From Grave to Glory
Easter Sunday April 20, 2025
Prologue
It was a static day.
In the morning hours great shouts of praise surrounded Jesus
clopping into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey.
Folks singing, waving palms, jubilant in anticipation of
the Davidic Kingdom restored.
But interrupting this joyous chorus other voices
rose up in protest.
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus,
“Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” Stop!
He answered,
I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.
Lk 19:39-40
Then the ground trembled as if it couldn’t hold this discord.
The priests and scribes turned dark with fury.
The fury rattled the pillars of the Temple and sent
fissures through the puzzled crowds.
It poisoned their praise,
and sent the disciples into hiding.
When everyone looked back they saw Jesus
hanging on a cross.
Some sobbed. Some smiled.
All were struck with fear when a shadow crossed
the noon-day sun and God the Begotten surrendered to death.
‘Tis Finished
‘Tis finished! The Messiah dies, cut off for sins, but not his own.
Accomplished is the sacrifice, the great redeeming work is done.
Charles Wesley 1762 (Jn. 19:30) ‘Tis Finished!
Lesson from the Old Testament
But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.
Isaiah 43:1
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid
Isaish 40:1-2
Lesson from Psalm 118
O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good; God’s steadfast love endures forever. The Lord is my strength and my song; the Lord has become my salvation.
Psalm 118:1,14
First Reflection
This song was surely on the minds of the people in Jerusalem as they saw the Messiah they thought would free them from Roman oppression come through the gate. A song that died on their lips of the crowd as they were fooled into thinking they’d been tricked.
A song that died on the lips of his followers as they witnessed the degrading death that befell him. How everyone would have been stunned to silence when the bright sun of the morning, blackened to darkness that afternoon.
What kind of salvation is this?!
Up from the Grave He Arose
Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior, waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!
Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior; vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!
Robert Lowry, 1874, Up from the Grave He Arose
Second Reflection
But Psalm 118 was written to a people who were in great distress as well, whose prospects had turned to dust. They had broken out with praise when they’d learned they’d be freed from Babylon to return to Jerusalem. But now, that praise dries in their throats upon seeing their Zion in ruin amidst a devastated landscape.
This call to sing in praise to God for God’s steadfast, enduring love is issued not in a time of great victory but in a time of distress. This call addresses a people who, though restored from exile, still faced oppression from other powers and the trauma of returning to a devastated landscape.
The Psalmist helps them move to praise saying:
There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous. Ps 118:15a
And now, though a cross punctured the sky, glad songs would be sung in Jerusalem as well.
Christ is Alive
Christ is alive! And comes to bring good news to this and every age,
Till earth and all creation ring with joy, with justice, love, & praise.
Brian Wren, 1968, alt. Christ is Alive
Third Reflection
The Salvation cited in Psalm 118 is not isolated to one individual. This salvation of which the Psalmist speaks embraces an entire community.
In verse 14 the psalmist borrows from the ancient refrain of Miriam and the Hebrew women who burst into song upon reaching the far side of the Red Sea saying
The Lord is our strength and song. Exodus
This is a reference to the Exodus and harkens to a collective celebration, an anthem of thousands of voices who were themselves, saved from constricted distress and lifted to relief and freedom.
Our first task and greatest privilege this Easter morning is to praise our God, whether
we feel rescued yet or not. We too are called to break out with Glad Song in thanksgiving for this Day, to gather as a community in joint celebration and enter the Gates of Righteousness. And then, to tell the story of what God has done for us, for all humanity and all of creation.
We are to praise God because we stand in the certainty of God’s faithfulness; a steadfast faithfulness that is great and mighty and personal and full of love and mercy.
Up from the Grave He Arose
Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes;
He rose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives for ever,
With his saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior, he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!
Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes;
He rose a victor from the dark domain, and he lives for ever,
With his saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
Robert Lowry, 1874, Up from the Grave He Arose
The Gospel Lesson
Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord. Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Mary Mag′dalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
John 20:1, 11-16, 18
Fourth Reflection
The stone sealing the grave rolled away. And the Cornerstone of Eternity walked into the garden. When Mary recognized him, having heard him call her by name, she ran to the disciples declaring she had seen the Lord. She had seen the Lord, not laid on a slab, but alive standing in the Garden.
Calling her by name.
He Is Lord
He is Lord. He is Lord! He is risen from the dead and He is Lord!
Ev’ry knee shall bow, ev’ry tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
Philippians 2:9-11