April 5, 2026: EASTER- He is risen indeed!

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.‘”

(Matthew 9.37-38)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Easter Sunday began for me as the “Jewish” first day of the week began. Forgetting the context of the gospel writers, we can easily lose perspective on how they remember and share the story of Jesus on any day; but most especially on the first day of the week. You see, in traditional Jewish time (reflecting the story of creation in Genesis) the day begins at sunset and continues on to the following sunset. That would make sunrise the “middle of the day.” The most important watch of the shepherds comes before the “middle of the day” when it is darkest just before the dawn. It is then the sheep, and the shepherd perhaps, are the most vulnerable. The air grows colder. The sky grows darker. Life becomes more silent. It is a natural phenomenon I do not have the science to explain but plenty of experience since I am an early riser. So, too, were the women who went to the tomb to put on the finishing touches of farewell to Jesus whom they left “stone cold” in the tomb with a large, chiseled wheel of rock set over and against the entrance. For them, Passover and Sabbath were over. The seventh day had come and gone with the setting of the sun. Even though it was a day of rest by God’s command, their souls were not resting. Jesus was dead as He said. They had listened to hear His last words. His actions and His speech were harmonious and singular in purpose, “Into Your hands, Father, I deliver My Spirit and give up everything that I am.” He believed in God’s will so much, the will of “redeeming love,” that He met His own description of true love. That description was “No greater love is there than this than a man lay down his life for the sake of another.” Jesus had done this. He did it not for one or some or many, but for all. Many would never understand what He had done. In His day, many would not understand their part in bringing to fruition what had to be- His crucifixion. See, mighty ones of God, without the crucifixion there could be no resurrection. In order to truly love one must truly die. Being saved from illness and tragedy, no matter how vile or terrible, is not the same as dying. Some will say “it is as good as dying” but it is not. We can be thankful for healing of body, mind and relationships. But, until we have truly died, we will not fully appreciate what happened that Friday afternoon nearly two thousand years ago on a hill outside of Jerusalem. Jesus truly died. We dare not even try to justify His death with “He who was without sin.” The fact remained, Jesus died. He died a painful, horrible, vile, detestable death at the hands of the most practiced killers of the world at that time- the Romans. Even the most feared barbarians feared Rome and preferred death before surrendering their bodies to the Romans. Worse was the treachery of Jesus’ kinsmen who sold their souls to the Romans in order to attempt to save their own skins. They accused Jesus of high treason and blasphemy. They said Jesus was guilty of what Jesus would call the unforgiveable sin: the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. What the Romans did to the flesh, the Jewish leadership sought to do to His soul. What the Romans did to the flesh, the Jewish leadership, however, could not do to His soul. Jesus had made perfect peace with Himself, His calling and His Father whose will He trusted implicitly. In order for us to have life and have it abundantly, Jesus had to die. The perfect was surrendered for the imperfect. He breathed His last and the woman heard its rasping, gurgling, emptying exhale in the words “It is finished. It is done.” He couldn’t even continue to bleed out. There was nothing left but the last few drops of pulse where the blood had separated into water and what was left. The Roman spear brought all of that to light. Jesus leaked but He no longer bled. He was not only dead. Jesus was truly and completely dead.

Now the work of the first day of the week was beginning. The women prepared to go to the tomb at first light (which we all know comes before the sun even rises- what a theological truth that story tells!”) They gathered spices, oils, bandages and their wits. They went alone without regard to lurking danger in those darkest hours before the dawn. They were women on a mission with a purpose of showing the last gifts of love to the man who had loved them and us completely. You see, mighty ones of God, they did not know what we know: Jesus was not there. He was awakened by God Himself in the spirit and with His spiritual body restored to life, He descended into Hell, or was it Gehenna, and preached righteousness to the captives there who had been waiting for the coming Messiah. He had to die to enter that place so that they, too, could be saved. He was the long awaited One whom prophets had foretold and shepherds sang and wise men were destined to find. For them it was great joy. For some of them it is plausibly deniable and they denied it because they could not allow themselves to believe what they never believed from the beginning.

So for me, as I sat and stood and prayed and sang and listened in worship on Saturday evening after 6:00 p.m., it was already Resurrection Sunday. We were rediscovering what the women were going to discover. As the angel said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead. He is risen indeed!” The work was finished for the sake of salvation only to be replaced by a new work. It is the work of declaring the truth concerning the empty cross and the empty tomb. It was now filled with a glorious mystery about to be revealed to them, to the disciples, to the husband and wife returning to Emmaus and to over five hundred others. Through them it is revealed to us as our greatest work, the greatest story to be told. Just as there could be no resurrection without crucifixion, there can be no Great Commission without resurrection. We have a story to be told and we must live to tell it. We must be willing to die to self and others to tell of so great a love as this which God has made known to us…to us all. We are a part of those “captives” Jesus preached to. We are souls set free to go into all the world and make the truth of God’s love known. We are to live out that love in relationships now authenticated from the inside out. No works can earn the salvation. No money can purchase it. The work and price has already been done by Jesus. All we have to do is to ask Him to come into our lives by His spirit and dwell forever. He has asked us to come into Him and live truly, fully, completely willing to risk it all by faith upon which He is building His Church.

Bringing Matthew’s story to a close concerning his own call to follow Jesus we are left with today’s scripture “Ask God to send out workers into the field and gather the harvest in for the harvest is plenty and overflowing but the workers seem to be few.” This is the reality of Easter. It is not simply celebrating resurrection of Jesus, it is celebrating our acceptance of the charge to be workers in the field of souls going out to bring them in. It is no small wonder why the next event in the life of the Church is Pentecost when the workers come in with the first fruits to be blessed for an even greater harvest. No greater love story can there be than this! Happy Easter.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.