Pasadena Presbyterian Church Sermon Text
April 20, 2003 - Easter Sunday

"The One for Whom We Have Waited"
Preached by The Rev. Dr. Barbara Anderson

Scripture:  Isaiah 25:6-9; Matthew 28:1-7

(6) On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. (7) And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; (8) he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. (9) It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

- Isaiah 25: 6-9

(1) After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. (2) And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. (3) His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. (4) For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. (5) But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. (6) He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he F219 lay.  (7) Then go quickly and tell his disciples, "He has been raised from the dead, F220 and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.' This is my message for you."

- Matthew 28: 1-7

Christ is risen!  It's a simple truth but so powerful that it has always threatened to turn the world upside down.  "Christ is risen" is such a life-changing, world-changing truth that it deserves every trumpet we can find, every voice we can raise, every touch of beauty we can see, every hand we can put to work.  Christ is risen, and neither earth nor heaven shall ever be the same.

Even so, why is it that we decorate the sanctuary with such beauty and fill the air with such fragrance on Easter morning?  Is it because we are assured in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that there is life beyond this life?  That is an assurance worth celebrating with everything we have, celebrating our faith that that which is bound together in this life is preserved forever in God's reign that has no end.  We fill the air with thanks this morning for the assurance of eternal life we hear in the words, "Christ is risen;" the promise of eternal life lived in the presence of God with all the saints who have gone before is a central part of the Easter proclamation.  And it's well worth celebrating. 

But a belief in life after death is not what started Christianity.  The Pharisees already believed that the faithful would be raised to eternal life at the end of time.  Merely calling out, "We do, too!  And we have proof!" would not have been reason enough for the disciples to risk their own execution by preaching Jesus as the Long Awaited One.  Nor would it have been reason for his followers to be martyred through the years, nor reason for billions of lives to have been changed for good beyond comprehension throughout the centuries.  As critically important as our belief in life after death is, and even though it is a part of what we celebrate on Easter, this is not the meaning of the Christ's resurrection that caught the world on fire.

So, too, the disciples and followers who first experienced Jesus' resurrection could not have seen Jesus' death in the terms of our Christian Doctrine of Atonement: that Jesus' death was the blood sacrifice that paid off the debt humanity owes God for all our sinful deeds in every life past, present, and future for all time.  A doctrine like that requires time for thought and discussion, and at least some second-level reflection.  Although such a concept was well enough developed 50 years later to be contained in portions of the New Testament, and although it has been the most frequently heard doctrine of the crucifixion for many centuries, early Christians continued to be faithful Jews and make offerings in the Temple for decades after Jesus' resurrection. Peter and John did not race back to their friends shouting, "Jesus is the final sacrifice and washed all of us clean with his blood. Our sins are forgiven forever!"  The Doctrine of Atonement is not what made Jesus' disciples so excited when they discovered he had been raised from the dead and was with them again in the garden, in the upper room, on the Road to Emmaus, in the breaking of bread, in the catching of fish, in the commandment to "Feed my sheep."   

As important as these two aspects of Easter are, they are not why the first Christians celebrated Easter.  They are not where its greatest power is found for us and for the world, either. 

This communion table is not prepared for a re-enactment of a sacrifice.  It is set for a feast: The Joyful Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord!  We are here this morning, blowing trumpets and trombones, singing our hearts out and filling our lungs with the fragrance of Easter, greeting each other with joy so enormous it comes from the bottom of our feet, because Christ is raised - not in the distant future at the end of time, but 2000 years ago and even today, when the world as and is still suffering, and people were and are still dying, and armies are still marching and prisoners still being tortured, and children are still starving, and slaves still being bought and sold, in millions of lives  of despair so great and depression so deep and sorrow so heavy that people can barely breathe. 

On what we call Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified, it appeared that the power of evil had won, and that nothing had really changed in this world.  But Easter shows us the true reality: the powers that have held us in bondage have been overcome, God's power has conquered evil, the glorious life for which we were created is once again a possibility.  God has raised Jesus Christ and broken the power of evil!

Jesus' most powerful witness to God's love came not on a peaceful hillside in Palestine in the shade of an olive tree.  His most powerful witness was his willingness to enter fully into suffering, and trust that God can use even that suffering for good.  Only in the midst of suffering could God raise Christ from the dead. 

The power of Easter that caused the disciples such joy, the power of Easter that brought the church alive, the power of Easter that changes lives even today is this: Suffering doesn't win.  Hatred doesn't win. Evil doesn't win.  Death doesn't win.  Life wins.  Love wins. Good wins. God wins. 

The disciples ran with joy, and the early church grew like wildfire, because God raised Christ, not at some time in the distant future, but right then, in the midst of their suffering.  God was present and redeeming human suffering right then. 

How could they not celebrate?  As Paul Claudel says,  "Christ did not come to do away with suffering; He did not come to explain it; He came to fill it with His presence."  That is what the disciples discovered when they met the risen Christ!  That is why they ran to tell the news to the others.  That is why the early church grew so explosively and changed so many lives.

As we gather among the Easter lilies, we hear the cries of God's people who long for redemption and resurrection.  We hear them in the voices of those whose loved ones are ill and for whom there seems no cure, and in the voices of those who cry out for healing in their own body and life.  We hear the murmured prayers of people who struggle against depression and addiction sometimes minute-by-minute; and in the whimpered cries and angry shouts of those who have been abused. We hear the cries of  those who weep into pillows of loneliness and rage, fear and hunger. We hear the cries of those who know the devastating loss of war. 

To each one of them, to each one of us, even to ourselves, we proclaim the good news: Christ is risen!  

Into human suffering come the power of Easter, redeeming human life, giving hope worth celebrating.  On Easter, we remember that resurrection happens only in graveyards - graveyards where our loved ones are buried and graveyards of human suffering, some of which have markers visible to others, some of which are known only in our hearts and to the God who brings about such resurrection.

On Easter we proclaim the promise of eternal life.  We proclaim a new life in Christ in which the past is finished and gone.  We proclaim that even the most terrible and painful parts of life can be redeemed for good by God.

On Easter, we proclaim that  that when the final trumpet blows, death and evil will be fully overcome by the good and loving God who created this world and every living being within it.

Today and tomorrow and tomorrow, Easter dawns again.  The One for whom we have waited quietly steps out of the tombs of our life, greets us by name, says "Peace by with you," and tells us to feed his sheep.  Today, in the midst of life, the One for whom we have waited is already here.  Christ is risen!  Christ is risen, indeed!

(c) Copyright 2003 by Barbara A. Anderson.  All rights reserved.  Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution.