The Fear and Joy of Resurrection
(Free Version) Easter Sunday (Year A)- Jeremiah 3:1-6; Colossians 3:1-4; Matthew 28:1-10
Icon: “Resurrection” by Ivanka Demchuk
Readings can be found here.
Our notes focus on three readings from the “Principal” service. The primary texts for that service are Acts 10:34-43 (during the season of Easter, the first lesson shifts from the Old Testament to Acts); Colossians 3:1-4; and John 20:1-18. The first lesson and the gospel reading do not change from year to year, so last year, we covered those and you can find them here.
This year, we will cover the “alternate” first lesson and gospel from the Principal Service. Therefore, we will look at Jeremiah 31:1-6; Colossians 3:1-4 (the primary reading); and Matthew 28:1-10.
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On Easter Sunday, we are reminded that resurrection changes everything. In the midst of the grief, pain, betrayal, and violence of the world, Christians boldly proclaim that this is not all that there is; the tomb is empty, restoration is real.
Jeremiah proclaims to Israel that a new day has dawned (Jeremiah 31:1-6). The Lord is the one who draws his people through the wilderness and out of exile. God’s loving-kindness has implications for every single part of our lives. Things which have been torn down will be rebuilt. The things which previously grew and provided for us, but now have been cut off will be restored. And, our fellowship with God will be restored. This does not magically pretend that the harsh realities of sin never happened, that exile was not a thing. No, God is saying that he is doing something new.
The prophet hints at God’s faithfulness in the past—specifically in the exodus—but is speaking about God’s promise of consolation for those living in exile. Still, the prophet’s words are paradigmatic for how God works: always leading us through wilderness, always making a way on the other side of our pain. This is cause for celebration. It is time to take up the tambourines! Or, perhaps in modern language, to get our dancing shoes on! God is faithful.
In our Colossians reading (Colossians 3:1-4), Paul invites the church to remember who they are, to set their minds on “things above.” This requires intentionality, for we are so easily swept off into the narratives of the world, defining “the good life” according to the world’s standards, and forgetting the reality of resurrection.
Strangely, even as we are to “set our minds on things above,” this also means that we are “hidden” with Christ in God. In other words, we may not be “winning” according to the standards of the world. This kind of life involves patience, trust, and endurance. Paul certainly knew of what he writes, suffering imprisonment and beatings for the sake of the good news.
In our gospel reading (Matthew 28:1-10), Matthew recounts the powerful moments when the resurrected Christ is revealed. Earthquakes! Angels! Bright clothes! Guards freaked out! The good news from the angel is that “Christ has been raised, as he said.” The call is to both “come and see” and “go quickly and tell.” We hear that the two women named Mary left “with fear and great joy.” This seems contradictory.
The Marys do as the angel said “with fear and great joy (vs. 8).” Why both together?
Have you ever experienced fear and great joy at the same time? It is usually in a time when something incredibly special has occurred, something from which there is no turning back. Some feel this sense of fear and joy when they walk down the aisle. It is not “fear” in the sense of cold feet or the sense that one might back out (though that happens too). It is the sense that nothing will ever be the same. The mix of fear and joy in delivery rooms every day. The birth of a child is life’s greatest mystery. And yet, wrapped in that joy is a somber reality: this precious one now breathes the air of a broken world. Will they be loved? Will they make it? Will the world be a hospitable place for them?
We experience “fear and joy” in other times as well, with new jobs and cross-country moves, joining a new church, or starting a new business. But the closest analogue is new life in Christ itself. When we are baptized, we step into Christ’s death and resurrection. We have experienced the joy of resurrection, and it is beautifully terrifying! The world is now a different place! The narratives I used to accept about the world—my habits, coping strategies, ways in which I have become a consumer and a commodity—all of these are flipped upside-down. The world will never be what it was before the resurrection.
Even as the women prepare to go to Galilee to do what the angel says, Christ appears to them! They take hold of his feet and worship him. Even then, they are told to “go.”
So much of the Christian life is the call to embrace the risen Christ here and now. He is with us. We are invited to the Table, to worship him, to know him, to love him. Chrysostom says,
Some of you may desire to be like these faithful women. You too may wish to take hold of the feet of Jesus. You can, even now. You can embrace not only his feet but also his hands and even his sacred head. You too can today receive these awesome mysteries with a pure conscience. You can embrace him not only in this life but also even more fully on that day when you shall see him coming with unspeakable glory, with a multitude of the angels.1
At the same time, so much of the Christian life is also about the going, the ways in which we become witnesses, and a community of witness for what has happened.
John Chrysostom, “The Gospel of Matthew Homily 89.3.”