A Sermon for the Sunday of the Resurrection: Easter Day
March 31, 2024
Text: John 20:1-18
Now, O Lord, take my lips, and speak through them. Take our minds, and think through them. Take our hearts, and set them on fire. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Where were you four years ago on Easter Sunday? I remember exactly where I was. I wasn’t at church. I wasn’t getting ready to lead worship or preach an Easter sermon.
It was April of 2020—about a month into the pandemic. I was sitting on my living room couch at our home in Alabaster, getting ready to watch the Easter Sunday service live-streamed from the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
During the service, our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, preached a wonderful sermon, as he always does, and there was a virtual choir and orchestra made up of Episcopalians from all over the country who recorded themselves performing my favorite Easter hymn—the one we sang just a few moments ago, which begins with the words, “The strife is over, the battle done, the victory of life is won, the song of triumph has begun. Alleluia!”
That morning, our family watched the service on our television and listened to the beautiful music, and we did our best to muster up as much Easter joy as we possibly could, despite the circumstances. We even had a makeshift altar set up in the living room with candles and a colorful arrangement of flowers.
Normally, we would’ve invited family members over for the weekend to help us celebrate, but since times were so uncertain at the start of the pandemic, we decided to “play it safe” and not take any risks.
So, our family celebrated Easter alone that year, as so many families did. It was different than any other year, but then again, so were a lot of things.
At the time, we were in the middle of a statewide lockdown, and I was working mostly from home, trying my best to keep things running smoothly at our church in Alabaster.
At the same time, I was trying my best to be a full-time, stay-at-home dad and school teacher since all of the public schools were closed and teachers had no choice but to offer instruction online.
One memory that’s stuck with me from that time was a conversation I had with our son, Jude, just a few days before Easter, on Good Friday.
He probably doesn’t remember this, but his teacher had given him a reading assignment. She told him to choose any book he would like to read and then answer some questions about it. Since it was Holy Week and we were getting ready for Easter, Jude decided to pick out an Easter story.
He read the story by himself, and when he was done, he started answering the questions.
One of the questions was, “What would you change about the story to make it better?”
You can probably figure out where this going. Jude thought about it for a moment, and then he said, “I would change it so that Jesus didn’t have to die.”
I looked at him, and he looked back at me.
He wasn’t sad, but I could tell that he understood the weight of the story. It had a happy ending, of course, with Jesus being raised from the dead, but in order to get there, Jesus had to sacrifice himself. Jesus had to endure much suffering and die on the cross in order to be raised back up again. There would be no Easter without Good Friday.
I think Jude understood this, but it didn’t make the story any easier. For him, the happy ending of Jesus’ resurrection was wonderful, but the story would be so much better without the part about Jesus having to die on the cross.
Honestly, I couldn’t blame Jude for wanting to change the story. It’s difficult to read, especially for a child. It’s even more difficult to imagine what it must’ve been like for Jesus in those final hours of his life—the pain he suffered, how alone he must’ve felt.
How many of us, if we were given the opportunity, would change what happened to Jesus? How many of us would do everything we could to spare Jesus from the agony of the cross, even though we know what happens in the end?
Suffering is something we try to avoid at all costs, especially when it involves the people we love, and I think that’s probably why the church is a lot more crowded on Easter Day than it is on Good Friday.
We would much rather skip over the painful parts of the story and go straight to the joy of Easter. What we sometimes forget, though, is that Good Friday is part of the story, whether we like it or not. It can’t be forgotten or ignored. Without Good Friday, there would be no Easter.
Without Jesus going to the cross and dying for all of us, there would be no redemption—no promise of new life with God. This is the Paschal Mystery—the mystery we’re invited to experience each year during Holy Week and Easter.
The darkness of Good Friday gives way to the light of Easter morning. Jesus has passed over from death into new life, and we are changed forever.
Jesus said it this way, just a few days before his death. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
As followers of Jesus, we are part of the mystery as well. By joining with Christ in his death and resurrection, by renouncing the evils of this world and committing ourselves to the way of self-giving, sacrificial love, we too have passed over from death into new life.
It’s why we celebrate the sacrament of Baptism, which is part of why we’re gathered here today. In just a few moments, we’ll welcome three new members into the Body of Christ—three new children of God who will be sealed by the Holy Spirit in Baptism and marked as Christ’s own forever. During this part of the service, we’ll join with those who are committing themselves to Christ and renew our own baptismal vows as well.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Easter. I can’t think of a better way to proclaim the joy of resurrection than by receiving three new members into the Body of Christ and recommitting ourselves to following the way of Jesus.
Baptism isn’t just about those who are being baptized. It’s about all of us and the work we’re called to do as the Church in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ by word and deed. Baptism is an outward and visible sign to the world that this Jesus who was struck down and crucified has been lifted up and raised to newness of life. That’s something worth celebrating.
Good Friday may be part of the story, but it isn’t the end. We know what happens on the third day, and we know what it means for those of us who follow Jesus.
On the third day, something happened that no one thought was possible. Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene discovered that the tomb where they had laid Jesus’ body was now empty. Jesus was risen. Death was put to flight, and love lived once again.
If we truly believe that, dear friends—if we truly believe that death has been defeated once and for all, then we have no reason to ever doubt that God is with us. If we truly believe that Christ is risen from the dead, then we have no reason to be afraid and every reason to spread the Good News of our Lord’s resurrection to the world. So, let’s say it again…
Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
The Rev. Eric Mancil 