Easter Day, Cycle C

RESURRECTION OF THE LORD

EASTER DAY

The most important sentence of our Easter Day message each year is the statement of faith, “I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and that God will also raise me and will raise you from the dead.” No Easter message is adequate without this statement of faith. It is the Easter message that the people have come to hear. They expect to hear it on Easter. Attendance at worship on other Sundays of the Church Year would be greater also if we would make this statement of faith in various ways in our message on the other, the “Little Easter” Sundays throughout the year.

The statement of faith alone is not, however, sufficient. Our statement of faith must be followed by the invitation, “And I invite you also to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and that God will also raise you and me from the dead.” “We believe. Others have believed. And we invite everyone who hears this proclamation to believe also.” The invitation must be explicit. It calls for a commitment of faith.

Subjectivity is far more important than is objectivity in our proclamation, especially on Easter Day, but also on all of the other “Little Easters” of the year. The historians and the news reporters say, “From the data that we have been able to gather, we can say objectively that so-and-so has occurred.” We who proclaim the Gospel say, “We believe! We speak from the perspective of faith.” The Gospel is a subjective statement of faith, not an objective historical report. For this reason, we begin our consideration of the texts for Easter Day, Series C, with 1 Corinthians 15:19-26, a statement of faith.

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

In this text from the great resurrection chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul extends the effects of Jesus’ resurrection to all who will believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and will continue to raise Jesus and all of us from the dead. We should not conclude that when Paul wrote that in Christ all shall be made alive that he was proclaiming an expectation of universalism, that ultimately everyone will be “saved.” Paul desired, of course, that ultimately everyone would be saved. All would be saved if all would believe in God. All would be saved is all would believe that God was, is, and always will be active in Jesus as Christ. For this reason, we should translate 1 Corinthians 15:22b as “so also in Christ all who believe shall be made alive.”

The emphasis in 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 is on victory over every oppressive ruler and authority and power, even over death itself. Paul was saying that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is an indication that God will nullify and destroy the Roman power that had crucified Jesus, and that, even prior to the nullification of the oppressive Roman power, that God will raise from the dead all who “belong to Christ.”

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24

This exhortation to give thanks to the Lord, this proclamation of the mercy of God, this celebration of the action of God in restoring life to the psalmist is appropriate in a Christian Easter Day worship service. It can and should be sung with gladness, for it links us to other people of God in antiquity and to other people of God now in a Christian Easter Day celebration in which we confess our faith in God and rejoice in the redeeming power and love of God.

Isaiah 65:17-25

In this text the inspired writer joyfully proclaimed that soon the Lord God will recreate the sky and the earth for Jerusalem and for the Israelite people. For the people of God, there will be no more weeping and distress; no longer will anyone die short of a long and fruitful life. No one will take from them the products of their labor. God will hear and will respond to help them even while they are still speaking! Wild and rapacious beasts will be gentle and eat grass along with oxen and lambs. The sky and the earth will be resurrected. The people of God will be resurrected. Prophecy will be resurrected. Everything conceivable will be resurrected, except an individual person who has died. What a wondrous setting for the Easter message that God has taken this one giant additional step — to raise from the dead a person, the Jesus of history now perceived as the Christ of faith, and with the Risen Christ also each of us!

Acts 10:34-43

We marvel at the skill of the inspired Lukan playwright. Chapter 10 of Acts is not only an indication of the spread of the early followers of Jesus beyond the Jewish setting of Jesus to Greeks and other non-Jews; it also depicts a Roman military officer embracing the new Christian faith, a powerful representative of the oppressors being baptized in the name of the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus Christ!

In addition, the Lukan writer may have even included a very subtle cryptogram against the Roman Emperor in Peter’s speech in Acts 10:38-39 in the home of Cornelius, the Roman military official. The Lukan playwright has Peter describe Jesus as having gone from place to place among his people, healing all who were being oppressed by the devil. The devil here may actually be a coded reference to the Roman Emperor, a code understandable to followers of Jesus during the latter decades of the first century, but so subtle that Roman officials would think that this was only theological jargon!

