A Homily for Easter – the Resurrection of our lord
Text: I Corinthians 15:1-11; St. John 20:1-18
Grace to you and peace from God our Heavenly Father and Christ Jesus our Risen Lord. Amen.
The world came crashing down on Friday. Expectation had been building for centuries – an anointed one from God, a messiah, would come to liberate the people.
Then entered a wandering preacher from Nazareth with the power to heal the sick, to cast out demons, even to raise the dead; he proclaimed repentance, the forgiveness of sins, and the coming Kingdom of God.
Just a week ago, there was a triumphal parade into Jerusalem, with waving palm branches and shouts of Hosanna! Hope abounded.
But it all withered like a cursed fig tree, and by Friday, Jesus was hung upon the cross, another victim of Rome’s brutally efficient crackdown against any would-be rebels.
“It is finished,” Jesus gasped from the cross.
And had the story ended there, with a lynching tree and a sealed tomb, then there is no good news.
If Christ is not raised, there is no hope.
If Christ is not raised, we are still dead in sin.
If Christ is not raised, let’s all just go back to bed.
If Christ is not raised – really, truly, literally, bodily – then it is all utterly meaningless.
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