Luke 24:13-27

“The Triumph of God”

As a child, Easter was one of “the big four” for me. Throughout the year, I always had these four days to look forward to. There was Christmas in December. There was Easter in the Spring. There was Halloween in October. And then, there was my birthday in November. Those four days sort of got me through the rest of the year. And I have to admit, that as a child, those four days had no real spiritual significance. They were more about eating candy and treats and getting presents.

I always looked forward to Easter as a child. Easter was fun at our house. The week before, my Mom would always boil a couple dozen eggs, and then my brother and I would have fun dyeing the eggs. We’d get out all the coffee cups in the house. We’d drop in the little pills with vinegar. And the goal was to see who could create the coolest color combinations on the eggs. We’d take the little copper tool and we’d dip one half in one color and the other half in another and all sorts of combinations. It was fun!

And before the time of plastic eggs, we’d hide those eggs. And afterwards, we’d eat them. Easter was always a time when we had lots of deviled eggs at my house. And one of the fun things I remember, is that sometimes we wouldn’t find all the eggs. My parents couldn’t even find the eggs … so, we’d just wait. I see that some of you have had this experience too. We’d wait for several months, until finally, the smell of rotten eggs would lead us to the hidden treasures.

And of course, on Easter Day, we would always wake up and discover that the Easter Bunny had come. We’d discover Easter baskets filled with that green plastic grass and lots of treats. There were chocolate eggs and yellow marsh-mellow chicks. And my Mom … I mean, the Easter Bunny … always got us a big chocolate bunny. It was a hollow one, and the first thing you always did was to open the box and bite the ears off. These were the things that I remember about Easter. Even today, we still try to include some of those traditions with our kids. Easter, it’s a fun time!

As I got older, through my parents and going to church, I learned that the egg was symbolic of something more than just the Easter Bunny. When Christianity began to spread, they took the symbols used to celebrate the Spring Equinox, such as the egg, which symbolized fertility, the awakening of Spring, and new life, and they gave those things new meaning. The Early Christians would take the eggs and dye them red, symbolizing the blood of Jesus for our sins. They would then, put them on top of a loaf of bread and bake them, so that the eggs would become hard on the inside. On Easter, they would crack the eggs, exposing the white, which reminded them of the way that Christ takes away our sins.

Some of the eggs, they would let hatch. So, all during the season of Lent the eggs looked like they were lifeless. But around Easter, the eggs would shake, and then, there would be a cracking sound, as the shell was broken, reminding them of how the empty tomb was opened and life came forth.

As a child, I didn’t understand all that, but thankfully, today I do. And the reason that we gather here today is to remember that is Easter is more than just chocolate eggs, Easter Bunnies and marshmallow chicks. As Christians, we know that Easter is so much more than that. It is about something profound and amazing, and if we trusted in the Good News of Easter, it is something that could change our lives.

James Stewart, the great Scottish preacher of the 20^th century said, “Easter was the beginning of a new era for the entire universe – the decisive turning point for the human race.” Wow! If Easter is “the decisive turning point for the human race”, then it has to be about something more than the Easter Bunny, eggs, and candy. And though, some of us may be here today, because coming to church is just what we do on Easter, what I hope we learn today is that Easter is about so much more.

So, let’s explore that more this morning. In order to understand the significance of Easter, we have to, first of all, understand that “Easter is an Answer to a Problem”. Easter is God’s answer to a problem that we face as human beings. It is God’s answer to our human condition. It is God’s Word to us … that helps us in the midst of certain experiences. And the experiences I’m talking about, are “the dark valleys” that we all experience in our lives. There is a darkness that comes to all of our lives and Easter is God’s way of helping us through those dark valleys.

In many ways, our lives are like a journey. We often talk about life as being a journey from mountaintops to valleys, back to mountaintops again. We have “mountaintop” or “peak” experiences in life. When I think of mountaintop experiences, I think of when I got my driver’s license and then my first car. That was a peak experience. Or when you graduate from High School or College. Or when you first fall in love. For many of us, it was when we got married. Or when we held that new born baby in our arms. Those are peak experiences that we want to hold on to forever.

We have peak spiritual experiences, as well … moments when we feel close to God. Maybe it was at summer camp. Or maybe it was on a spiritual renewal weekend, like Walk to Emmaus, Happening, or Cursillo. Or maybe you experienced God presence here at church during a worship service. Those are mountaintop experiences in life too.

