinfecting the room to mask the odor (Oakland Tribune, September 22, 1991).
Easter people have a better hope!
There is a story told of a White House employee calling Woodrow Wilson in the middle of the night and saying that an IRS employee had died in the middle of the night and asking if he could take his place. Wilson said, "It's all right with me, if it's okay with the undertaker."
Jesus took our place on Good Friday and Easter through resurrection.
On CBS News with Connie Chung, she called it the Lenin problem: "What to do with a god who failed." They have Lenin on display. I saw him. Now what do you do with him? Bury ... traditionalists say no.
Our God is one who won in the Easter victory. Not on display in a glass tomb, embalmed and preserved. No need to display a dead preserved body. Ours is alive through us and the church. We are the Easter people.
The resurrected Christ becomes a physical presence in the world again.
Theme For The Day
The day of victory over death for God's Son and for us. And the anticipation of Jesus alive with us here.
First Lesson
Acts 10:34-43
The Gospel To The Gentiles
This is Peter's sermon and a summary of Jesus' life, work, and interaction with his disciples. He was explaining the gospel to Gentiles, Cornelius in particular. Jesus told the disciples upon Ascension mountain that they were to make disciples of all nations. Perhaps they thought it meant to make them all Jews first. Now Peter was accepting table fellowship with the Gentiles. In this passage are more of the facts of Jesus' life than any other Acts speech. Verse 39 is especially powerful in that the disciples claimed first person eyewitness and also by the use of the very word martyrdom testify, witness, preach -- there is a commission there for all who follow even today.
Second Lesson
1 Corinthians 15:19-26
First Fruits
It would not have been an easy thing for those of a Greek background among the Gentile converts to accept. The historical resurrection of the Christ, and our resurrection as well, is fundamental to the Christian faith. To deny it is to place Jesus in a martyr's grave, and remove from us the hope of eternal life.
The first fruits of verse 20 refer to the first sheaf of the harvest which was always brought to the temple as an offering of thanksgiving to the Lord. See Leviticus 23:10ff. Jesus is that first fruit (Revelation 1-18; Romans 6:9) in anticipation of those of us who die but will be raised to be with him (1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). Verse 26 is especially appropriate because this is Easter. It makes the Easter claim that the resurrection is victory over death's power for us who are in Christ. Paul doesn't concern himself with the unbelieving dead here -- I won't either! This is Easter, the day of resurrection, and we ought to concentrate on its effect for believers.
The Gospel
John 20:1-18
Mary Magdalene And The Empty Tomb
We are given two pictures through which we can get a handle on the resurrection: the empty tomb and Mary's experience of meeting the alive-again-Jesus in the garden. In John's account there is only the empty grave and some of Jesus' burial clothing. Yet John believed in this evidence. He already was confident of Jesus and his promises. So all it took was an empty grave and those clothes and John was sure Jesus had beaten death just as he said he would. We all need to take notice of this story before we move on in the Easter season to accounts of the risen Christ's appearance. Verses 11-18, Mary Magdalene in the garden with Jesus is a marvelously poignant narrative of grace and joy in Easter resurrection. Jesus' promise is kept; he would see them again and their grief would turn into joy (John 16:20-22; 14:18-20). Notice she is to tell them of the "Logos" in Jesus' return to God.
Cross/resurrection/ascension says The New Interpreter's Bible "... is the decisive eschatological event for the Fourth Evangelist, because it forever changes the way God is known in the world and makes God's new age a reality."
I cannot resist pointing out how this story of Easter garden and empty tomb portray Mary Magdalene as one of the early disciples. Verse 18 paints her as the first one to announce the fact of the resurrection and what Jesus told her. The two names she uses to speak of Jesus (vv. 11-18), Rabbouni and Lord, remind us of his farewell words in John 13:13. This also proves her discipleship. Let's be sure to say it in this Easter message. There were women disciples as well as men.
Preaching Possibilities
A. There are many possibilities for sermonizing today. One could use all three readings:
1. Acts 10:34-43 -- Easter for Peter: a message for everyone
2. 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 -- Paul's Easter: a matter of first fruits
3. John 20:1-18 -- Easter for Mary Magdalene: a matter of promises kept. Easter for John: the empty tomb was enough.
B. Any of the three readings will work separately as well; however, the John account is what your people have come to hear and experience again this year. I think a comparison of the beloved disciple John's believing by just seeing the empty tomb with Mary Magdalene's having to see Jesus face to face is worthwhile.
