{"id":9886,"date":"2024-03-27T08:38:19","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T15:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?page_id=9886"},"modified":"2024-03-27T08:38:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-27T15:38:19","slug":"easter-sunday","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?page_id=9886","title":{"rendered":"
Easter Sunday
"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1 Corinthians 15 is often called the resurrection chapter. In it Paul writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. But in fact 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. But each in his own order: Christ, the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ\u201d (I Corinthians 15:19-23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what it is all about. This is why this is The Big Day in the Christian year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In order to spell that out, consider the generations in your family. Each one of you has a father and a mother. Each of your parents has a father and a mother. Those are your grandparents, four of them. And each of your grandparents has parents. That\u2019s eight of them. Then, of course, they, too, have parents and that\u2019s sixteen of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you tell me about your great, great grandparents? Who were they? What did they do? When did they live? Where are they buried? And you will say to me: Who cares? What difference does it make now? It may be interesting and even useful to study one\u2019s genealogy, but one still lives in a different time with a different situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s flip it over: You may or may not have children and your children may have children, your grandchildren, and then there are the great grandchildren and the great, great grandchildren and they will look back and say about you: Who were you? What difference does it make? After all, they will say: \u201cI\u2019m living today.\u201d Who they were, and what they did, and where they are buried, what difference does it make? What matters now is manage life and problems today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is really real and decisive? Often times today, on TV or in newspapers, when secular people talk about us Christians, they imply that we live by myths or illusions. To them we may imagine God exists, but they don\u2019t take Christian truth claims seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, however, are very concerned with what\u2019s really real. As we come to Easter today, we are really asking ourselves: What is really real? What is final? The Christian witness, as confessed in the Nicene Creed, is: God came, died, and rose again to change everything for you and me. That\u2019s what the Nicene Creed says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over against that is the common understanding that Christians are making stuff up and not seeing the world the way it really is. In the Large Catechism Luther writes that the First Commandment is really about the question: Who is God? He says: \u201cThat to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is really your god.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you think about it, it\u2019s relatively easy to sort that out. Here are six examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, Christians say it\u2019s the cross and resurrection, but that really has something that is reasonable and convincing to me. Prove it to me. What Luther is saying is that if this is your view, then your god is what is reasonable to you, and what you\u2019re convinced of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, Christians say it\u2019s the cross and resurrection, but everybody says \u201cwe know,\u201d and then in that case, your god is what everybody says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, Christians say it\u2019s the cross and resurrection, but well, everybody says it\u2019s about tolerance, and not being prejudiced, and about a certain understanding about religions, and then in that case, your god is tolerance and a certain view of religions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth, Christians say it\u2019s about the cross and resurrection, but they don\u2019t act any better than anybody else, in which case, of course, your god is good works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifth, Christians say it\u2019s the cross and resurrection, but things aren\u2019t going very well in the world. Look at all the evil and problems, in which case your god is a particular view of evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sixth, Christians say it\u2019s the cross and resurrection but they die, too. And so what does that do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what we have in front of us as we celebrate Easter. What is this really about? Its about: Who is God? It\u2019s really about the Big Death and the Little Death. The Big Death is described by Paul in Romans 14:9: \u201cFor to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then in John 19:30, it says: On the cross, \u201cit is finished.\u201d The last judgment is all taken care of. That\u2019s the Big Death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there\u2019s the Little Death, which we see in John 11:25-26: \u201cI am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he shall die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we\u2019re celebrating on Easter is not some little incident that happened in 30 A.D. in the city of Jerusalem. Rather, this is that which changes everything, and in this resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians 15:26, it says: \u201cThe last enemy to be destroyed is death.\u201d This is that which changes everything. It\u2019s the biggest and most important event in all of whatever has happened. It is even bigger than when he created the world out of nothing at the beginning. Here death is defeated. And it\u2019s not then something simply natural. Very specifically here and throughout the New Testament, it says: Death is the enemy, and it is conquered. Paul goes on in this resurrection chapter to say (paraphrase): \u201cYes there are those who say: Eat and drink for tomorrow we die.\u201d He\u2019s quoting from 800 years earlier in Isaiah 22:13-14 where it says already: \u201cLet us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.\u201d And it says in the next verse: \u201cThis sin will not be forgiven you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we are celebrating on Easter is this great reality. It\u2019s over against another reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two religions, two realities. The one which says: On the cross and in the resurrection, everything changed. That\u2019s what\u2019s real, and that\u2019s who God is. The other says: Well, if that is what floats your boat, if that suits you, fine, but, of course, we know that\u2019s not real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1 Corinthians 15:19-23, Paul puts it in a striking way: Either that\u2019s not the way it is, or it is. Paul writes: \u201cIf Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. And further: \u201cWe of all men the most to be pitied.\u201d It\u2019s like what Shakespeare wrote in MacBeth: \u201cIt\u2019s a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.\u201d Shakespeare even adds: \u201cTold by an idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either that, or that as Paul goes on to say: \u201cBut in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, [and] then at his coming, those who belong to Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the Christian witness. You can\u2019t have both. We sort of say: \u201cWell, that may be, but you have to watch out for this or for that.\u201d No, these are mutually exclusive, as Paul very specifically spells it out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if it\u2019s true, and we as Christians stake everything on this, if it\u2019s true, and because it\u2019s true, it changes everything. It doesn\u2019t just change a little something. It\u2019s not a little perk, a little plus. It changes all of life. It changes what we\u2019re doing because after all, death is not the end, and we have life, fuller life, more life, in him forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You ask yourselves: \u201cWhere and how does this work?\u201d In hearing of the Word and in the celebrating of the sacraments, he comes to us now and gives us life. It isn\u2019t because we\u2019re good. It isn\u2019t because we think right. Rather, it\u2019s because he does it, and the perfect illustration of what it\u2019s about and how it works is infant Baptism. In Baptism that little one doesn\u2019t decide, doesn\u2019t feel, doesn\u2019t think. It\u2019s simply God\u2019s doing, outside of us, in spite of us. Thank God! Because then it doesn\u2019t depend on us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we ask ourselves: What about now? What about today? Paul spells this out in Romans 8:32: \u201cHe who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s really what it\u2019s about. He who changed everything in the death and resurrection of his Son is the one who takes care of those in him now and forever. That\u2019s what\u2019s at stake, and that\u2019s what we confess. As Paul writes in Romans 14:9: \u201cFor to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here for a pdf version. 1 Corinthians 15 is often called the resurrection chapter. In it Paul writes: \u201cIf for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9886","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9886"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9890,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9886\/revisions\/9890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}