April 20 | Easter Day, Year C
Acts 10:34-43 or Isa. 65:17-25
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 Cor. 15:19-26 or Acts 10:34-43
John 20:1-18 or Luke 24:1-12
Easter is the great celebration of hope for Christians. The resurrection of Jesus Christ tells us that death in this life is not the last word. One characteristic that we have in common with all human beings is that our manner of life is shaped by the object of our hope. From Islamic suicide bombers to atheistic hedonists, how human beings understand their ultimate future determines their attitude toward this life. What is it that distinguishes Christian hope from other forms of human hope?
Christian hope is based on more than the reward for delayed gratification or earning all the worldly goods we desire. Christian hope is based on the resurrection of the dead—an Easter hope. It is the shape of that hope that occupies St. Paul’s attention in our second lesson.
If there is no bodily resurrection, then God’s promises are void and we are without a shred of hope in this life. But there is a resurrection from the dead, and God’s promises are true. We are blessed by the Holy Spirit, who convicts us of the truth of Scripture and the reality of God’s promises. The grave was empty—Jesus was seen and touched in his resurrection body—therefore resurrected believers will inhabit a new physical world that will replace our fallen world and in which we will dwell physically with God forever.
The hope of the resurrection is about being made alive—not just at the last day, or after our death, but now in this life! It is not just the resurrection of a dead body, but the resurrected, new, reborn life today—living as citizens of God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven!
For example, let’s say that there was a college professor who inherited a farm. He had been wondering about his life for some time and felt there had to be something more. It seemed obvious to him that his inheritance offered him the answer to his dilemma. The way he thought and acted, his attitude toward his environment and his neighbors, even his understanding of his powerlessness in the face of nature, were all transformed by his living into the hope of one day being a farmer. The fact was, long before he realized his first harvest or tasted the fruit of his labor, he was a new man with a new life. Because of the promise he had become something new in the present moment—he had become a farmer.
That is the power of the resurrection. We who were dead in our sin are made alive in Christ. Through faith in Jesus and his promise of a resurrected life, we can live our lives as kingdom people today—even before the kingdom is consummated. Futility, meaninglessness, resignation, insecurity, fear, envy, and self-preservation no longer need to be central to our lives. Because of Easter Day, we have an Easter hope so that we can live as an Easter people, a people made alive—today and forever.
Look It Up: Acts 10:36
Think About It: Since God’s message through Jesus was peace, how should our lives be changed by the resurrection?
The Rev. Dr. Chuck Alley, former rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, teaches anatomy at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical School.
