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Lectionary
Notes - Easter Sunday
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sermon or sermon for this text)
Readings for Easter
Sunday, 3/23/08:
Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24, 1
Corinthians 15:19-26, John 20:1-18, or Matthew 28:1-10
Acts 10:34-43:
- Peter is speaking
to Cornelius and his friends and relatives in Caesarea. Cornelius had been
visited by a messenger from God telling him to invite Peter to his home and
here him speak.
- "God shows
no partiality". Do we get that? Believe it? Preach it? Live and practice
it?
- "preaching
peace by Jesus Christ" Ah, the gospel message is a message of peace.
Too much of our Christian history works to counter that claim. We struggle
on!
- A mini-sermon,
all the facts needed to share the good news packed into one little blurb -
this is Peter's quick pitch, at the opportunity he's been given.
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24:
- Note that this is virtually the
same selection from Psalms as on Palm Sunday,
with slightly different verses. Included in Easter's reading, but not in Palm
Sunday's: "the Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me
over to death." Hm. I don't like to think about God punishing us. But
the verse's significance on Easter is powerful. The cup was not taken from
Jesus - he drank it. And yet, he lives.
- Even still, it's hard to focus
on any scripture passage on Easter Sunday other than the gospel lesson of
the Resurrection, isn't it?
1 Corinthians 15:19-26:
- "If for this life only we
have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied." A striking
statement. I'm not sure how to react - I guess I don't exactly share Paul's
perspective. I think we're so wrapped up in thinking about what awaits us
after this earthly life, that we forget what Christ means for us right now,
on earth. My hope for Christ in this life is powerful stuff!
- "The last enemy to be destroyed
is death." I'm a big fan of John
Cobb and process theology. I remember reading that for process theologians,
some could not get over the "ultimate evil of personal death." Conceptions
of afterlife are tricky things. How can death be destroyed for you? When I
was younger, I used to ask my pastor/mentor, Rev.
Bruce Webster, if heaven wouldn't be a boring place. He, a math major
in college, could draw some sort of graph to show it would be ok!
John 20:1-18:
- I have to admit, as a woman, I
get a kick out of the way the men behave here, versus the way Mary Magdalene
acts. The men run there, almost competitively, after hearing Mary's report,
and then they return home, apparently not too impressed or curious to figure
out what's going on. It's Mary who is there to begin with to care for the
tomb, Mary who sheds tears for Jesus, Mary who remains at the tomb long enough
to encounter the risen Christ, Mary who is the first to spread the good news.
You go girl!
- "Rabbouni!" What would
you say if you had a change to come face to face with a lost loved one again?
- I just can't let loose of the
sense of the importance of Mary staying at the tomb. She is honest with her
emotions, and holds still, stays in place, soaks it in. She gets to see Jesus,
the fruits of her devotion. Don't hurry through Easter, but rest at the empty
tomb!
Matthew 28:1-10
- I do like John's account of the
resurrection better: we have Mary's solo journey to the tomb, which seems so
precious and personal, and we have her encountering Jesus himself, not God's
messengers
- Still, note in Matthew that it
is the women who are first on the scene of the resurrection.
- Matthew describes an earthquake
and an angel of the Lord descending in the women's presence, very dramatic.
But less intimate, again, in my mind. Less special for all its drama.
- No Peter and the beloved in a
foot-race to the tomb in this account either! The men don't make it to the
resurrection site at all.
Pastor’s Note: (I use the Greek-English
Lexicon from Liddell and Scott, the “little Liddell”
and the Metzger et. al Greek New Testament in my translation work.)
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