C. If you prefer to go with a single text and an exegetical sermon, these look strong and promising to me:
1. Acts 10:34 -- God shows no partiality
2. Acts 10:39 -- We are witnesses
3. Acts 10:40 -- God raised him on the third day
4. 1 Corinthians 15:20 -- The first fruits
5. 1 Corinthians 15:22 -- We die in Adam and live in Christ
6. 1 Corinthians 15:26 -- The last enemy: death
7. John 20:8 -- Seeing and believing
8. John 20:18 -- I have seen the Lord
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
The Easter Gospel from John begs for a simple narrative sermon. Here is an idea.
A. Begin by describing in your own words that which leads up to Easter Day.
1. Driving out the money changers in the Temple
2. Maundy Thursday foot washing and communion
3. Good Friday's crucifixion
4. Saturday's day of death and waiting
B. Retell in your own words John 20:1-9.
C. Talk about the difference between John (beloved disciple), and Peter. John believed first on the evidence of the empty tomb because he already believed (v. 8).
D. Tell your people how Easter's empty tomb has enabled many disciples to believe ever since.
E. Give your own witness as to what the empty tomb means to you:
1. At times of death
2. At time of a life crisis
3. When having doubts about your faith
F. Move to the story of Mary Magdalene in the garden. Tell in your own words. Explain she wasn't expecting Jesus, so she did not recognize him when he came to her.
G. Talk about how our expectations affect what takes place in our seeking the Christ.
H. Give your witness as to what it means to you that Jesus appeared first to a woman disciple.
1. Jesus appeared to those he loved and they were common salt-of-the-earth folks.
2. He will come to us also if we look beyond the empty tomb expecting his alive presence to be here with us.
I. Explain what our witness ought to be today. Use 17b, "But go ..." and 18, "Mary Magdalene went and announced...." So should we.
J. Frame the sermon by returning to the events of Holy Week and telling how this event cast them in a whole different light. Not only for Mary and John. But also for us.
Prayer For The Day
We thank you, dear God, that you brought your crucified Son out of the grave and that we might come here and celebrate it as glorious Easter. Help us to believe like John and go and tell like Mary Magdalene, and keep us full of expectation. In the Easter Christ's name. Amen.
Possible Metaphors And Stories
There is a small church called Saint Peter in the Parish of Saint Andrew about one half hour from Kingston, Jamaica, near Fort Charles, where the tombstone of one Lewis Gladly reads as follows:
Here lies the body of Lewis Gladly who departed this life in Port Royal the 22nd of December, 1739, aged 80. He was born in Montpelier in France, but left that country for his religion and came to settle in this island where he was swallowed up by the great earthquake in the year 1692. By the providence of God was he by another shock thrown into the sea and miraculously saved until a boat took him up. He lived many years after in great reputation. Beloved by all that knew him and much lamented at his death.
We also have a new life in Christ available to us.
Five grown children kept the remains of their mother in her bedroom more than eighteen months after she died, filling the room with presents and flowers in the belief that she would be resurrected. Blanche Riley, 56, died in March, 1990, in a second-floor bedroom. A niece of Mrs. Riley in Florida grew suspicious about the family's claim that she was unavailable and had been sleeping a lot. Family members cleaned the remains daily, changing the bedclothes and disinfecting the room to mask the odor (Oakland Tribune, September 22, 1991).
Easter people have a better hope!
There is a story told of a White House employee calling Woodrow Wilson in the middle of the night and saying that an IRS employee had died in the middle of the night and asking if he could take his place. Wilson said, "It's all right with me, if it's okay with the undertaker."
Jesus took our place on Good Friday and Easter through resurrection.
On CBS News with Connie Chung, she called it the Lenin problem: "What to do with a god who failed." They have Lenin on display. I saw him. Now what do you do with him? Bury ... traditionalists say no.
Our God is one who won in the Easter victory. Not on display in a glass tomb, embalmed and preserved. No need to display a dead preserved body. Ours is alive through us and the church. We are the Easter people.
