Today in the Spirit: Easter Sunday C
“Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” At no time is the thrill of making this acclamation greater than on Easter Day.
Enter then, all of you, into the joy of your Master. First and last, receive alike your reward. Rich and poor, dance together. You who have fasted and you who have not, rejoice today.
From a sermon attributed to John Chrysostom
In Year C, we hear the Gospel account of the empty tomb from Luke 24:1-12, featuring the challenging question by two angels to the women, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (5). See my commentary below on that point.
Sponsored
The assigned OT reading from Isaiah 51:9-11 calls for the Israelite exiles in Babylon and afterward to “awake” (9) and be strengthened by the prophetic announcement of YHWH’s pending deliverance of his chosen nation from captivity. We who celebrate the resurrection of Christ rejoice over deliverance from sin and death, the fullness of which we look forward to in the future: [We] “shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (11).
Every Easter Day at the principal worship service, we sing or recite Psalm 118:14-17, 22-24 . On both Palm Sunday and Easter Day, we cry out, “This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (v. 24, BCP 2019), but how the meaning has expanded the second time.
On Easter Day every year the church assigns Colossians 3:1-4, one of the passages in Paul’s writings expressing his fully developed thinking on the believer’s incorporation into the life and death of Jesus Christ (see also Rom. 6:1-7, Eph. 2:6-10). Immediately into the Easter season, contemplating the resurrection of Christ, the church would have us consider also our own spiritual resurrection coming as a result: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (1).
The church will have us open the Book of Acts in earnest throughout the Easter season. The first in a series assigned every year on Easter Day is Acts 10:34-43. We had meditated on the early part of this reading, referring to our Lord’s baptism on Epiphany 1, but now we hear more of Peter’s testimony, how “God raised him on the third day and made him to appear “(40).
In both options for a Collect on Easter Day, we pray into the cosmic and earthly consequences of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead, and then, as always, plead for divine grace to be transformed personally and corporately into the people of God.
The Collect
Almighty God, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection, may, by your life-giving Spirit, be delivered from sin and raised from death; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
O God, who for our redemption gave your only begotten Son to die upon the Cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the devil and the power of death: Grant us grace to die daily to sin, that we may live with him in the joy of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
Awake, Awake (Isaiah 51:9-11)
9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
Isaiah 51:9-11
O arm of the Lord;
awake, as in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
who pierced the dragon?
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a way
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
“Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD” (9). Though it sounds like a call to arms for battle, the exiles of Israel, to whom this oracle is addressed, have no army. What, then, can such a forceful alarm have meant? Is it not a rallying cry for a wayward and downhearted community to increase their faith and trust the LORD for deliverance from captivity in Babylon? “Rahab” (Heb. lit, “proud one”) refers to Egypt, and the verse recalls God’s miraculously drying up the Red Sea for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. Just as Moses in that instance called the Israelites to “Fear not and stand firm…The LORD will fight for you” (Ex. 14:13-14), so the prophecy of Isaiah calls the exiles in Babylon to do the same.
Devotionally, as we come together to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, this text will shake us out of the spirit of cool religious devotion, prompting us to have a higher level of expectancy for the work of God in our daily walk with the risen Lord. If you’re like me, you can easily fall into a routine of regular prayer, attending church, and serving in the community, but with hardly any anticipation of anything new happening. This passage would rouse us from our spiritual drowsiness and cause us to gaze on the empty tomb with anticipation of the extraordinary works of the Father and Jesus, whether we see them ourselves or not, in our own time.
That famous quote from Adoniram Judson (d. 1850), one of the earliest Protestant American missionaries to Burma, comes to mind: “The prospects are as bright as the promises of God.” Today, Holy Spirit, I hear Isaiah’s call, “Awake, awake,” so long ago, as a fresh exhortation to expect more from my life with Jesus than I do now.
The LORD is My Strength (Psalm 118:14-17,22-24)
14 The Lord is my strength and my song, *
Psalm 118:14-17, 22-24, New Coverdale Psalter (BCP 2019)
and has become my salvation.
15 The voice of joy and deliverance is in the dwellings of the righteous; *
the right hand of the Lord brings mighty things to pass.
16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted; *
the right hand of the Lord brings mighty things to pass.
17 I shall not die, but live, *
and declare the works of the Lord.
22 The same stone which the builders refused *
has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing, *
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made; *
we will rejoice and be glad in it.
I am not sure why the BCP 2019 directs us to skip verses 18-21 for our psalm at the principal service on Easter Sunday (other three-year cycles do not). As it is, what we have are selections from two distinct parts of the psalm: the personal testimony of the king who has himself passed through trials to arrive at the temple (6-21, use of “I”); and the vision of the king as he enters the temple and joins others in worship (22-27, use of “us”). The opening phrase, “The LORD is my strength” (14), resonates in our worship with the opening line of the OT reading we have just heard out of Isaiah, “Awake, awake, O put on strength, O arm of the LORD” (Is. 51:9). “Strength” (the same Hebrew word in both readings), which the prophet would have the God’ faithful “put on” like clothes, is God himself, says the psalmist.
Devotionally, at Easter, we look for the “strength” that comes from the power of the resurrected Lord with whom we have perfect union by grace through faith. Paul’s words in Ephesians make the direct connection: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know… his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (18-20 NIV). The “strength” (that word again, the Gk. synonymous with the Heb.) which raised Christ is “the same” (Gk. lit., “according to”) the power of God transforming us. God dispenses nothing less than resurrection energy to impart strength to us, and we must receive it to be awakened.