Luke 24:1-12

The message to the women who had come very early in the morning of the day after the Sabbath to perform the last possible action of love for the crucified Jesus, “Why are you looking here in this place among the dead for someone who is living?” is also our message. “He is not here. He has been raised from the dead! Remember how he explained to you while he was still in Galilee that the Son of Man would be delivered over into the hands of the oppressive Romans and be crucified, and that on the third day after that he would be raised from the dead.” Even the powerful Roman oppressors, those skilled specialists in torture and crucifixion, could not keep Jesus dead. They could kill Jesus, but they could not keep Jesus dead! They could not prevent God from raising Jesus back to life in a form in which even the skilled Romans could not kill him again. This text is a biblical condemnation of all who torture and kill other human beings, who torture and kill Jesus and anyone else.

John 20:1-18

It is often noted that Mary Magdalene is a witness to the empty tomb in all Four Gospel accounts. In the Fourth Gospel she also sees and clings to the resurrected Jesus. Our understanding of the nuances of Greek grammar help us to see that it was not the intention of the writer of the John 20:11-18 account to say that Mary Magdalene did not touch the Risen Christ. The negative with the Greek present tense imperative mood in the word of the Risen Christ to her in John 20:17 indicates that the action described should not continue indefinitely, not that it should not begin. Therefore, the words of the Risen Christ to Mary Magdalene should be translated into English as “Do not continue any longer to hold me,” not as “Do not touch me!” The latter would have been indicated by using the negative with the Greek aorist tense subjunctive mood. When she could no longer cling to the Risen Christ, she went to his disciples to make her glorious Easter confession of faith, “I have seen the Lord!”

The message that we must proclaim next Sunday in this Series C is expressed succinctly in the words of the Johannine Jesus in John 20:29b. Within the words, “Blessed are the ones who have not seen and have believed nevertheless,” we find our identity in this text. Here again the Easter message is a strong invitation to faith. By focusing on this message we shall have a strong sequel to Easter Day. We shall begin our consideration of these texts for Easter 2, therefore, with John 20:19-31.

John 20:19-31

This is one of the three texts (Luke 24:39-43; John 20:19-31; John 21:1-14) that provide for us the most fully developed “proofs” of the resurrection of Jesus within the Newer Testament. The John 20:19-31 account served its purpose well late in the first century. In it Thomas, who as the most important representative of “gnosticizing” Christianity in the Fourth Gospel does not believe that Jesus would appear in a physical form after his resurrection, is forced to confess that the physical form is his Lord and God. For more about this, please see Raymond E. Brown, “Other Sheep Not of This Fold,” Journal of Biblical Literature 97 (1978, pp. 5-22). This John 20:19-31 text continues to serve us in the Church as a most helpful “proof” text that Jesus was certainly raised in a physical form, similar to his body prior to his crucifixion in recognizable ways, but also different in that he was no longer limited by time and space restraints.

The most important way in which this text continues to serve the Church, however, is that we are in the position, not of Thomas, but of those of whom the Johannine Jesus says, “Blessed are the ones who have not seen and have believed nevertheless.” We believe without seeing the resurrected Jesus, and for this we are blessed. We are in the same position in this respect as the members of the Johannine community were late in the first century. To believe without seeing, without proof, is more blessed than to believe because we have irrefutable proof. In this text we have faith, as faith, at its best. We joyfully believe. If we had irrefutable proof, there would be no reason for us to believe.

Revelation 1:4-8

Before this text is read in the congregations in which we serve, there should be some explanation that as we read this we are passing into the language of biblical apocalyptic imagery in which Jesus is portrayed in a way quite different from the ways in which he is depicted in the Four Gospels. Then Revelation 1:4-8 should be read with emphasis and with feeling.

