CHURCH

LUTHERAN

Our Savior's of Elderon

EASTER SUNDAY 22    I.N.I.   I COR.   5:6B-8

                What’s your opinion of Easter? What does Easter mean to you?  Look at the world around you and you will see that the meaning of Easter is very different in the stores and shopping malls. Is that what Easter is all about? Pretty colored egg, cute little chicks, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, big meals and new cloths?

                In reality, your opinion of Easter, my opinion of Easter, or the opinion of anyone, for that matter is only of secondary importance. You see what we think of Easter isn’t what’s most important. What’s most important is whether the Easter message is true or not. The Christian religion stands or falls on the Easter message.

                If Easter is true, if on Good Friday they really took down from the cross the bruised, mangled, pierced and very dead body of Jesus of Nazareth and laid it in the tomb, and if on the third day he really did rise again from the grave, then everything the Christian faith stands for. Everything you and I hope for in eternity is absolutely 100% true. 

                But, on the other hand, if Easter is a hoax, if Jesus wasn’t really dead when they put him in the tomb, and he was revived in the coolness of the tomb, or if his disciples came and stole his body away secretly to make it look like he rose from the dead, or if his body was eaten by wild dogs, as some claim, then Christ was not raised at all, then Easter is nothing but a cruel deception and you and I are fools for believing it. What you and I think of Easter is of secondary importance; what matters is that it is true.

                You and I know that! We know the truth. With the eyes of faith we have stood before the cross and seen the lifeless body of Jesus removed. We have seen his dead body placed in the bosom of the earth. We have stood outside the tomb on the third day and heard the angel proclaim, “He is risen!” You and I know the truth. We know that God has given us something phenomenal to celebrate. He has given us a new festival, a festival of life and immortality, and a new life.

A NEW FESTIVAL, A NEW LIFE”

                The apostle Paul compares the new festival that you and I celebrate as Christians with the old Jewish festival of Passover.  1500 years before Jesus was born God’s people were being held as slaves in Egypt. So God sent Moses to free them from their slavery under Pharaoh.  Moses went to Pharaoh ten times and told him, “Let my people go!” Ten times Pharaoh refused and each time God sent a plague upon the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh to free the Israelites.  Each time Pharaoh hardened his heart.

The tenth plague was the worst of all. It was the plague of death upon the firstborn. During the night the Lord sent his angel of death over the land of Egypt and into every Egyptian household and there the firstborn, whether man or animal died. 

However, in the Israelite households the Lord commanded a new celebration. The Israelites were to eat a yearling lamb or goat, roasted whole over the fire, along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, and they were to take some of the blood of the animal and paint it on the uprights and cross pieces of the door to their homes. When the angel of death saw the blood he would Passover that home and there would be no death there.

                After the tenth plague struck the Egyptians desperately wanted the Israelites to leave their land. So it was for generations to come that the Jewish people celebrated the festival of Passover as a way of remembering all the mighty and powerful things God did for them to rescue them from their slavery in Egypt.

                One of the defining characteristics of the Passover was that the bread that they ate was made without yeast. Originally that was done for a very practical purpose. The Israelites left Egypt so quickly that there was no time for the dread to rise. However, as God described to his people how the Passover should be observed, he not only told them that all the bread should be made without yeast, but that all the yeast in their houses should be taken out of the house for a period of one week during the Passover celebration. The reason was that yeast represented corruption and sin, evil. Removing the yeast was a way of purifying the household and the unleavened bread represented a life without sin.

The apostle Paul picks up on this comparison as he tells you and me how to observe our new festival, the new festival of the resurrection. He says: “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.”

                Any of you that have a bread making machine or who have made bread the old fashioned way know how much yeast it takes to raise a  loaf of bread. Just a pinch, right? In the same way, just a little sin in our lives soon works its way through our whole character and lifestyle and corrupts us completely. That’s why Paul writes:   “Don’t you know that just a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?”

