Easter People
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Sermon Easter 3 A AS online 4-29-20
Acts 2: 14a, 36 – 41 Psalm 116: 1 – 3, 10 – 17 1 Peter 1: 17 – 23 Luke 24: 13 – 35 1 Peter 1: 17 - 23
17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.
As Christians we describe ourselves as an Easter people. That means we live in the redemption of the Crucifixion and Resurrection, already possessing eternal life from God through belief in Jesus Christ. We live in the assurance of God’s love and mercy, the fulfillment of God’s forgiveness, and the joy of reconciliation with God.
God chose the moment for the birth of Jesus through Mary into the home she created with Joseph. It was an auspicious moment – Pax Romana (the peace of the Roman Empire) had created roads and trade routes from India to the British Isles and across Northern Africa. Learned people everywhere used Greek for communication. God entered this world in the incarnation of Jesus at this best of all possible times.
It is important, I think, for us to remember that God chose Abraham. Abraham did not choose God. There was no prayer from Abraham saying okay, God, if you are not too busy, I am bored here in this one-stoplight town. Isn’t there anywhere more exciting I can walk to? God chose Abraham and challenged him to pull up stakes and move so that God could do magnificent things through Abraham.
God well knew that we as humans are prone to forget the goodness of God and wander off chasing lesser things. Our attention span in the area of righteousness is exceptionally short. But we did not ask God to save us. We did not ask God to take on human flesh and live among us. I doubt that we would have had the imagination or faith on our own to ASK God for the promises God made to Abraham! GOD took the initiative and came looking for us through the many promises God made to Abraham. Each of us is the reason that God made such promises and it is for each of us that God fulfilled every promise in Jesus.
The writer of 1st Peter states that we were ransomed from our own destruction by the death and Resurrection of Jesus – the precious blood of Christ, he says. Modern sensibility does not like phrases such as “the blood of Jesus.” We prefer more sanitized language, not so old-time revival sounding, yet the truth is that our salvation comes because Jesus died a horrible bloody death but did not remain dead. That is the costly sacrifice God made for us. Jesus broke the grip sin held on our hearts because God in Jesus chose to make that sacrifice for us.
We became people of the Resurrection on the morning of the first day of the week, the third day after the Crucifixion. Christ Jesus walked out of the sealed tomb to the shock of the followers who had been with Jesus throughout His public ministry. We also read this morning of the two men who walked from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus with Jesus but did not recognize Him until Jesus broke bread with them that evening.
The Resurrection is the imperishable seed that the writer of 1st Peter describes as coming through the LIVING and ENDURING word of God. There is no “maybe” in these words, no “if you are good enough”. These words are sure and certain. These words are secured by God in the Resurrection of Jesus. We can walk each day KNOWING that God’s Holy Spirit walks with us and in us. We have no fear of separation from God. We know that our eternal life has already begun, and our eternity will be spent in the love of God. We are people of the Resurrection!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