Acts 5:27-32

This is the first in the series of “First Lesson” texts from Acts of Apostles rather than from the Older Testament designated to be read on the Second through the Seventh Sundays of Easter in Series C. It is, unfortunately, a text in which Jewish religious leaders rather than Roman political leaders are condemned as the ones who killed Jesus by hanging him upon a cross.

We as Christian Ministers of Word and Sacrament are called to proclaim a message that is pro-Christ, not one that is anti-Jewish. Some redactional modifications will be suggested here, therefore, as necessary in adapting Acts 5:27-32 for use in Christian worship during our time. These are redactional modifications that should have been made prior to or during the time in which Acts of Apostles was canonized and approved as Scripture for use in the Church. Since the modifications were not made when they should have been made, we must make them now. The Word of God is of tremendous importance to us, but the People of God are of even greater importance. In instances where the Word of God has hurt and continues to hurt the People of God (both Jewish and Christian), it must be modified redactionally. To paraphrase the Markan Jesus in Mark 2:27, “The Word of God was made for the People, not the People of God for the Word of God.”

Acts 5:27-32 is a thespian’s delight. The inspired Lukan playwright provided for us a historical drama with villains and heroes. The reading and hearing audience is pleased when the villains in the play are made to look ridiculous. The audience, clearly partisan, knows that in spite of great odds and difficulties God is on the side of the heroes and that their success is assured. This text is not unlike a TV drama written for our time.

The following redactional modifications are suggested here as appropriate in adapting this scene for use in our time so that the drama will be effective. Doing this is somewhat analogous to what a director does in adapting a drama script to a specific modern audience for greater effectiveness.

The proclamation of obedience to God and the witness to the belief that God has raised Jesus from the dead come across much more clearly when the vicious anti-Jewish polemic of Acts 5:30b and 31b is relegated to a footnote, or at least is not used. The following is an example of an expression of Acts 5:29b-31 that utilizes this kind of sensitivity.

It begins with what in a drama presentation would be delegated to a chorus, “We must obey God rather than obey people!” From within that chorus Peter would continue alone with the sterling confession, “We believe that the ‘God of Our Fathers’ raised Jesus from the dead and has exalted him as our Leader and Savior to the ‘right hand’ of God in order to provide for our repentance and the forgiveness of our sins.” In this sensitive expression the onus is taken from “Israel” and from the “villains” of this scene. Instead, the confessional nature of Peter’s speech is highlighted. The necessity of “our” repentance and the need for the forgiveness of “our” sins is acknowledged in a manner that theologically is far more attractive than if repentance is demanded of other people while it is assumed that “we” have no need for it.

The apostolic witness that is expressed in Acts 5:32 is enhanced by this biblical expression because it puts the emphasis on our confession of faith. When the emphasis remains only on the alleged guilt of other people (the Jews) and on their need for repentance, the witness is robbed of much of its power. The zeal of the inspired Lukan writer to incorporate anti-Jewish polemic so frequently in this scene and elsewhere in Acts of Apostles detracts from the witness and from the confession of faith of the writer. It was the purpose of the Lukan playwright to deflect persecution by the Romans of early followers of Jesus from these followers of Jesus to the Jews, to scapegoat the Jews. Other followers of Jesus in their usage of this material and by their incorporation of it into their new canon of sacred Scripture obviously gave their approval. The lives of the followers of Jesus were considered to be precious; the lives of Jews who remained Jews apparently were thought to be of little value. Within a mature Christianity, however, we are no longer bound to the purpose of the Lukan writer, especially when the vicious anti-Jewish polemic that is present in Acts of Apostles and in other Newer Testament documents has been shown to have contributed to the loss of human rights and of human life to Jews for nineteen centuries and when it also detracts from an otherwise clear confession of Christian faith.

Psalm 118:14-29

These verses, similar to the other verses from Psalm 118 used on Easter Day in this Series C, emphasize the victory that God provides for the people who are righteous. They are appropriate, therefore, for Christian worship services also on the Second Sunday of Easter.