                So the Lord’s instructions to you and me on this Easter Sunday are really very simple: get rid of the yeast!  What yeast of sin lurks in your life?  Is it the yeast of trash and pornography off the internet; that blatant temptation that  has been the downfall of many Christians?  Get rid of that yeast and be pure in thoughts and actions! Search your heart and mind and find the sin and corruption still living in you. Is it the yeast of malice, hatred? Perhaps someone has offended you and you’ve allowed the situation to fester and grow and develop into a grudge that has become a wedge or a wall between that person and you. Get rid of the yeast! Be reconciled and live at peace!

                Of course, there are many different kinds of sins. There are not only the sins we commit (the evil things we do); there are also the good things we fail to do. The good things we omit from our life, those sins of omission. Again Paul tells us:  “Get rid of the yeast.”  

                Perhaps your sin of omission is your casual attitude towards God’s Word and worship. Perhaps you have neglected the house of God and failed to hear the voice of your risen Lord calling you to repentance. Get rid of the yeast!  With a joy filled heart be faithful in hearing and learning and obeying the Word of the Lord. Perhaps your sin of omission is a loveless attitude, a lack of caring for people around you who need your love and assistance. Get rid of the yeast! Look for ways to do good to all people, go out of your way to help those in need, especially to all those who are members of the family of God.

                As we celebrate this new festival two important Christian concepts come together.  The first one is justification.  Justification refers to the fact that in Christ God has declared you and me not guilty of our sins.  The resurrection is proof of our justification, proof that God accepted Jesus’ payment for our sins as payment in full. In his letter to the Romans Paul writes:   “He (Christ) was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” 

                Now, out of that not guilty verdict, flows another concept called sanctification.  That doesn’t refer to what God did for us; but rather to what God does in us and through us.  It refers to the Holy Spirit’s work of setting you and me apart for a holy life and making us more devoted to our risen Savior, so we serve him and love him more and more each day.

                Remember, God has not only given you a new lifestyle of the resurrection; he has given you new life in the resurrection. This new life was given to you when you were baptized. In fact, there’s a very close connection between your baptism and the resurrection of Christ. Speaking of your new life in Christ Paul writes to the Christians in Rome:  “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace my increase?  By no means!  We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into his death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (6:1-4)

                We may celebrate Easter only once a year, but really, in the church, every Sunday is a little Easter celebration. For you as Christians, every day that you relive your baptism you are reliving what happened on Easter, as each day you put to death your old sinful self through sorrow and repentance, and day by day your new self arises, formed in the image of God, the image of true righteousness and holiness.

                Put your new life in Christ to work in your marriage, see if it doesn’t make a wonderful difference. Instead of pointing fingers and keeping a record of wrongs, instead of arguing, instead of criticizing and  fault finding, instead of complaining and being negative, celebrate the power of new life in Christ, the power to forgive. 

                Live a new life in your attitude towards the   world; not in love with the world around you, not trapped in its pitfalls, but a life that recognizes that you are just passing through this world of darkness and that you’re headed for the bright lights of heaven. 

                You know, some times we find ourselves feeling kind of down and depressed about things in our life and about life in general. When that happens some people turn to drugs and alcohol as a way to deal with things.  Other people get their credit cards out and go on a spending binge, hoping that if they buy enough new things for themselves, they’ll feel better. Sadly, some people deal with their feelings of depression, that void in life, by seeking pleasures in sinful relationships. They get involved in sexual immorality. Others simply don’t know where to turn.

                So, when you are feeling a bit blue or down and out, remember: God has given you a new festival to celebrate and a new life to live. Take a trip to the cross, and you’ll quickly see there is no one left on that cross. The pierced body of Jesus which was most certainly dead has been taken down. It is finished. The sacrifice for sin is complete.

                Then stroll over to the tomb where his body was laid. You’ll quickly see that the stone blocking the entrance to the tomb has been rolled away. The tomb stands empty. It is the eternal testimony to the fact that the body of Christ is not in the grave.

                Listen to the voice of the angel saying to you, “He is not here. He has risen.” And then remember where Christ is to be found: he is seated at the right hand of God, far above all power and authority in this world.  He is there interceding for you before God the Father. He is pleading your case. He is preparing a place for you, so when he appears at the end of time, you also may appear with him in glory. A new festival? A new life? Absolutely! Sealed to you by these words: he is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.