He Is Risen

Matthew 28:1-8

“He is not here, for he is risen,” says the angel. What a wondrous moment of truly good news. The news is so good, in fact, that it does not seem possible. Dead people do not rise--no matter how many zombie apocalypse movies and TV shows say they do. The news of Easter really is too good to be true. But it is. It is true. That’s why we are here, right? 

Resurrection is hope. We need hope. We need hope every day. We need everyday hope. We come to faith, hungering for it. We want to be able to look into the dim fog of tomorrow and know that no matter what it may hold, we will be all right. We want to know that good will finally outweigh bad; that evil will not triumph, that evil cannot take meaningfulness from life--we want to know that darkness is powerless. We want to be able to see images of suffering children and know that there is hope for them. We want to be able to tell our own children that all shall be well and do so with a straight face. So we come here because we hear the word of resurrection--we hear word of a miraculous hope--one that cannot fade or be dimmed or fail to live up to its promise. 

“He is risen,” says the angel. Christ lives. There is hope.

But how do we make such hope real? How does such hope manifest in our lives?

We live it.

We live into it.

How?

Well, this first step may seem a bit odd, but the first way we live hope is to let go of tomorrow. We do not live in tomorrow. We do not exist in the next moment. We live right here in this moment, in this spot where we are. This moment is the only one where we can actually do something or say something or be something. So, claim it. How are you doing right now in this very instant? My prayer would be that you feel safe, secure, and surrounded by love. You are among friends. You are in a sanctuary--a refuge from the world, a place to retreat into a quiet space, a place to think, to pray, to ponder. So, right now--right this very moment--all is well.  Live in that peace, for it is real and it is actual.

The second step is to free yourself from yesterday. What is done, is done. What was said, is said. We cannot rewrite yesterday. But we can let go of yesterday. Today is a brand new day. This moment is a brand new moment. This is a moment of resurrection that works this way--All right, so yesterday, you made a mistake--today do not repeat it. All right, so yesterday, you said something that hurt someone, so today, ask their pardon.  See? Yesterday is finished. Today there are new opportunities, new chances, and new things to see and do. 

So how does living in this moment make resurrection real?

Resurrection was God’s answer to the two most prevalent forms of hopelessness--despair fired by the fear of what’s next, and despair fired by regret over what’s done. The world rejected God, killed God’s Son, and reveled in it--but not today. That is done. God raised Christ. We need not fear the greatest human act of the rejection of God ever committed--to God, it is as nothing. God will not reject us for what was done yesterday. God will claim us in today to start all over again. In so doing, God takes care of tomorrow, too. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, then there really is nothing, nothing at all, in tomorrow that can possibly harm us in any ultimate sense. Even if we die, there is another day. But more to the point, tomorrow can be lived as it comes. 

So that frees us to live into hope today.

We can meet the challenges of this day, this hour, this moment, in faith, courage, and, most importantly, love. All can be well because we are free to act in love, to take the risk of opening ourselves to the world before us, knowing that we do so, not blindly, but in the full and real assurance that God is with us as we do so. 

He is risen.

Christ is not dead. He is not finished. He is still at work. He is still redeeming, reconciling, and removing the fear that so threatens to undo us. The old gospel hymn says it best of all--

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.
Because He lives, All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living just because He lives.

Sing strongly, sing confidently, and sing hopefully. Easter is upon us. Hope blooms and blossoms. The news that is too good to be true really and actually is true. 

But there is one final thought--note that Matthew told us that women went in joy and in fear--this is a different sort of scared, though. When we hit something brand new, undiscovered, and unknown, it is scary. The final lesson here is that as we live hope and  live into hope, we will also need to grow into hope. Be patient--with yourself, with the rest of us, and the expected results.

It will happen. He is raised.

All praise be to God who reigns on high!

Amen.