The LCA provides this sermon edited for lay-reading, with thanks to the original author.
Easter 2 A
Psalm 16
That’s Easter! So What Has Changed?
The long weekend that we Australians call Easter has come and gone. The holy festivals of the Easter weekend are over, although we are still in the season of our Lord’s Resurrection for some weeks yet. As we reflect on Psalm 16 on this second Sunday of Easter, it could lead us to ask, “So what has changed?” How is life different because of our Lord’s resurrection? This Psalm, written hundreds of years before the resurrection of Jesus, is also a testament or witness to the hope that the resurrection brings into the lives of those who put their trust in Jesus.
So what has changed because of Easter? Firstly, if we believe in Jesus as ‘the resurrection and the life’, ‘the living one who died and is alive for evermore’ (Rev 1:18), we know that we have a Safe Refuge. The Psalmist, David, begins with a prayer for safety: Keep me safe, O God (1a). For him, as for us, there are some things that have not changed. Our world is still full of things that threaten us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. This world is still a dangerous place.
What has changed is the confidence we find in face of such dangers. David explained the reason for his confidence, saying to God: for in you I take refuge (1b). Easter reminds us that we can have absolute confidence in God; we can take refuge in him from all those things that threaten us. Easter reminds us that God’s attitude towards us has changed. Instead of seeing us as we are, he now sees us through the cross of his only son. He sees us in the light of Christ’s empty tomb. He sees each of us who trust in him as his own forgiven children, clothed in the righteousness of his own Son, and joined to our Saviour’s risen life.
We share King David’s confidence as we reflect with him: I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing" (2). What has changed is that the resurrection of Christ confirms that God is for us. He is on our side. He is your Lord and ‘my Lord’! When he had every reason to reject us, he intervened in love. He gave his own life, only to take it up again for us. Nothing else can offer what God has offered us in Jesus. We need him in our lives. We know that we can totally depend on him for everything. Apart from him we have no good thing!
What else has changed because of Easter? - as if that wasn’t enough already! The second thing that has changed is that we have a Sacred Family. King David wrote: As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight (3). Who are the glorious ones in whom is all our delight? They are God’s redeemed people, our fellow resurrected ones, the ones with whom we love to gather to share and grow in the resurrected life. Easter reminds us that, just as we need the Lord, we also need our brothers and sisters in the Lord – our sacred family.
Do you feel that way about your fellow church members; and about other Christians? The Apostle Paul describes us as, “fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (Eph. 2:19). That’s what’s changed because of Easter. We have a new family; a sacred family, in whom is our delight!
King David knew, as we need to be reminded also, that to turn away from God and his family spells spiritual disaster or ruin. The worship of other gods will end in sorrow instead of safety. David acknowledged: The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods, and then determined: I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips (4). For us, those “other gods” may not necessarily be idols or other religions, but anything that draws our attention away from the Safe Refuge and the Sacred Family that we have in Christ. A lot has changed because of Easter, so let’s not undo the saving work of Christ.
What else has changed because of Easter? With David, we can know that we have a Secure Future. David prayed:
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Like the author of Psalm 118, David acknowledges that his secure future is all ‘the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes’ (Ps 118:23). As in Psalm 23, where God sets a table before us and fills our cup to overflowing; where his goodness and mercy follow us all the days of our lives; here David also recognizes that God has given him a ‘good helping’ of his blessings - my portion and my cup – and has made his lot secure with ample land and a delightful inheritance.
As a resurrection prophecy, David’s words also are the words of ‘The Son of David’ as he proclaims his own resurrection from the dead. The ‘Crucified One’ is alive. This is all ‘the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes’ (Ps 118:23). God has reassigned his ‘Risen One’ a seat at his heavenly banquet, crowned him with glory and honour, exalted him to the highest place and restored his eternal inheritance.
Because of Easter, David’s words can also become our words. From the depths of our sin and all its consequences; and from the depths of our guilt, we have, as Peter reminds us, been “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish or spoil or fade away, kept in heaven for [us]” (1 Peter 1:3-4). Our future is secure!
With David we can also pray:
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Our eternal future is secure, but so is our future in this world. The Lord counsels – comforts and guides us by his living Word. Even at night, the heart in which we have hidden God’s Word continues to instruct us. Our conscience continues to be guided by it. In his Word, the risen Jesus lives before our very eyes. When we read and meditate on in, we set the Lord always before us. His Word keeps him close by us; at our right hand. We know we will not be shaken because of what the risen Lord has done for us. That’s what has changed: we have a secure future in Christ.
What else has changed because of Easter? Like Jesus, we also have a Sure Resurrection. David, who lived long before Jesus, wrote:
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
The Apostles Peter and Paul quote these verses as a prophecy of Jesus resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:25-28 and 13:35). God did not abandon his holy one to the grave or let him see decay. He raised him from the dead. He made known to him the path of life and filled him with eternal pleasures at his right hand.
These verses also apply to all who ‘believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.” We also have a sure resurrection. We can also be glad and rejoice because we are now also God’s Holy ones. By faith in Christ, we can know with David - and with Jesus – that even when we are dead and buried, our body will rest secure, that God will not abandon us to the grave, that it will not see decay forever, that God has made known to us the path of life, that God will again fill us with joy in his presence, and with eternal pleasures at his right hand.
So what has changed because of Easter? Quite a lot really! In the One who is the Resurrection and the Life, we have a safe refuge, a sacred family, a secure future and a sure resurrection. What more could we need? Amen!
May the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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