Today, O Lord, I receive willingly and gladly, through the Spirit, the same “strength” which raised Christ over me.
Hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-4)
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Colossians 3:1-4
“Hidden with Christ in God” (3). “Hidden” in the sense “kept secret” or “kept invisible,” but also perhaps, meaning “kept safe” or “kept secure.” I wonder if, in the context of the letter, Paul is really stressing the latter as much as the former. In the paragraph immediately preceding this passage, Paul criticizes the Philippians for a creeping “asceticism” (see 2:23) in the church’s life, characterized by severe self-discipline and avoidance of indulgence. There appeared to be a strange mixture of gnostic disciplines with Jewish observances going on: “Why…submit to regulations—’Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’… human precepts and teachings?” Why? Is it not because they feared their new life in Christ was not truly safe by grace alone? To compensate for the lack of security, they relied on human exercises.
We may struggle with the fact that our lives in Christ are “hidden” and not yet visible. “Lord, wouldn’t it just be easier if all Christians had a light around them that everyone could see?” However, that reservation stemming from invisibility is mere speculation born out of frustration. Much more dangerous to you and me is the fear that our life in “glory” is not truly secure. With it being “hidden” from us, how can we really know? Our pretense of asceticism, however soft or severe, leads nowhere: it neither accomplishes anything we do not already have, nor can we sustain it for long. Better to rest by faith in the assurance of an invisible and secure future in “glory” and live as contentedly as we can in a world that is not our home, with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, today, Holy Spirit, grant me peace with all things being for now “hidden,” and “set” my heart and mind on you alone, without placing undue confidence in rule-making.
Hanging Him on a Tree (Acts 10:34-43)
34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Acts 10:34-43
The passage demonstrates the essentials of the apostolic proclamation (“kerygma”) of the good news: salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is striking that to a Gentile audience, Peter would use the line, “They put him to death by hanging him on a tree” (39), instead of something like “by crucifying him.” Maybe it was just a standard expression used by the apostle in his preaching to a Jewish audience, but it could have been more calculated than that. Gentile God-fearers like Cornelius may have known that the reference to hanging on a tree was to God’s curse from the Old Testament (see Deut. 21:22-23). Crucifixion carried a sense of social shame in Roman society, but not divine rejection. Peter will declare that the gospel of God is that Jesus of Nazareth died a shameful death by heaven’s reckoning to pay for the sin of all people, and then rose.
Devotionally, we need to be reminded that the Good News for ourselves and others is not merely that Jesus Christ died scandalously by social standards, or that he did so unjustly by the measurement of human fairness. No, the Son of God died in the way deemed shameful—“cursed,” by the Father God as the only payment for the murderous sin in the hearts of people. Jesus died that death and rose from that death–that is the Good News.
“God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). I resolve today, like Peter, guided by the Spirit, to be clear that Jesus did not just die ugly but “cursed” for our sake.
Remember How He Told You (Luke 24:1-12)
1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
“Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!” The great majority of believers have declared the truth of the resurrection of Jesus only after time (centuries in our case). We have had the chance to become accustomed to the idea. Those who came to the tomb that first Easter Day, the women and a few of the disciples, had no such opportunity to think it through. Noteworthy in the varying accounts of the empty tomb in the Gospels is the dialogue, if any, with the angel(s). Whether there were two angels (Luke, John) or one (Matthew, Mark) is not nearly as significant as what they say. In Luke, there is no accommodation for the women’s fear, not even a “Do not be afraid.” The angels ask, almost as a point of logic: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you…” (5-6). That chillier approach–like “Why are you even here?”–is characteristic of the post-resurrection narratives which follow in Luke as well (see 24:25-27, 24:38).
Meditating on this particular interaction of the angels with the women in Luke, we might hear a challenge to read and assimilate the promises of God in the Scriptures more effectively (as in the Collect, “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest”). Should we never be surprised by anything God does? Certainly not! We are always surprised by God. It is part of being human. Yet, as we mature in the Lord, we should expect it to be less and less a shock to our system when we find that God is true to his word. Luke’s more brusque telling of the resurrection narratives seems to want to make that plain.
In his commentary on Galatians, Martin Luther focuses on this point with regard to the believer’s trusting in the doctrine of justification by faith alone: “The matter of justification is brittle—not in itself, for it is most sure and certain, but in respect to us, within us. I have experienced this myself, for I sometimes wrestle in hours of darkness. I know how often I suddenly lose the beams of the Gospel and grace. It is as though dark clouds obscured them from me. So I know about the slippery place in which we stand, even if we are experienced and seem to be surefooted in matters of faith…So, let every faithful person work hard to learn and retain this doctrine: and to the end, let us pray humbly and heartily, and study and meditate continually on the Word.”
Today, in the Spirit, as we hear Luke’s Easter Day empty tomb narrative, let us receive the angels’ challenge to the women as a challenge to ourselves: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
Today in the Spirit
Reflections and related content, sent straight to your inbox.
Today in the Spirit: Epiphany 1C
Epiphany might be understood as the celebration of God the Father’s excellence in marketing the presence of his Son in the world.
Today in the Spirit: Epiphany & Epiphany 1A
Prepositions are important in the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). One change in the BCP 2019 that can easily go unnoticed is the designation “Sundays of Epiphany” in the new book versus “Sundays after Epiphany” in the 1979 (and 1928) books. The choice of wording in BCP 2019 conforms with a desire to return to…
