A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 4 April 2021. Easter Sunday , by Revd Phyllis Wong. The scripture readings that day were Isaiah 25:6-9, Acts 10:34-43, John 20:1-18.
I am happy and excited to see many of you in church today to celebrate Easter. I am also a bit anxious if the worship can be arranged smoothly with limited seats available and other complications. We are thankful to God and all volunteers who make our reopening of church service possible with their help.
Resuming public worship service in church is like an Easter gift from God. Many friends have longed to worship in God’s Holy sanctuary. During the Covid pandemic, one lesson I have learned is nothing can be certain except God’s love, and nothing can be taken for granted. We need to cherish for what we have right now and give thanks to God.
Message of Easter
Easter Sunday is a special moment for the church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from death. Jesus’ resurrection shows life overcomes death. New life, new hope and new joy are always the theme for Easter.
In my sermon today, I would like to share a few reflections about Easter, with the insights taken from today’s lectionary readings.
The first reflection – affirm God’s sovereignty/wait with Joy
Today the book of Isaiah, Chapter 25 was read. Prophet Isaiah from the Hebrew scripture assured the Israelites in the old days that the Lord God is their saviour and redeemer. The whole creation is God’s gift to all his people. All people regardless of age, economic status and nationalities are all fed, and well fed. God is the source of life. Life and death are in His hands. The prophet affirmed that God is the one who saved and set the people free. But the people needed to wait, to wait for the Lord to come. When they wait, they should wait with joy and gladness.
Covid 19 pandemic is still on going and we don’t see how it may end in the near future. The economy has been greatly affected and higher rate of unemployment has been recorded. The political situations in different places including Hong Kong seems getting worse than better.
If Easter is to bring hope, the message from the prophet reminds us and those who are still struggling and living a difficult life to wait, not to wait with worry and sadness, but to wait with joy. To wait with joy is a choice. Quite often we may not able to change or control the external environment and other people, but we can definitely help our own self to change and make our own choice. I always remember a refugee friend who shared with me: I choose to be happy and to do something positive in the midst of uncertainty and difficulties. He said it in a sarcastic way: I have no choice! He is humorous.
As we wait, we acknowledge how the Prophet’s words on our Lord is being lived out in human history and He is the sovereign God of the whole universe. He helps us to recognize one truth: life and death, rich and poor, good and bad are all in God’s hands. Let us obey God like Jesus and go with the flow in life no matter what. Try to live every day and every moment with joy, and be aware of God’s presence in every aspect of our lives and every corner of our world. Sisters and brothers, let our life be focused in God and not on our human constraints and limitations. The resurrection of Jesus from death echoes the word from the prophet. Life overcomes death and joy overcomes sorrow.
The second reflection - Forgiveness of Sins
The second reading today is taken from the book of Acts. This is another scripture with rich meaning. What I would like to highlight is about “the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name”.
St Peter, the early church leader, reminded Jesus’ followers in his time, “everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
We as Jesus’ followers and as Church, to receive forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ name is another significant message for Easter.
Human’s separation from God is the most fundamental Sin. When people are separated from God, all kinds of evils could have happened – hatred, greed, aggression, exploitation, discrimination, violence, murder and many more you name it.
God realizes the problems and pain of separation. In order to reconnect and reconcile with humanity, God came to the world and became human. Jesus, the incarnate, the God full of glory, humbled himself. He took up the cup of suffering, experienced humiliation and vulnerability as human flesh up to the cross. Because of his wounds we are healed and saved. Jesus is a wounded healer.
The significance of believing in Jesus and receiving forgiveness of sins through Jesus’ name is this:
We admit that we are from God. We are nothing and cannot be whole when we are separated from the Creator.
This is another message for Easter today: Receive the forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name, rebuild the loving and close relationship with God through the risen Christ. In this connection, we are reminded to seek forgiveness and to forgive, so we strive to restore broken relationships with others in family, in church, in society and in nature. Forgiveness of sins includes personal and communal levels, sins of individuals and sins of the world, the systems. From the book of Acts, St Peter, the rock of the church, reminded Christians to be witness of Christ to proclaim Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, who was sent by God to save all from oppression. Sisters and brothers, when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in Easter, let us take up the cross and be Christ’s witness to share the good news of forgiveness of sins so all people will be healed and reconnected to God through Jesus, the risen Lord. With the help from the risen Lord, may the church work together with God to create a world of new order, where new relationships are built with compassion, care, respect and understanding.
The third reflection – our love to the Lord
The third reflection is taken from the Gospel of John.
While we are longing for the church, for the worship, for the programs, one important question we have to ask is how is our longing for God and our love to God, Godself?
Mary who was the first person to see the resurrected Jesus enlightened us to reflect on this question. How much do I love God and the depth of my desire to him? Do we follow Jesus because of the help he gives us? Do we embrace God because God is great and can defeat my enemy? In Jesus’ time, many people welcomed and followed him at the beginning because they expected him to save their country Israel. When their dream was shattered, they turned to kill him.
Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to claim the dead body of Jesus in the early morning three days after Jesus was crucified. She went just simply because of her deep love to Jesus. Her intention was so strong. Even after Peter and the other disciple left the tomb, she stayed and tried every chance and every person she met there asking for the body of Jesus. Mary was so desperate.
While Mary was weeping, Jesus appeared to her and then charged her to share the good news of Jesus’ resurrection to his disciples. I have a question in mind, why did Jesus not reveal himself to these two male disciples but chose to reveal before a woman? This is a question open to interpretation as the text does not tell us. In my interpretation, I would suggest Jesus treasured the deep love and strong desire of Mary for him.
Therefore, I would say if Easter is a celebration of life, new life, it is also a celebration of love. A love that even death cannot take it away.
In this deep love and yearning to meet with her beloved master, Jesus appeared before Mary.
I was moved when I tried to imagine the encounter between Jesus and Mary.
How deep is our love to Jesus Christ, our Lord God? How do we express that love as we celebrate Easter today?
Conclusion
God has been expressing his love to us in human history and through nature. The most mysterious and profound way for expressing his love is God came to the world in human flesh. Jesus expressed his love to us through the new covenant he made and completed on the cross with his broken body. In Church, we have developed a series of Lenten devotionals with the theme: One in the Covenant of the Cross. I would strongly suggest you to continue to watch these devotionals and reflect on this theme and go deeper to experience God’s love in the season of Easter, as we are celebrating the new life of Christ. Pain, suffering and death are part of life and from where new life is reborn.
May the life and love of our risen Lord keep you strong and hopeful. Amen!
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, April 04, 2021
