EASTER (Day of Resurrection)
Blessed
Day of Resurrection to you! Our celebration of Easter should be in
full swing. Dyed eggs are pretty, candy is sweet, but far more
beautiful to the believer is the risen Savior, and singing his
praises is infinitely sweeter.
The
Church has realized this from its beginning. The Resurrection of the
Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, energized a frightened group of disciples
into becoming a bold group of witnesses to his triumph over the
grave. Meeting the risen Lord on the road to Damascus changed Saul
the Persecutor into Paul the Apostle. And learning of him through
Word and Holy Spirit has moved countless believers to write and sing
joyfully.
Back
around A.D. 750, John of Damascus wrote the hymn, *The Day of
Resurrection*. Its first stanza says: “The day of resurrection,
Earth, tell it out abroad, The Passover of gladness, The Passover of
God. From death to life eternal, From this world to the sky, Our
Christ has brought us over With hymns of victory.”
The
connection with the Passover is more than circumstantial. The Son
was sent to earth to take human flesh—to live perfectly in the stead
of imperfect humanity. He carried our weaknesses in himself,
resisting temptation to depart from his chosen path. He came knowing
not only that he would die on our behalf, but choosing so to do. His
death came during the time of Passover in Judah, as the children of
Abraham praised God for his deliverance of his people from Egypt,
the land of bondage.
As the
people in Jerusalem were remembering the lambs’ blood painted over
their forefathers’ doors, the ultimate Passover Lamb was being
prepared for the slaughter. His blood would be painted over sinful
humanity, and all who believed that the death of Jesus brought the
final deliverance from their sins would become heirs of new life in
his resurrection from the dead.
The
Passover was the defining moment in the life of the Covenant people
Israel. It was God calling them out of slavery and into his family.
Hundreds of years later, all of human history would reach its
defining moment. God would call people out of slavery to sin and
into the family of Jesus Christ.
The
Passover observed at the time of Jesus looked back to the Angel of
Death passing over the blood-stained doors of Israel. It remembered
the Children of Israel passing over the Red Sea on dry land and the
destruction of Pharaoh’s army. It recalled a faithful God’s promises
to an often faithless people.
After
Christ rose from the dead, God and his people of the New Covenant
pointed to the fulfillment of the promise of the Passover. Christ
passed over from life to death and on to life. Like Moses with his
staff, so even more is Jesus and his cross. God used Moses to rescue
his people from death on the shores of the sea. God used Jesus to
rescue all people from eternal death in hell. Jesus leads the
believers across death to life eternal in heaven. His Passover
becomes ours. His resurrection is the guarantee that we too will
rise to new life.
He
rose, we respond. The hymn continues: “Our hearts be pure from evil
That we may see aright The Lord in rays eternal Of resurrection
light And, list’ning to His accents, May hear, so calm and plain,
His own ‘All hail!’ and hearing, May raise the victor strain.” The
joy of knowing that Jesus is alive is translated into the joy of
knowing that we are alive. We hear him cheering us on,
telling us that we will make it safely to the other side.
“Joy to
the world” is realized. It is your joy and mine.
God grant you full measure of that joy, and the peace that
surpasses understanding.
Courtesy of St.
Paul’s Lutheran Church, (Sunday Bulletin), Rev. Dr.
Kevin Fast
Easter Season - What are the Great 50
Days?
The
joy Christians experience when contemplating Christ's resurrection
is so profound and overpowering that it cannot be confined to just
one festival day. This is why Easter is a season that begins on
Easter Sunday proper and continues for seven full weeks. This cycle
is known historically as the Great Fifty Days or the Week
of Weeks. During this time, the church celebrates the Lord's
resurrection, His appearances to the disciples after Easter, His
post-resurrection teachings, His ascension into heaven, and the
disciples' eager anticipation of the coming of the Holy Spirit on
Pentecost. Ascension Day -- the 40th of the Great Fifty Days – is
sometimes commemorated with a special evening service since it
always falls on a Thursday.
Courtesy of St.
Paul’s Lutheran Church, (Sunday Bulletin, Dec. 21, 2008), Rev. Dr.
Kevin Fast
What is worship like during Easter
Season?
The
Easter season is the most joyful and festive season of the Christian
year. Worship during this time features the prominent return of the
Gloria in Excelsis ("Glory in the highest") and the Alleluia
("Praise the Lord"), expressions of joy and praise that were removed
from the liturgy at the beginning of Lent. Hymns and organ music are
often reinforced with trumpets and trombones, adding to the
celebratory nature of the season. An old custom that is observed in
some churches is that kneeling is done away with on Easter Sunday.
Standing—a symbol of rising and resurrection—is the posture for the
confession of sins and the reception of Holy Communion. Chancels and
sanctuaries are usually decorated with banners and flowers,
especially Easter lilies. White, symbolic of gladness and holiness,
is the liturgical color for all the Sundays of Easter. Finally, the
paschal candle is allowed to shine continuously throughout the Great
Fifty Days.
Courtesy of St.
Paul’s Lutheran Church, (Sunday Bulletin), Rev. Dr.
Kevin Fast
What does Easter mean to
the Christian Church?
The
foundation of the Christian faith is the life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ lived the righteous and perfect
life that we, because of our fallen and corrupt nature, cannot. He
suffered the penalty for our sins by taking our guilt upon Himself
and dying horribly on the cross. He rose bodily from the dead that
first Easter morning ensuring that we who have been baptized into
His death and resurrection will rise again in glorified bodies on
the Last Day. This is the great paschal mystery that Christians have
celebrated since the earliest days of the church. As the apostle
Paul joyfully declared, "...Christ has been raised from the dead,
the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man
came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive...
'O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?'
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But
thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ!" (1 Corinthians 15:20-22 and 55-57).
On Easter Sunday therefore, while secular society occupies itself
with eggs and rabbits, the Christian church celebrates God's great
triumph over sin, death, and the devil with the ancient greeting,
"Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!"
Courtesy of St.
Paul’s Lutheran Church, (Sunday Bulletin), Rev. Dr.
Kevin Fast
Philippians 1:4-6