But you know, we don’t always live on the mountaintop. It would be nice if we did, but we don’t. We journey back and forth, from mountaintop to mountaintop, with valleys in between. And most of life, is lived somewhere in between the mountaintops and valleys. We have good times in life … like a day in the park; a good sell; holding hands; or enjoying a nice meal together. We may not characterize them as being mountaintop experiences, but life is good. And part of the time, we live near the valley. Those are moments when, that for no reason we can understand, we feel depressed. Or our job is not going real well. Or our relationship with our mate is not what it used to be. Maybe we’re struggling financially or we get sick with a cold. Those are not up there towards the mountaintop experience of life, but their not what we would call the darkest moments of life either. So, we live most of our lives somewhere in between.

But there are times when we have “valley experiences”. These are the dark times of life, when we wonder “how can we make it through this?” Or “Is there any hope left?” We may even come to the point of thinking, “Maybe I should call it quits and check out all together.” We all have those experiences too.

Each week, we have a list of prayer concerns that we pray over as a church. And as I look at that list each week, I am reminded of how we all encounter the dark valleys of life at times. When I pray for those who have lost loved ones. Those who are battling life-threatening diseases. Those whose marriages are falling apart. I realize how dark life can become at times. And when we are walking through the dark valleys of life, we often have questions. We wonder, “Where is God? Does God care?” Or maybe, “There is no God.” Sometimes, we feel utterly hopeless. Well, Easter is God’s response to those darkest valleys. Easter is God’s way of saying, “This is not the end. There is something more. And I’ll walk with you through it.”

You know, some people think that the Bible is some sort of Pollyanna work that offers all kinds of promises that are never really fulfilled in life. We think that it promises us that life will be wonderful if we follow God, but since that is not our life’s experience, we throw the Bible out. But if that is what you think the Bible says, then you have never read the Bible. Because the Bible is full of stories of people who walked through dark valleys and how they prevailed in spite of that. It is about people who find hope in the midst of their darkest times. And so, we find in the scriptures some brutally honest, heart-rending passages of scripture that capture how we feel at times.

Passages like Psalm 13, which reads: “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long?” – Psalm 13:1-2. Now, that’s real and that’s how we feel sometimes, isn’t it?

Or like Jesus, himself, who while hanging from the Cross in agony, quotes from Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest.” – Psalm 22:1-2. Just like Jesus, we walk through dark valleys in life and we wonder if there is any hope or reason to go on. Some of you are walking through a dark valley right now. Some of us in the next year will walk through that dark valley. So, we need Easter, for Easter is God’s Word to the dark valleys of our life.

Someone has said that you really can’t experience or appreciate the Good News of Easter until you have stood at the graveside of someone you love. Until we have stood at the grave of someone we love and realize that we won’t see them again on this side of eternity, we don’t understand the power of Easter. And yet, there will be a time when all of us will stand there. Easter is God’s response to that dark valley also.

So, what is God’s Word in Easter? What actually happened on Easter? Last Sunday, we celebrated Palm Sunday and we remembered how Jesus entered Jerusalem with the people waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Many thought that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah that would come and deliver them from the oppression of the Romans. But they were soon disappointed in Jesus.

When he came into Jerusalem, he didn’t raise up an army to overthrow the Romans. He went into the Temple and overthrew the moneychangers’ tables, saying, “You have turned my Father’s house into a den of thieves!” And then, he began to denounce the religious hypocrisy of the religious leaders, embarrassing and humiliating them.

By Thursday of that week, you could cut the tension with a knife. And it is at this point that the religious leaders decided that Jesus had to die. That evening, Jesus joined his disciples in the Upper Room to celebrate the Last Supper. Afterwards, they went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. And it was there, that Judas led the Temple guards to where Jesus was and they arrested him. That night, they held a trial before the Sanhedrin and sentenced Jesus with blasphemy. Early the next morning, they took him to Pontius Pilate who gave in to the crowd and sentenced him to death. He was then tortured by the Roman Guards and then made to carry his own cross to Calvary. It was there that he was crucified.

For 6 hours Jesus hung there in pain. During those moments, he spoke words like, “Forgive the Father, for they know not what they do.” He cried out in pain, “Why have you forsaken me, O God?” And then he said, “It is finished. Into Thy hands, I commend my spirit.” And then he died.

