It's a New Day - Easter, 23 March 2008

John 20:1-18
Psalm 118:22-24
Easter
23 March 2008

There are several phrases which always get a response in the African American church. Some of them are snippets from hymns: Father, I stretch my hands to thee; none other help I know. Some of them are pithy sayings from our culture. Still others are scriptural. Now that the Easter season has official begun this year, I cannot help but be reminded that "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

On that first Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene ventured to the tomb before daybreak. Little did she know that a fresh, new morning had broken before the sun had even risen. The Lord whose death she had been mourning since Friday had been resurrected. In the other Gospels, the women traveled wondering who would roll the stone away. In this Gospel Mary's inner thoughts turned more toward the question of what happened to Jesus when she discovered that the stone was gone. Even though Jesus had told her that God was about to make a new day for all of God's people, we should not be surprised that Mary came to a natural rather than supernatural conclusion about Jesus' absence from the tomb. Jesus, after all, had sworn enemies who crucified him and who would have liked nothing better than to remove and maybe even desecrate his corpse. Mercifully, Jesus saw her confusion and appeared to her with an explanation (I'm alive!) and instructions (Go tell it!).

This message of the Resurrection is for us, brothers and sisters. It reminds us that that human night cannot overwhelm God's light. In rejecting the one that God anointed - first, David and then Jesus - people set themselves up for the weariness and sorrow of a long night. But God did not abandon them, and God does not abandon us. God knows how to bring life out of death, to bring peace out of confusion, to make a new day after a seemingly endless night. The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Sing, "This is the Day that the Lord Has Made" and "Praise Him, Praise Him"

Let us pray:

Alleluia. Christ is risen! Alleluia. He is risen, indeed! We praise you, Living God, for the joy that comes in the resurrection morning. Not everything in our lives is worked out yet. But in you everything important is settled. In Jesus Christ, we have life, love, joy, hope, strength, and victory. Thank you for the dawn of our new day, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord! Amen