EASTER SUNDAY

For the Sundays beginning with Easter and following, the first lesson does not come from the Old Testament; it comes from the book of Acts.  We shift our focus from the old promise to the actions of the apostles, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to spread the Good News.

ACTS 10:34-43

THE BACKGROUND

The Holy Spirit has called Peter to go to the house of Cornelius in the city of Philippi. Cornelius is an officer in the Roman army, and a Gentile.  But he is a “god-lover”.  This is what they called non-Jews who worshipped Yahweh, but did not fully convert to all the Jewish practices, namely the dietary laws and circumcision. The Holy Spirit called Peter to bring the Good News to Cornelius’ household.  At this point in time, most of the Christians were Jewish, and kept all the Laws of Moses.

THE DETAIL

• Peter begins his speech by making a bold statement.  He says that “…God shows no partiality.”  Because of what the Holy Spirit has revealed to him early in this chapter, Peter now knows that Yahweh is not interested in a relationship with His “chosen people”; God loves everyone, showing no partiality to the Jews. (This is very good news to all us Gentiles!)  (v.34)
• He then says “You [already] know his relationship with the people of Israel, but wait!  There’s more!  Jesus [the] Christ was sent to preach peace.  By the way, Jesus is Lord of all “.  (This is my personal paraphrase of verses 35 & 36.)
• Peter goes on to concisely explain the life and ministry of Jesus.  (vv. 37-39)
• He concludes with Jesus’ death and resurrection, adding that he and those who came with him that day were witnesses to all of this.  (vv. 40-41)
• Now comes the clincher.  Jesus not only commanded them to spread the news.  Jesus is the one ordained by God who will judge us all.  Not only that, everything you know about the prophets—they all testify about him.  (vv. 42-43)
• The rest of the story, not included here, is that Cornelius and his entire household believed in Jesus, and were baptized that day.  The Holy Spirit came, and caused them all to speak in tongues, just like those at Pentecost.

THE TAKEAWAY

No longer do the Jews have exclusive access to God’s love.  God sent Jesus to gather us all in, even Roman army officers.  He commands us to preach the Good News of Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.  

 

1 CORINTHIANS 15:19-26

THE BACKGROUND

In this section of Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth, he addresses a very specific problem.  Some Christians there have come to believe that there is no resurrection of the dead.  They did not even believe that Jesus was resurrected.  If you wish, you could read the previous verses in your bible, starting with verse 12.  This helps to put today’s passage in perspective.

THE DETAIL

• This verse is actually a summarization of the paragraph that begins with verse 12.  In other words, if we believe in Jesus, but don’t believe in the resurrection, we are pitiful.  (v. 19)
• Paul doesn’t leave that statement lay for very long— he says “But that’s not the case!”  (v. 20a)
• He calls Jesus the “first fruits” of all those who have died.  I’m thinking of the sweetness of those first strawberries of the season. It seems like they are sweeter than all those that follow.  Jesus is like this first strawberry.  We are those who will follow.  (v. 20b)
• In the next two verses, Paul compares Jesus to “Adam”, or humankind.  He does this elsewhere in his letters.  As old Adam died as a result of his sinful nature, we too will die. But since we are alive in Christ, we can expect to follow Jesus’ resurrection path.  (vv. 21-22)
• This does not happen right away, but in an orderly fashion.  Jesus is first.  Our resurrection will follow at his second coming.  Details are not given.  We might want these details, but we really don’t need them.  We have God’s promise.  (vv. 23-26)

THE TAKEAWAY

We always want more details than what are given.  When Jesus was quizzed regarding his second coming, he replied that nobody knows that except the Father—not even Jesus had the details.  So too it is with the resurrection.  We don’t have all the details, but we have enough to know that it is part of God’s master plan.  There’ll be more on that in the Gospel lesson.

LUKE 24:1-12

THE BACKGROUND

The previous chapter of Luke contains the entire story of Jesus’ trial, torture, crucifixion, and burial.  The chapter ends with “The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid.  Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.  On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”

THE DETAIL

• Our passage begins with “… on the first day of the week…”  In the Jewish tradition, the last day of the week is Saturday.  This is in keeping with the idea that God rested on the 7th day, after creating our world in six days.  So, on Sunday morning, a group of women come to care for Jesus’ body. (v. 1)
• But something is wrong.  The stone has already been rolled away.  And inside, Jesus’ body is not to be found.  (v. 2) 
• They were still scratching their heads, when things got really weird.  Two men, dressed in dazzling clothes, suddenly appear.  The women fall to the ground in fear and reverence. (vv. 3-5a)
• These “men” begin with a key question—“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”  (v. 5b)
• They go on to explain that he is risen, as he said he would.  “Don’t you remember him telling you this?”  Jesus taught them many things.  Maybe they had forgotten this unbelievable teaching.  But they reminded them of this teaching.  (vv. 6-7)
• “OK, now we remember!”  (They must have said.)  They went back to tell the 11 apostles and all the other disciples who had locked themselves into a room out of fear.  (vv. 8-9)
• Verse 10 lists the names of three of the many women who went to the tomb to prepare Jesus’ body for burial.  Unfortunately, we don’t know how many went.  But what is interesting is the fact that there were disciples who were women. Matthew 27:55-56 provides another list of female disciples.
• So, these women tell the apostles what they had seen and heard.  Like so many who hear something unbelievable, they believe it to be “an idle tale”.  (v. 11)
• But Peter must have recalled Jesus’ prophesy.  Maybe it was because Jesus called him Satan, when Peter rebuked Jesus’ prophesy. Regardless, he was the only one who thought “wait a minute”, and ran to the tomb.  He went home amazed.  (v. 12)

THE TAKEAWAY

Never before or never since has someone been resurrected from the dead.  The exception being Lazarus, of course.  Maybe that should have been a hint to the apostles that something extraordinary was about to happen.  But they forgot about Jesus’ prophesy, and considered these babbling women to be spinning some sort of idle tale.  Only Peter had the presence of mind to go and investigate.  Jesus has indeed risen from the grave!  Things will never be the same!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

We live in a time where we are surrounded by conspiracy theories, pranksters, and fake news.  We all must decide what to believe and what to reject as untrue.  To my scientific mind, the resurrection of our bodies makes no sense whatsoever. But it also does not make sense that God could make this beautiful world with just his voice (Genesis 1), or make us by forming some clay of the earth (Genesis 2).  God’s thoughts and actions are beyond human comprehension.  Some things cannot be explained, and must be taken at their word. 

Are we like those “pitiful” Christians in Corinth, when we experience doubt?  Or are we like Peter, and believe in amazement?

Jesus is risen!  Things will never be the same!