"What About Your Life? Isaiah 65:17-25; Luke 24:1-12
A Sermon by Alex W. Evans, Pastor
Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA
Easter - April 17, 2022
Texts: Isaiah 65:17-25; Luke 24:1-12
“What About Your Life?”
“The two most important days in your life are the day you were born, . . . and the day you find out why.”
That is a quote attributed to the famous Mark Twain. That is also the opening line of the film production of Roots, originally written by Alex Haley, the story of Kunte Kinte, born four days up the river in central Gambia, but sold as a slave and shipped to America.
“The two most important days in your life are the day you were born, . . . and the day you find out why.”
When we have our wits about us, we can name the day we were born. But that second day - the day we find out why - may be less a day and more a long process. It often takes a while for us to figure out why we were born. Most of us may still be working on that “why” - why were we born?
I hope today - Easter - might help us along that journey of figuring out why. We are all here because we know or hope something is true about God and about Easter; and we want to know more, especially in these uncertain days. We are on a journey - and this Easter just might help us on that journey.
We have heard one lesson today - grand and encouraging words from Isaiah 65. I had forgotten the beauty and depth of those words - hidden deep in the Bible, at the end of Isaiah. I hope we all might make a note of this passage and return often to it - especially when we are feeling discouraged. We live in a violent and perplexing world, with so much bad news - gun violence, a horrific war in Ukraine, economic uncertainties, a struggling planet with a dubious future if we do not get serious about climate change.
So many things to generate fears and worry, not to mention whatever personal concerns or deep loss we may be dealing with. Yet, those words from Isaiah remind us that God is still working in, on, through, and around us, even in spite of us, creating new heavens and earth. “Be glad and rejoice forever;” says the Lord, abundance and generosity will emerge; peace, harmony, and light will prevail. This is God’s doing. This is God’s purpose. We are to stay steeped in and focused on that great and godly promise.
Here is the message - and it is a great Easter message - with God, the worst thing is never the last thing. If you hear nothing else today, I hope you allow that message to sink deep into your heart - with God, the worst thing that may come our way, our world’s way - is never the last thing. That is what we read in Isaiah 65. That is what we see actually in all the pages of Genesis, and Exodus, and Deuteronomy, and all through the history of God’s people. That is what the prophets remind us - Jeremiah, Amos, Hosea, Micah and others. This is what Jesus teaches, and the early church learned: with God, the worst thing is never the last thing because God is always at work, bringing creation and new creation, bringing order out of chaos, promise out of turmoil, hope out of exile, a way out of no way. This is the way God works: “I will create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. . . . they shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.”
We keep affirming this - even with this weekend’s violence at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, or the slaughter of innocents in Ukraine, or our own losses.
With God, . . . . . the worst thing is never the last thing.
We get this same message in the story of Easter morning - today, from Luke 24. We have come to hear the story again. Listen, or read along (p. 860):
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.6Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” 8Then they remembered his words, 9and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
If you were listening carefully, or reading along in the pew Bible, you notice that this passage starts with a conjunction, “But.” A “conjunction” is a word used to connect clauses or sentences. If you are telling the story of the greatest news ever- Easter - isn’t it unusual to start with a conjunction, “but?”
But . . . the news of what happened on Easter morning, in the early dawn, is connected to the events of the previous week, especially Friday and Saturday.
Rachel Held Evans writes in her book, Wholehearted Faith, about why she is a Christian. “I am a Christian because of Susanna, Joanna, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha of Bethany, and a whole bunch of other Marys. . . .When Jesus needed people to help pay for all his travels . . .he turned to women for help. . . I am a Christian because of women who knew a thing or two about what it means to be vulnerable, to suffer, to work within systems that were bent against their flourishing. . . . I am a Christian because, when things went south . . . and all the men abandoned Jesus after his arrest, it was women who stuck around. It was women who stood witness at the foot of the cross, because that is what friends do: they show up. When the ministry had gone bust, when the crowd had dissipated and disappeared, when the Empire reared its ugly head and taken the lives of the innocent, the women stood in solidarity. I am Christian,” Held Evans says, “because amid those frantic hours of Good Friday, women loved Jesus. . . . And what might those women have done, on Holy Saturday, as they urged the sun to go down so that Sabbath would pass? Did they pray? Did they sit in silence? Did they rehash the incomprehensible events . . . in agonizing detail?” And, she says, “I am a Christian because of women who came to the tomb, and asked “who will roll away the stone?” Amid their grief, they were worrying about logistics. I am a Christian because, as soon as the sun rose on Sunday, they showed up at Jesus’ tomb, burial spices in hand. I am a Christian because of women who showed up.” (RHE, Wholehearted Faith, p. 7-8)
The first witnesses to the resurrection were women - we depict them here in this sanctuary in the mosaics below the pulpit.
Here is the deal - those women knew the day they were born - and, as they kept loving and serving, they were figuring out the “why” they were born - by showing up, by doing the only thing they knew for sure - keep on loving, keep going through tears and sadness, with purpose, opening their hearts to God, watching and hoping what God might bring about.