It was 3 in the afternoon, when they took Jesus’ body down and they told the women that they had 3 hours to do something with Jesus’ body or they were going to leave it for the animals to consume over the weekend. They had 3 hours before the Sabbath would begin, so they worked quickly and did what they could to prepare Jesus’ body. They laid him in a borrowed tomb and planned to come back after the Sabbath to finish preparing his body. They rolled the stone over the tombs entrance and they left in deep sorrow. This was the dark valley of their lives. All day Saturday, the disciples hid in fear and disbelief. They could not believe what had happened to the one they believed was the Messiah.

Early the next morning, the women went to the tomb to finish preparing his body. But when they got to the tomb, they discovered that the stone had been rolled away. They looked inside and discovered that his body was gone. And they ran in fear and disbelief. But suddenly, they saw a man dressed in white, who said, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? Jesus is not here. He has risen, just as he said. Go and tell the disciples.” And so, they ran to the disciples and told them, but they didn’t believe it.

In our scripture lesson for today, we see that afternoon, two of Jesus’ followers were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus and they were talking about the things that had happened and how sad they were, when a stranger came and walked with them. And this stranger told them of how this was what the entire Bible was about … how all of the prophets had foretold of this event He probably spent a good bit of time in the Book of Isaiah, who talked about a Suffering Servant. When this stranger broke bread with them, they recognize who he was. It was Jesus. And he vanished.

They ran back to the disciples and shared what they had seen. By that time, Jesus had appeared to the disciples also. And over the next 40 days Jesus appeared to as many as 500 of his followers, until he finally ascended into heaven. This is the Biblical story of the resurrection of Jesus and Easter.

But you say, “Well, that’s a nice story pastor, but what does it really mean for us?” That’s a very important question to ask and that is what I want to focus on now.

When you read the New Testament, you see that the Apostles all say that Jesus was proclaimed to be the Messiah, the Son of God, because of his resurrection from the dead. You see, there were those who believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but many doubted, especially after the crucifixion. Yet, after Jesus rose from the dead, there was no more question among the disciples. Jesus was decisively pronounced as “the Messiah; the Christ; the Son of God”. And every one of them was willing to die proclaiming that truth. Jesus’ resurrection made this truth evident.

And his resurrection also vindicated all that Jesus had taught and said. He said, “I lay down my life for the sins of the whole world.” And his resurrection confirmed that this was true. Jesus was who he said he was. He is our Savior!

The Scriptures teach that Jesus’ resurrection also guarantees the promise that we too can be raised. When we stand beside the grave of our loved ones … how do we really know that they are in heaven and that we will see them again? Where’s the proof? The Bible says that the proof is Jesus’ resurrection from the grave. Jesus himself said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, yet will they live. And those who believe in me will never die.” – John 11:26. In light of the Resurrection, the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15 says, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

So, we when we look at the Resurrection, we see that Jesus is the Messiah … he is our Savior and Lord … and it is proof of our hope for life after this life on earth. Easter is the profound Good News that God is victor over the dark places in our lives! I mean, just think about it … Easter is the Good News of: Life over death; Good over evil; Grace over sin; God over Satan; Light over darkness; Hope over despair.   Amen!

We may not feel Easter when we’re walking through the dark valley of life, but as Martin Luther, the great Protestant Reformer, once said, “Sometimes we don’t feel Easter, yet we trust it, even when we don’t feel it.” Because, it is the Good News that there is something on the other side of the dark valleys of our lives and Easter is the truth …that God will ultimately prevail.

The overarching theme of the Bible, is not that we will never have dark valleys in our lives. On the contrary, we will all experience dark valleys, but Easter says that God will ultimately deliver us from them. The Psalmist said it this way: “Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”

Or the Writer of Lamentations, who is in the middle of the rubble of Jerusalem after it has been destroyed and in the darkest moment of his life, Jeremiah says: “The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is God’s faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:19-23

Your life may have been shrouded in darkness in the past. It may be shrouded in darkness right now. It will surely be there somewhere in the future. But the Resurrection of Jesus is God’s word of light that pierces the darkness and shines in, saying, “This is not the end of the story. There is something more in store for you.”

During the Season of Lent, our congregation has been studying the Book of Isaiah. And in Isaiah, we find this theme of hope and light in the midst of darkness repeated there also. Chapters 1-39 of Isaiah point out the sinfulness of the people and how we all struggle with sin. Like all the prophets tell us, sin brings judgment … it brings separation from God and pain into our lives. In Isaiah, judgment comes at the hand of the Babylonians. Judah and the city of Jerusalem is totally destroyed. The people are carried away as slaves and exiled. This was the darkest moment in history for the Jewish people.

