Alleluia! Christ is risen!

Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Easter 8am – 31 March 2013

Text: Luke 24:1-12

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Alleluia! Christ is risen!

The resurrection story must be important for us – it must be, because it’s included in all four gospels. The story is told a little differently by each of our gospel writers – the details vary a little in each gospel – but the heart of the story – the resurrected Christ – he’s there, in each one.

In the resurrection story from Luke, we have the women going to the tomb early in the morning. When they arrive, the stone blocking the entrance to the tomb is rolled away – no easy task – and the body of Jesus is missing. Right as they’re puzzling over this, two men in “dazzling” white clothes appear – angels – and ask the women: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” And then they remind the women of Jesus’ words to them: that he would be betrayed, and crucified, and that he would rise again. The women then remember Jesus’ words and go to tell the other disciples what they have just encountered…and the disciples respond with great joy, right?

Nope!

Luke tells us that the other disciples believe that what these women are saying to them is just an “idle tale” – a bunch of hooey – an imagining. But thank God that the story doesn’t stop there. Thank God that there is an urgency to find out what has happened – a curiosity to discover just what it is that Jesus is up to here – wait, he’s risen??!

Thank God the good news of the risen Christ didn’t stop with those few women, and later, the few men who first heard it. And the good news of the risen Christ doesn’t stop here, either, with the few of us, either. The story of the risen Christ continues on, from our mouths and with our lives – it continues on, not as an idle tale, but as truth.

 Alleluia! Christ is risen!

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