Cancel Easter?

CANCEL EASTER? Matthew 27:61-28:15

(Revised in 2020, during the novel coronavirus, covid-19 church cancellations—can be easily modified)

In the eyes of many people, Easter has been canceled this year. Church is online only. Easter egg hunts and family dinners are canceled. Malls are closed, and new outfits are unnecessary anyway. Easter lilies will not fill the platform, and some will even forego chocolate bunnies and Peeps! No!

Can Easter be canceled? If we are talking about celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, this is not the first year that some have not celebrated the resurrection. For many, the resurrection of Jesus has been lost in a flurry of activity, the cuteness of children, and superficial wishes for a happy Easter. Even in churches, the busyness of multiple services and dropping Easter candy from drones has threatened to obscure the truth of the resurrection.

But not this year. This year, all of that is stripped away.

Cancel Easter?

On the very first Easter, the Jewish power players anxiously conspired to make sure any plans for Easter would be canceled.

Read Matthew 27:62-66.

It is surprising that the Jewish leaders remembered what Jesus had said about rising from the dead. His disciples had heard him say it more than once, but Luke tells us that the disciples did not understand what he meant. The Jewish leaders understood what he meant, but of course, they didn’t believe it.

The Jewish leaders wanted to make sure the disciples would not try to perpetuate a hoax, by stealing the body of Jesus, and then claiming he had risen from the dead. Pilate agreed to help them “cancel Easter,” by posting guards. Yet he said something strange: “Go, make the tomb AS SECURE AS YOU KNOW HOW.” Understand—the disciples had only one sword among them, the one Peter had in the Garden of Gethsemane. The disciples had all fled when Jesus was crucified, except for the women, and Joseph and Nicodemus, who had buried Jesus. Who did they think was going to overcome 2 or more armed guards? And why would the disciples try to steal the body? As Paul said much later in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” If Jesus was dead, the movement was dead.

In fact, there was no plot to steal Jesus’ body. After lying low on the Sabbath (Saturday), the men were hiding out somewhere. Only some women ventured out at dawn on Sunday—hardly a threat to the armed guard at the tomb.

Yet Pilate’s words became a prophecy: “Make the tomb as secure as you know how.” How secure was that?

Read Matthew 28:1-10.

The resurrection of Jesus went on as planned!

The guards felt an earthquake, and they saw an angel, bright like lightning in the dawn of the day. They were so afraid that they shook.

The women heard the angel say, “Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid? Of course they were afraid! Yet the angel challenged their fear, with news they could hardly imagine: “He is not here; he is risen!”

As the women hurried away, “afraid yet filled with joy,” Jesus met them. He too said to them, “Do not be afraid.”

Do you catch a theme here? “Do not be afraid.”

***Many are saying that these days, because of the pandemic and the uncertainty and fear it causes. Why should we not be afraid? Not because we don’t see the danger; we do. Not because we have everything under control; we don’t. We should not be afraid because Jesus is alive.**

Now if I had been there at the tomb, I think I would have been shaking—shaking with fear?...awe?…shock? In the words of the old spiritual, “Were You There,” “…sometimes it causes me to tremble…tremble…tremble.” The guards trembled at the shock and awe of the angels, but the women trembled as they heard Jesus say, “Do not be afraid.”

Our prayer on Easter is expressed by Paul in Ephesians 1:18-20, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead…” God’s power doesn’t make our fear disappear, but God is greater than anything we fear.

The Jewish power players were afraid—afraid that if people feared God more than them, they would lose out. They were still trying to cancel Easter.

Read Matthew 28:11-15.

The Jewish leaders did not want to DISCOVER the truth about what happened; they wanted to MANAGE the truth about the resurrection.

People do that, for truth they don’t want to face. Financial problems are managed, for a while, by credit card debt. Addiction in families might be managed by not talking about the problem. Sins are hidden, conflict avoided by the silent treatment, and depression masked by a smile.