Psalm 150

This marvelous hymn of praise in which everything that breathes in every possible way is called upon to praise the Lord God, as a brilliant doxology to conclude the Psalter is certainly appropriate for our use next Sunday.

A major unifying factor for each of the texts selected for Easter 3 in Series C is the theme, “The Redeemer Revealed.” The Lord (Adonai) is, of course, the Redeemer revealed to the distressed psalmist in Psalm 30. The Lord (Jesus) raised from the dead is the Redeemer revealed to Paul in Acts 9:1-6 (7-20), the Redeemer revealed as the Lamb who was slain in Revelation 5:11-14, and as the Host in a shared meal in John 21:1-19.

Psalm 30

Psalm 30 is a good example of an Individual Hymn of Praise. The close escape of the psalmist from death is attributed by faith to the action of Adonai, the Redeemer from death. The grateful psalmist calls upon the members of the community of faith to join in praise and thanks to the Lord.

This is not a resurrection psalm, but it is close to being a resurrection psalm. It is stated that Adonai could have chosen to permit the psalmist to die, to be buried in Sheol (the grave, pit, arroyo), and his body to return to the clay from which according to the Genesis 2:4b-25 account Adonai Elohim had made the first man. The psalmist had cried to Adonai for healing, had used the logic that it would be to the advantage of Adonai to restore the psalmist to health, and restoration had been granted. This is an appropriate psalm, therefore, for use by Christians on Easter 3.

Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)

Since the Apostle Paul had written in 1 Corinthians15:8 that “last of all, Jesus as the resurrected Christ had been revealed” to him and in Galatians 1:13-17 that God, who by God’s grace had called him, had been pleased to reveal God’s Son to Paul, it is likely that the inspired Lukan playwright used what Paul had written in 1 Corinthians 15:8 and in Galatians 1:13-17 creatively in composing the series of scenes that became Acts 9:1-20. The Lukan playwright was apparently so pleased with these scenes that the playwright used them again with only slight elaborations in Acts 22:4-16 and 26:9-18. For us on Easter 3, the significance of Acts 9:1-20 is that in this text it is said that Jesus the Redeemer was revealed to the Apostle Paul.

Revelation 5:11-14

This segment from the conclusion of the Revelation 4:1–5:14 throne scene is another excellent example of the best of the apocalyptic literature in the book of Revelation. Again, as last Sunday, it is appropriate to comment briefly about the apocalyptic imagery of the account. Then the text should be read with emphasis on Jesus as the Redeemer revealed as the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

John 21:1-19

It may be helpful to provide a few comments selected from Raymond E. Brown’s extended discussion of this text in his The Gospel According to John (Anchor Bible 29a, pp. 1066-1130). According to Brown, John 21 is best classified as an Epilogue, most likely supplied by a redactor of the work of the Evangelist. It is probable that two separate stories lie behind 21:1-19. In one of them Jesus was recognized through the (Eucharistic?) symbolism of the meal (v. 12). In the other Jesus was recognized by “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (v. 7). The Epilogue was attached to the main body of the Fourth Gospel by use of the typical redactional Greek words meta tauta (“After these things”). There are numerous close similarities to the Lukan account of the call of Peter and the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11). Brown concluded, therefore, that the Third and Fourth Gospels preserved variant forms of the same miracle story. The primary purpose of this miracle story in each of its accessible forms is to show that Jesus revealed himself, which is emphasized both at the beginning (v. 1) and near the end (v. 14) of the John 21:1-19 account. The catching of fish almost certainly symbolizes the catching of people. According to Brown, the 153 fish signify the all-embracing character of the mission of the followers of Jesus. The unbroken net means that in spite of the inclusion of such a vast diversity of people, the community represented by these disciples is not torn by schism.

