Easter Day – Mark S Winward
The Easter Acclamation and Welcome
We Episcopalians are known for our worship being conducted “properly and in good order.” Today is a bit different; today we celebrate the risen Christ! It’s OK this morning to join in the Easter response with spirit and gusto as if your hometown team won the championships!
“Alleluia! Christ is risen!”
[The congregation responds: “The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!”]
Well, that is quite good for this early on a Sunday morning! Now, I realize that there are many people who do not make it to church every Sunday—perhaps only twice a year. I once heard those who fall into that category referred to as CEOs. I don’t mean Chief Executive Officers, though I suspect we have a few of those here as well. In this context, it stands for “Christmas and Easter Onlys.” Whether you are a CEO, an infrequent attendee, or a regular, please know that we are absolutely delighted to have you here this beautiful Easter morning.
The Human Need for Victory
Throughout the country today, churches and chapels are packed. Have you ever wondered why people flock to church, at least on these major holidays? In his book The Jesus I Never Knew, Philip Yancey suggests that at a fundamental level, we as humans want—no, we need—this story to be true. Today’s story is about victory over death. Is there anyone here who hasn’t been touched by the death of someone they loved? Whether it was a friend, a family member, or even a cherished pet, something primal within humanity cries out against the reign of death.
This is why fairy tales and modern myths draw us in. Movies like Star Wars: The Last Jedi (think of Yoda), Justice League (where Superman rises again), and The Lord of the Rings (Gandalf the White) all play on that old instinct. Amidst struggle and pain, these stories tell of a victory that replaces tears with hope. The resurrection story does the same, and perhaps that is why, deep in our hearts, it rings so true.
Beyond Wishful Thinking
I do not believe the resurrection is merely the wishful “stuff of fantasy.” At the end of the day, hope for those we love—and hope for ourselves—hinges on whether this story is fundamentally true. I don’t mean true in a sentimental or metaphorical sense, as in “he lives on in our hearts,” but true in concrete reality. St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14). Our survival past the gates of death literally depends on the reality of this event.
More than half a century ago, the late British theologian, John Stott, boiled down the evidence for the resurrection in his Christian classic, Basic Christianity. He made three compelling points. First, the body was gone; the tomb was empty. Critics often offer suggestions to explain this. One is that the women simply went to the wrong tomb because it was dark and they were dazed by grief. But if Mary Magdalene went to the wrong tomb initially, she would hardly have repeated the mistake in the light of day when she stayed until Jesus met her. Furthermore, is it reasonable to assume Peter, John, and Joseph of Arimathea—who actually donated the tomb—would all make the same mistake?
Evaluating the Theories
Another suggestion is the “Swoon Theory”—the idea that Jesus didn’t actually die but merely fainted. Yet, the centurion vouched to Pilate that He was dead after ordering Jesus’s side to be pierced with a spear. Is it reasonable to believe that after the rigors of trial, flogging, and crucifixion, having been dead for thirty-six hours in a cold stone sepulcher without food or water, Jesus would have the strength to move a sealed boulder without disturbing the Roman guard? Could he then appear to his disciples—weak, wounded, and hungry—and still give them the impression he was victorious over death? Such a leap of logic is more incredible than Thomas’s unbelief.
Others suggest thieves stole the body, but this fails to explain how they bypassed the guards or why they would bother leaving the grave clothes behind. A more plausible theory is that the disciples removed the body. However, Pilate was aware of Jesus’s claims of rising again and intentionally placed a hand-picked guard to prevent such a theft. Even if the disciples had succeeded, would they have then preached the resurrection throughout the Roman world—facing torture and death—knowing it was a total sham? That is an awful lot of trouble to go to for a lie.
Finally, perhaps the Roman or Jewish authorities took the body into custody to prevent any sleight of hand. If this was the plan, it was an utter failure. Within weeks, followers were boldly proclaiming the resurrection. If the authorities had possessed the body, all they had to do to end the movement and prevent civil unrest was to put the moldering corpse on display.
The Witnesses and the Transformation
Stott’s second point is that the Lord was seen by multiple people. Over the next six weeks, records state Jesus was seen not only by his disciples but by as many as 500 people. While critics suggest these are mere fabrications, the narratives are sober, unadorned, and devoid of the sensationalism typical of that era. They are graphic depictions enlivened by the details of eyewitness reports. If they were “poor inventions,” the followers surely would have omitted the embarrassing details of their own fear and lack of faith. They would have played up the drama “Hollywood style” with flashes of light. Most importantly, they never would have chosen Mary Magdalene as the first witness; as a woman, her testimony carried no legal weight in ancient Jewish law.
Nor was this a mass hallucination. Hallucinations usually stem from wishful thinking, yet the women were described as terrified, and the disciples were skeptical. Thomas demanded physical proof, and even after worshipping Him in Galilee, Matthew records that “some doubted.” These were not gullible folk, but sober and skeptical people.
Finally, Stott points to the dramatic change in the disciples themselves. Peter is the most striking example. In John’s Gospel, we see him deny Jesus three times and cower in fear; a few pages later, he is forcefully proclaiming the risen Christ to thousands. Something extraordinary transformed that frightened band of peasants into a courageous force that changed the world at the cost of their own blood.
A Choice to Be Made
Does this incontrovertibly “prove” the resurrection? Not necessarily. But it does make the leap of faith less a leap into the dark and more a leap into the light. The Bible does not leave room for us to believe Jesus was simply a great teacher. C.S. Lewis famously argued in Mere Christianity:
“A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher, he’d either be a lunatic—on a level with a man who says he’s a poached egg—or else he’d be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse… But don’t let us come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He hasn’t left that open to us. He didn’t intend to.”
For those struggling to believe, or who see Easter as merely a quaint holiday, what we celebrate today is either of no account at all or the most important thing you could possibly know. I know Christ is risen not just because I read it in a book, or because “the Bible tells me so.” I know He is risen because I know Him. I know His unfathomable love for me despite my selfishness; I know His sustaining power; and I know His unwavering presence as my constant companion.
Conclusion
Either I have actually and personally encountered the Lord of lords—or I am delusional. I cannot prove to you that I am not delusional, but you can prove it for yourself. If I am wrong and life is meaningless, I have at least found something that gives me strength. But what if I am not delusional?
Philip Yancey concluded that there are two ways to look at history. One focuses on wars, violence, and tragedy, making Easter seem like a “fairy-tale exception.” But, he adds:
“If I take Easter as the starting point, the one incontrovertible fact about how God treats those whom he loves, then human history becomes the contradiction and Easter a preview of ultimate reality. Hope then flows like lava beneath the crust of daily life.”
Why not give Jesus a chance this morning? In the quiet of your heart, invite Him to become a daily part of your life, to be your Lord calling the shots, and your unwavering companion to the end. Then, go from this place proclaiming:
Alleluia! The Lord is risen!”[The congregation responds: “The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!”]