And what they find that Easter morning is not all trumpets and triumph. It is not all lilies and fanfare. It is confounding, confusing. There is no stone to roll away; there is no body to anoint. There are two men in dazzling clothes - and a question - “why do you look for the living among the dead?”
These wonderful, caring, loving women had a focus - a goal - anoint the body of their loved one - it was the custom - what you did to your loved one’s body at death, and they were unable to do it on the Sabbath. So they had to wait, and wait, till dawn on Sunday.
And the men in white say “he is not here; he has risen. Remember how he told you, when he was in Galilee,” that “the Son of Man must be handed over, crucified, and on the third day, rise again.”
That sounded like a question, but it was not a question. “Remember how he told you - he would be crucified . . . and on the third day rise again.”
The Greek term for “remember” here — mimnesko — means more than just mere recollection; it means something more like “to bring past actions to bear on the present, with new power and insight.” It is not just remembering, but remembering in a way that empowers, changes, enthuses the present and everything going forward! (See www.SaltProject.org blog, 4/11/2022)
When Mary sang the Magnificat in Luke 1, she uses this same word: we remember the mercy of God in the past; we are strengthened by God for the present and the future which, by God’s grace, is going to look very different.
When we remember that God never leaves us, we can go forward with confidence and hope no matter what the future holds. The remembering is active and life-giving - mimnesko: it carries us powerfully into the future.
When the thief on the cross next to Jesus said, “Jesus, remember me,” (same word) it was a plea to carry him also into paradise.
And then look what comes in the story: 8Then they remembered his words, 9and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. It is the remembering that changes them - enthuses them.
The women have had an epiphany, and it comes with a commission. They know what they are to do - they became the first to share the news. Their lives had a deeper focus - loving and serving in light of the risen Jesus!
They had always known when they were born - and now they knew what their lives were to be about - loving and serving the risen Jesus. They remembered what Jesus had said - and so enthused, empowered, they ran with confidence and faith, with more love and commitment, toward a future that was more full of God than they could even imagine.
So, what is your life about? Can we “remember” in such a way that it re-defines how we live, how we love, how we go forward?
As we see in this Easter story, the news of Easter is just the beginning. It is the dawn of a new reality. The Easter lilies - in all their beauty - the Easter banners - so true and striking! - the music and message - all wonderful - all signal NOT a final victory - but the inauguration of the new reality that God promises.
Actually, the women - so enthused and empowered with the news - confront the men, disciples of Jesus, who also heard him speak about being raised on the third day. Yet the men hear it as “an idle tale.” Another translation uses the phrase “nonsense.” The men do not believe it. The first post-Easter sermon, preached by Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and the other women, is basically heard as “nonsense.” The prevalence of death always lingers. The shadows of empire and violence can feel very dark. We have lots of fear and worry to weigh us down.
But, . . . this remembering intends to frame our lives too, focus us for a way forward. Easter demonstrates that evil and death do not hold the day, God does. Easter is not an immediate solution - death still haunts us, burdens still captivate us, wars continue, loved ones die, . . . there are many challenges - but we have the powerful assurance of God - which changes everything!
It is like when the light of dawn emerges, we know the sun is going to rise.
It is like the smell of fresh and yummy bread baking; we know we are going to enjoy it. It is like the anticipation of a child being born, or children coming home, or a loved one returning. We anticipate and trust the goodness and light that will come.
This is the assurance of Easter. God raised Jesus from the dead - as Jesus predicted. And this focuses us, intends to frame our living, enthuse us with hope and possibility all our days. Everything is not settled; loss and pain still hurt us, but we know how it will end. Everything is not perfect, but we know who rules and reigns: not death, but life; not evil but goodness; not darkness but light; not all the bad stuff, but GOD! God reigns in the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord and that assures us of everything else.
It is so easy in these days to be filled with anxiety and fear - we get so good at that - anxiety and fear. We doom scroll on our devices, we get overwhelmed with tragic news and pictures of horror; we hear so much sad news that when we hear good news we cannot even hear it.
But the promise of Easter day, the remembering of what God has done, affirms for us that ALL IS WELL. And ALL WILL BE WELL. That does not mean we do not have hard days. That does not mean tragedy and sadness never come our way. It does not mean that evil and evil people are no more. We all have sensed along the way perhaps even a separation from God. But, in God’s good time, God’s will, not ours, will prevail. Love is the victor. Death is not the end. The end is life. The end is God who never leaves us, who brings new creation, and everlasting life. This life, and the promise of God’s full life over death, offer us such beauty, such existence, such consummation, and hope, and so much more than we could ever imagine. Friends, Christ has risen. He has risen indeed!
In the assurance of God’s love and promises, we keep living our lives with faith, hope, and love - lots of love! This is our duty and calling, forever. Amen
Alex Evans, Pastor, Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, VA preached this sermon during Sunday morning worship on Easter, April 17, 2022. This is a rough manuscript.