It may be added that John 21:1-19 does not indicate that Peter and the others were giving up on Jesus after the crucifixion and after other resurrection appearances and were returning to their earlier occupation of commercial fishing. Peter and the others are fishing here for people. Until Jesus from the shore directed them to cast their net on the right side of the boat, they caught nothing. Since in Mark and in Matthew there is considerable evidence that there was during the first century a Jewish west side of the lake and a non-Jewish east side of the lake, it is possible that the Johannine Jesus was said to have been directing his followers to fish for people on the other (east) side of the boat where there were more non-Jewish people rather than on the west side facing Galilee where there were more Jews. At any rate, the account is not merely telling us that if we obey Jesus we shall certainly be successful and prosperous in our business. It is not a “Prosperity Gospel” text.

For our homiletical purposes, the primary consideration here is that Jesus is said to have revealed himself as Risen Lord and Savior in the catching of a multitude of people and in the shared meal of his community of followers just as the Risen Christ continues to be revealed among us in our time. Within that community of “caught people” then and now there is a basic unity in spite of great diversity.

There is a message of confidence and assurance in each of these four texts chosen for Easter 4 in Series C.

Psalm 23

For us as Christians, Jesus as Lord and Savior has become in many ways what Adonai was for Israelites and continues to be for Jews. For us, Jesus raised from the dead is our shepherd who finds green pastures for us and leads us beside still waters, who restores our “soul.” For us, Jesus as the Risen Christ is our Lord and God just as for Israelites and for Jews Adonai is, was, and always will be Lord and God.

In English the word “Lord” is used as a title by which both Adonai and Jesus are addressed, signifying in each instance the most significant way in which God is perceived as Active in History. When as Christians we say, “The Lord is my Shepherd!” to some extent we may be thinking about Adonai as Lord as Adonai is perceived as Lord for Jews, but more likely most of us are thinking almost entirely about Jesus the Risen Christ as our Shepherd and Lord, especially on this Easter 4 “Good Shepherd” Sunday. Our use of Psalm 23 together with Revelation 7:9-17 and with John 10:22-30 on Easter 4 encourages us to think about Jesus as the “Lord” who is our shepherd in the symbolic imagery of Psalm 23.

Acts 9:36-43

In this text Peter speaks and acts with the power of God that in the Four Gospels is attributed to Jesus. We note also that in this Acts 9:36-43 text, expressing the prominence of women and the perspective of women in Luke-Acts, it is a very good woman who is brought back to life when Peter addresses her by name, “Tabitha!” and says, “Get up!” The message is expressed with confidence and assurance, just as we are called to express the message of these texts this coming “Good Shepherd” Sunday. Nothing less will be adequate.

Revelation 7:9-17

These words continue to carry for us a beautiful message of confidence and assurance that although we may be weeping in tribulation now, in the future we shall lack nothing when the Lamb of God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, shall guide us as a shepherd guides the shepherd’s sheep to springs of flowing water, protects us from the burning sun, and provides for our every need. Our Christian faith and hope are built on words such as this, not on words of accusation and condemnation of people who actually did not do that of which they are accused and for which they have been condemned.

John 10:22-30

Within the message of confidence and assurance recorded in John 10:27-29 the Johannine Jesus speaks as the Good Shepherd whose sheep hear his voice and follow him. The Johannine Jesus says in these verses that he knows his sheep and gives to them eternal life. They shall never perish. No one shall ever snatch them from his hand.

The controversy with “the Jews” in John 10:24-26 distracts and detracts from this otherwise excellent message of confidence and assurance. As in many other instances within the Fourth Gospel, in John 10:24-26 “the Jews” are said to be excluded because they do not believe as the Johannine people believe. We can put the necessary emphasis on the positive on this Good Shepherd Sunday if we do not use this controversy with the Jews portion of this text. As a person who is primarily within the Lutheran Christian tradition, I wonder why the Lutheran and Common Lectionary selections and the Revised Common Lectionary selections were expanded from the earlier (1967) Roman Catholic John 10:27-30 readings to include the anti-Jewish John 10:24-26 verses. Just as we who are non-Roman Catholic Western Church Christians have learned since the Second Vatican Council that we can be for Christ without having to be against the Roman Catholic Church, so also now and during the coming decades all of us who are Christians can and should realize that we can be for Christ without having to be against the Jews and against full participation in the Church by those who are in minority and powerless positions among us.

