Easter Sunday (and a Homily) - 2024

 

Easter-Day.

 

{At Morning Prayer, instead of the Psalm, O come, let us sing, &c. these Anthems shall be sung or said.}

 

CHRIST our passover is sacrificed for us : therefore let us keep the feast; Not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness : but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. v. 7

Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more : death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once : but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin : but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 9

Christ is risen from the dead : and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death : by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die : even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 1 Cor. xv. 20.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen.

 

The Collect.

ALMIGHTY God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

 

Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 25.1-9

Psalter: Psalm 2, 57, 111 | 113, 116, 117

Epistle Reading: Colossians 3.1-7

Gospel Reading: St. John 20.1-10

 

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This is my Easter Homily for today. Hebrews 13:20-21:

 

A child of sharecroppers in the final days of Jim Crow, Alton Hardy tells the story of his life in “Long Is the Way”. Lost in an abusive, fatherless, highly bigoted time as a child, he grew up with no place and not much. In his teenage years he ends up in Grand Rapids Michigan to live with his destitute sister on Madison Ave. As he tells it, “Madison Avenue is where dreams go to die—in the dark, yet wide-awake reality of poverty, hopelessness, and despair” (64). But God, who comforts the downcast (2 Corinthians 7:6), who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist (Romans 4:17) drew Hardy out of his living tomb, into life – even life there on Madison Ave where dreams go to die. Easter, for all it is actually about, is that reminder that God is still giving life to the dead and calling into existence the things that do not exist, and you can bank on it because the God of peace raised the Great Shepherd, body, blood, bones, toenails and hair… As the hymn that we will sing at the end of today’s service, says:

“See the tomb where death had laid him, empty now, its mouth declares;

“Death and I could not contain him, for the throne of life he shares.” Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the risen King” (TH 286 v.2)

 

God of Peace (20a): As the writer of Hebrews tidies up the closing of this “word of exhortation” (22), he brings things to a prayer and a proclamation. He begins by describing God as “the God of peace” (20). The writer gives us many descriptions for God throughout Hebrews, but here at the end he calls him “God of peace”! When you think back through Hebrews on what God has done, it’s not so surprising. God has spoken to us in these last days through his Son who after “making purification for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (1:3). God has through his Son destroyed the one who had the power of death, the devil, and delivered us from lifelong slavery (2:14-15). God has, in his Son, given us a high priest who is able to help those who are tempted, and who always lives to make intercession for us to save us utterly (2:18, 7:25). God has made his Son, Jesus, the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him (5:9). God has opened for us a new and living way by his Son so that now we can draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with clean hearts and washed bodies (10:19-22). And God has given his Son a once-for-all-time sacrifice so that we have been sanctified and are being sanctified (10:14, 18). And so, actually, “God of peace” is a wonderful way to collect together all that God has been doing for his people in and through and by his Son, Jesus! This God, who comforts the downcast, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist, can reclaim us from our own, personal Madison Avenues where dreams go to die. Which now brings us to the Great Shepherd himself.

 

Great Shepherd (20b): (1) brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus. The resurrection of Christ from the dead has been implied throughout this letter to the Hebrew Christians. Whenever it has been mentioned that the Son is alive, sitting at the right hand of the throne of God, waiting for us at the end of the race, making all his enemies his footstool, and so forth, these all assume the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. But here the writer states it clearly. It is by this way, this bringing Jesus again from the dead, God brings us into his peace, because this resurrected Jesus is the High Priest who lives forever and saves us to the uttermost since he always lives to make intercession for us (7:25). And it is in this way God destroys the one who has power over death, the devil, and delivers us who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (2:14-15). And it is in this way we can have supreme confidence that we have unobstructed access to God! No wonder we will sing:

“Rise O Church and lift your voices, Christ has conquered death and hell.

Sing as all the earth rejoices; resurrection anthems swell. Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the risen King” (TH 286 v.1).

 

And so, by raising him from the dead, the Father vindicates and validates Jesus and sets him forth to us as (2) the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant. Jesus, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, is designated, declared, and displayed as the Great Shepherd of the sheep “by the blood of the everlasting covenant”! How do we know that his bloody death sealed the everlasting covenant for us? How do we know that everything we said on Good Friday was so? Because the Most High validated Jesus’ sacrifice by bringing him up again from the dead. Now this Jesus, this descendent of David, is the one shepherd who is set up over and for his people and by whom is made “a covenant of peace” (Ezekiel 34:23-25). The God of peace has made us at peace with himself through the Great Shepherd! We’re not bound to die with our dreams in poverty, hopelessness, and despair on some Madison Ave. And thus we will sing:

“Hear the earth protest and tremble, see the stone removed with pow'r;

All hell's minions may assemble, but cannot withstand his hour. He has conquered, he has conquered, Christ the Lord, the risen King” (TH 286 v.3).

 

And now, through the Great Shepherd the God of peace is giving us equipment!

 

Giving Equipment (21): Simply to make things obvious all of this equipment is “through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” This equipment doesn’t get us into God’s love, it doesn’t earn us God’s kindness; rather, it is all because of God’s peace and propitiation, and his promotion of Jesus as our Great Shepherd. Here is the equipment that the writer is asking the God of peace to give us (1) everything good that you may do his will; and (2) working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight. Equipping and enabling! This doing his will and that which is well pleasing in his sight, includes the multiple subjects already mentioned in Hebrews, but most of all he equips us and enables us with faith that lives out faithfulness; “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible… And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (11:1-3, 6). And the writer can confidently ask for the God of peace to be giving us this kind of equipment through Jesus because this Jesus has secured for us the everlasting covenant by his blood and has been validated by the Father who brought him again from the dead and has now designated, declared, and displayed Jesus as the Great Shepherd of the sheep! In other words, the God of peace, by his risen Son, equips us and enables us to rise up freed from the death of our Madison Avenues, brings us to life out of poverty, hopelessness, and despair! Oh yes!

“We acclaim your life, O Jesus, Now we sing your victory;

sin or hell may seek to seize us, but your conquest keeps us free. Stand in triumph, stand in triumph, worship Christ the Risen King” (TH 286 v.5).

 

Now, you may have found yourself on some kind of Madison Avenue in your marriage, your life, childhood, or adulthood. You may have found yourself living in poverty, hopelessness, and despair on a Madison Avenue where dreams go to die. But God, who comforts the downcast, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist, beckons you to come, now, today. Lay your burdens down, lift your eyes and hearts high, and receive the life-giving, love-giving, liberty-giving Shepherd, whom he brought again from the dead. You who believe, and you who have yet to believe, he summons us both:

“Doubt may lift its head to murmur, scoffers mock and sinners jeer;

but the truth proclaims a wonder / thoughtful hearts receive with cheer. He is risen, he is risen, now receive the risen King” (TH #286 v.4).