Easter sermon

Below is my Easter sermon preached at the 9:00 Easter morning service. 
The text is Matthew 28:1-10.

Click below to read the sermon.

The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63 and said, "Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise again.' 64 Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, 'He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception would be worse than the first." 65 Pilate said to them, "You have a guard1 of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can."2 66 So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.


This is where the passion story left off last Sunday.

From the start, the chief priests have had security on their side.

They come with swords and clubs, signs of their security and power. For their own safety, after Jesus' arrest, the disciples will seek security by running away, or like Peter, by denying he even knows Jesus. And at the end of the passion story, which immediately precedes today's gospel, the chief priests worry with Pilate about making the tomb secure. Guards are placed outside. The large rock is placed and sealed.

This need for security is not lost on us. The entire advertising industry is built on it. Each commercial, each product pitch is designed to open up some nagging insecurity. The car insurance commercials that used to run showing people chatting in a car and then are suddenly hit . . . Home security products, health products which promise to protect and secure our bodies from the next big fear. But our need for security goes much further thank this – carries over to how we conceive of our bodies, our lifestyle, our families . . . Commercials just pick up on the insecurities that are already there – asking us if we are happy enough, thin enough, popular enough, stylish enough, man enough, woman enough, smart enough . . . Shakily we realize our own insecurity, and our whole world can seem shaky, for good reason. Security is something we desire on every level of our lives, and it can seem hard to come by. Today's economy has made job security shaky. Today's scandals and battles make the security we want from our government seem scarce. Even the earth itself, the rocks on which we build, shift and change, as under our wall here, and our seeming security is broken. Across the world in Haiti, New Zealand, and Japan, people recover from earthquakes,

And we, humans who just want to feel safe, secure, we are afraid.

So, afraid of the unknown, of what God might do, Jesus' tomb is sealed, large rock, watched by armed guards. But we have seen all too realistically how our security is no match for an earthquake, like the one on that first Easter day, which shook as the angel descended. The lightning-bright angel of the Lord and the earthquake apparently weren't covered in the guards' handbook – they shake too, out of fear, and “became like dead men.” The two Marys at the tomb are afraid also, but can at least function to speak to the angel and move from there, where they go from the empty tomb, “quickly, with fear and great joy, and ran to tell Jesus' disciples.”

But on the way, -suddenly- Jesus, the risen Lord, meets the women. And there, in Jesus' words - “Do not be afraid,” the picture becomes clear. After Jesus commands the women to not be afraid, there is no more fear in the gospel accounts. The women worship Jesus at his feet, because knowing that Christ is risen means not the end of the story, but the beginning.

Just as today, earthquakes, rival factions, wars, scary headlines, and personal tragedies can be interpreted as signs of the end. But the risen Christ meets you this morning to say – Do not be afraid. What was finished on Good Friday was all the mess, all the insecurities, put to death with our sins on the cross. Jesus has risen and – we shall arise – a new beginning.

After Jesus rises, the disciples who fled from him at his arrest have a new-found fearlessness. Jesus IS the word to us – Do not be afraid! The insecure tomb has freed you from all your insecurities. Jesus' commandment, “do not be afraid,” sets you free.

As secure as they try to make it, the tomb cannot hold Christ. God cannot be contained or controlled. On Easter and every day, because of Christ, Love wins. Over every fear, every doubt. Easter, and Christ's victory, breaks through even our daily insecurities, and trumpets that our security is with God. Here is the cross of Christ, the empty tomb. Here is life for you. Here is freedom for you.

What might that freedom mean? How might it change how you read the newspaper, or navigate a stressful day at work? How might it change how you pass a neighbor in need? How might it change this ingrained sense of insecurity?

Do not be afraid. Christ is risen. The insecure tomb frees you from every fear, and Jesus opens his arms, as on the cross, to you in safety.

Happy Easter. Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Amen.