The texts selected for Easter 5 in The Revised Common Lectionary are indicative of a transition from emphasis on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as a saving action for a limited number of his followers to sharing the message of salvation within a much broader arena. The Johannine Jesus in John 13:31-35 requires that his followers must love one another after he departs from them, just as he has loved them. Within a vivid literary drama in Acts 11:1-18 Peter in ecstasy in a vision is shown and convinced that the saving action of God in Christ must be shared as a gift from God to people beyond the community of initial followers of Jesus. It must be shared not merely with people who have a “clean” Jewish background, but also with non-Jewish background people whom Peter had previously considered to be impure and unclean. In the vision of the new heaven and new earth after the oppressive Roman Empire and all wicked people have been removed, it is acclaimed in Revelation 21:1-6 that God will live among God’s people in a situation in which there will no longer be any pain, mourning, weeping, and death. During a much earlier period, this had also been the ideal situation depicted by the writer of Psalm 148, a messianic age in which all the angels of heaven, all of the creatures and elements of God’s creation, and all people, men and women, young and old will praise the name of the Lord.

John 13:31-35

Analysis of these five verses indicates that its three units (vv. 31-32, 33, 34-35) are rather disparate elements juxtaposed. Raymond E. Brown, however, in his The Gospel According to John (Anchor Bible 29a, p. 609), noted that we can “trace the logic that led to the union of these disparate elements.” Brown stated that “Jesus’ glorification (vv. 31-32), which is the goal of ‘the hour,’ is an appropriate opening theme for the great Discourse explaining the hour. This glorification involves his return to his Father and, therefore, his departure from his disciples (v. 33). The command to love (vv. 34-35) is Jesus’ way of ensuring the continuance of his spirit among his disciples.”

The literary genre here is that of a dying father instructing his children. This text has close parallels in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, which is a Jewish document with Christian interpolations or a Christian work dependent on Jewish sources. For example, in the Testament of Gad 4:1-2, we read, “Now, my children, let each one of you love his brother,” and in the Testament of Reuben 4:5, “My children, observe all that I have commanded you.” For other examples, see Brown, The Gospel According to John (AB 29a, p. 611).

What we have, specifically, in John 13:31-35, and in many other Newer Testament texts, is theological reflection over 1) the tragedy of Jesus’ crucifixion, 2) the absence of Jesus from his followers, and Jesus’ message and example of love.

Acts 11:1-18

It is interesting to note that Peter, who is described by Paul in Galatians 2:1-10 as reluctant to agree to Paul’s request that non-Jewish followers of Jesus should not be required to be circumcised if male and should not have to follow Jewish dietary restrictions, is here depicted as using his own experiences to convince other apostles and believers in Judea that God has given to people of other religious traditions and ethnic backgrounds repentance and access to life.

Revelation 21:1-6

This vision of peace in the presence of God is wondrous for us and for all people. It was especially glorious for the people of the Johannine community who were suffering such intense persecution by zealous advocates of Roman Civil Religion. Even though most of us are not being subjected to the kind of persecution faced by the Johannine followers of Jesus within the Roman province of Asia during the last seven years of the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian, many of us are faced with intense pain and anxiety because of terminal illnesses, as well as economic losses and uncertainties.

Psalm 148

All of God’s creation, in heaven above, on the earth, and the sun, the moon, and the flickering stars, people of all ages and genders are called upon in this psalm to give praise to the Lord God. As we draw nearer to the conclusion of our Easter Season this year with Psalm 148 and the Newer Testament texts selected for us for our use this coming Sunday, what justification do so many of us have for restricting leadership in the Church to males and to those who have majority power positions and orientations?