Yet, in chapters 40-66, Isaiah speaks to the people living in exile words of comfort and hope. He says things like, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount with wings as eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint.” God promises to deliver them and to give them a homeland again. In the Book of Isaiah, God also promises to send a Messiah and when we read his prophecies, we see how Jesus fulfilled this prophecy as the Suffering Servant of the Lord.

But the Book of Isaiah ends on an even further horizon. He says that the day will come when God will deliver all of us from this earth as we know it, and into a heavenly kingdom. The Bible understands that life here on this earth will not go on forever. Our Scientists today know this as well. Our planet will be destroyed by the forces in the cosmos one day. The Bible also claims that God will one day call an end to the heavens and the earth as we know them today.

This is what Isaiah says in chapter 65: “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.” - Isaiah 65:17-19

This is our ultimate destiny … the final victory of God. In the Book of Revelation, we see that John is familiar with these promises of Isaiah and he has a vision of that heavenly kingdom that we all hope to aspire to one day, when he says: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.’” – Revelation 21:1-4

This is the final triumph of God. Jesus’ resurrection from the grave 2000 years ago was the first step in that victory and his resurrection was the guarantee of that victory which is to come. All that we know as darkness, will one day cease to exist and we will be encompassed by God’s amazing and glorious light.

Still you may say, “Well, that’s interesting, preacher. It’s interesting and maybe it’s true. But how does it help me today?” And I simply want to say to you, that this Easter faith that we have been talking about today is the faith that sustains us all.

“Faith in what?” you ask.

· Faith in a God who overcomes evil.

· Faith in a God who says, “The day will come when they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”

· Faith in a God who says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength and mount with wings as eagles.”

· Faith in a God who sends a Savior to deliver his people.

· Faith in a God who says, “The day will come when I will wipe every tear from your eyes.”

· Faith in a God who says, “There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”

· Faith in a God who loves us beyond anything that we can imagine.

· Faith in God who has shown us the depth of his love for us by dying on a horrible Cross and paying the price for our sins.

· Faith in a God who says, “I am the resurrection and the life, and those who believe in me will never die.”

· Faith in a God who has shown us that he has the victory over the grave and death.

· Faith in a God who walks with us in the dark valleys of our lives … even through “the valley of the shadow of death”.

This is the faith that sustains us! And this is the Good News of Easter!

Which leads me to one last thought today. Many of you remember that we gathered here as a congregation last year in deep grief as we had experienced the sudden death of our Associate Pastor, Lucie Krestensen. This past year has been a process grief for those of us knew and loved Lucie.

Lucie died on Good Friday. What a great day for a pastor to die. I can remember feeling overwhelmed with my own grief, as I tried to prepare to preach last Easter Sunday. That moment in my life was only made bearable by this Easter faith that sustains us and the knowledge that this was Lucie’s faith … a faith that sustained her in the midst of her dark valley.

This past Friday, I spent some time at Lucie’s grave sight, remembering and giving thanks for her life. I took along the booklet that we made of her sermons and prayers and as I read through them, I found myself comforted by her words. In a sermon she preached entitled, “Living Hope” she said:

“There are times in our lives that we feel we have no future and we feel a sense of hopelessness. At those times, we feel that there is so much we do not know or understand. We then need to go back to the basics of our faith. We can KNOW we are loved by God. We can KNOW that we serve a living God who is concerned about each detail of our lives. We can KNOW that He was willing to give His only Son for our salvation, that we may spend eternity with Him in Heaven. We can KNOW that our Lord is the Risen Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We can KNOW all these things in our heads, just as we often know many things we should say and do and think. The problem comes when we have what I call a battle of “head and heart”. Our heads KNOW all the right things, but our hearts are breaking with the pain and confusion and loss. Until we reach some closeness between the two, we cannot experience the peace that we so desperately seek. It is at these times, most of all, that we must cling to our faith and remember that because of all the things we KNOW, we are a “People of Living Hope!”

A “people of living Hope” … this is the power of Easter.

Prayer:

O God, we give you thanks and praise that you walk with us through the dark places in life, that you never leave us or forsake us. Even when we don’t feel your presence, we know that you are with us. We are thankful that you sent your Son, Jesus, to walk among us, showing us the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We thank you, that in his death and resurrection, you triumphed over all the dark places in our lives and you gave us a foretaste of what is to come. We thank you for your promise of hope, that there is something beyond this life, even beyond our existence, and that there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Help us to trust in Christ’s resurrection and to live as a people of living hope. In Jesus’ name, we pray, amen.