Easter Meditation
“Easter Meditation” by Pastor Rosanna McFadden
Good morning! I am so grateful to share this Easter celebration with you all. I want to begin by asking a question: What do you think of when you think of new life?
Slide 1 Sunrise Maybe you think of a sunrise. It doesn’t always look like this — especially in Northern Indiana, but a sunrise happens every day, whether we are asleep, awake, or paying attention, every day is a new beginning.
Slide 2 Daffodils Maybe you think of new growth in the springtime. Flowers like these daffodils which have been dormant in the earth through the winter, and blossom in the spring, even through snow, storms, and freezing temperatures. These flowers, if they are not dug up or uprooted, will multiply and blossom every year.
Slide 3 Newborn baby Maybe you think of new human life when you think of new life. This is the way each one of us started, it is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Even if you have many brothers and sisters, or are the parent of several children, every birth is a new event, a new person, and a new life.
Slide 4 Jesus leaving tomb I hope you think of Jesus when you think of new life — especially today. This event which we celebrate on Easter Sunday and every other Sunday of the year happened only one time in all of history; and it will never happen again. Jesus was not simply sick, and given strength to get back to work — he was put to death on a cross, and God raised him from the dead and Jesus will live forever. That has never happened before; it will never happen that way again.
Slide 5 People praying Jesus’ being raised from the dead changes some things for we who claim to be Christians — Jesus’ people. It changes how we pray — whom we pray to, and what we hope for. It changes how we see ourselves and others people. If Jesus died so that our sins would be forgiven, then anyone’s sins can be forgiven. We might even be able to learn to forgive those who have injured us.
Slide 6 People worshipping This changes what we may have been taught or thought we knew about God. God loved us so much that God took on human form as Jesus Christ. Jesus was obedient to the point of death on a cross, so that God gave him the name above all names, so that every person would come to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Slide 7 Feeding people And finally, Jesus being raises from the dead changes how we see other people. In all the gospel accounts of the resurrection, it is women who are the first witnesses to the empty tomb. In first century Israel, women were thought to be unreliable witnesses; some people still hold this view today. Only in John’s account does one of those women, Mary Magdalene, actually see her risen Lord. And she doesn’t recognize him, at least not until he speaks her name. She thinks he’s the gardener, and pleads with him to show her where Jesus’ dead body has been taken. There will be other followers — later that day on the road to Emaeus — who will not recognize Jesus when they first see him.
But this photo makes me think of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew, when he tells his disciples a parable about a king who separated his followers into those who fed the hungry, gave the thirsty something to drink, welcomed the stranger, and clothed the naked. And the righteous folks are puzzled and ask, When did we see you? We didn’t recognize you when we did those things. Slide downLike Mary Magdalene, we may not recognize the risen Jesus the first time — or second or third or fourth time — we encounter him. Maybe we will hear him call us by name, or maybe we will have to believe what we have not seen and have faith that the people we encounter bear the image of God. The hungry, the homeless, the immigrant, the stranger; we need to look for Christ in them, because that is the only way they will recognize Christ in us. This is the miracle of new life in Jesus Christ: that we can live so that others will see Christ in us. God bless you on this Easter day, and for the chance we are given to give each new day to Christ. Amen.