Thoughts on Today’s Lessons for Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014

First Reading: Jeremiah 31:1-6
It is Easter! Jesus is risen! We shout “hallelujah,” “praise God,” as we celebrate the resurrection and its promise of victory over death. All our readings today speak of renewed life and joy. The Prophet Jeremiah, who celebrates the people’s return to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon, imagines a joyful scene of dance and music, and looks forward to re-planting the land in new vineyards that will bear delicious fruit.

Psalm: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
This ancient hymn sings Israel’s joyful thanks to God for victory over its enemies, and Christians have happily taken the prophetic words, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone” as a foreshadowing of Jesus. These are verses that shout out the hope of an Easter people: “I shall not die, but I shall live … The Lord … did not give me over to death. … I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.”

First or Second Reading: Acts 10:34-43
Here in Acts, the evangelist Luke’s story of the early church, Peter takes the gospel for the first time to a Gentile family, preaching in the household of the centurion Cornelius. a ranking Roman army officer who, nevertheless, is described as a good man and a believer. Peter gives a quick, concise summary of the Christian way, telling how Jesus was sent by God to all humanity, was crucified but raised from the dead, and now saves us and forgives our sins in God’s name.

Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4
This short letter from the back pages of the New Testament, perhaps written by a follower of Paul in his name to the persecuted Christian community of Colossae in Turkey, expresses a clear understanding that just as Jesus was “raised” from the dead, so are we connected in baptism and “raised” through life in Christ. Note well that the message of Colossians is not about a future life after a second coming, but a promise that Christ is raised in us and we in Christ in the church in the here and now.

Gospel: Matthew 28:1-10
Just as multiple witnesses to any amazing event will recall the details in slightly different ways, each of the four evangelists remembers the story of Jesus’ friends finding the empty tomb with different details. Only in Matthew’s version do the women, Mary Magdalene and Mary, come to the tomb, find it empty, meet an angel in white and then encounter the risen Christ, who sends them to the other disciples with the good news. The other Gospels show them frightened, uncertain, running away in fear or running back to get the men. Only in this Gospel do the women do it all, in fear and great joy.