Sermon: Easter Sermon

Sermon Text: Easter Sermon

Greatest. April. Fool. Prank. Ever.
 
The Roman empire tortured Jesus and executed him. They nailed him up to say, "If you rebel against the Empire, this is what happens to you." And then three days go by, and Jesus says, "April Fool!  I'm back!"
 
Maybe we can adapt the Easter acclamation on this April first:  "Alleluia, Christ is risen...nyah, nyah!"
 
Now, if that sounds irreverent to you, maybe you've forgotten that Jesus is a trickster and a rebel. He was the outlaw who came to overturn the might of the nations. He was the nobody who came to challenge the authority of evil. He was the holy fool thumbing his nose at the pompous religious leaders.
 
Everybody thought Jesus had been taken care of. His friends ran away, knowing he was a dead man. The powers that be had done their worst.
 
But, surprise! He pops up again, impossibly risen from the dead. It was the greatest act ever of civil disobedience against the law of the Empire and the laws of the universe -- the law of entropy and the rule of death. This blew the lid off everything.
 
So as the great Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over 'til it's over."
 
The religious elites did not like the way Jesus challenged them. The mob turned on him. The Roman soldiers beat him up and killed him. But it ain't over 'til it's over.
 
They nailed him to a cross in an act of state terrorism. It was supposed to deter resistance or revolt. Crucifixion was the way the masters kept the masses in line. But it ain't over 'til it's over.
 
They put him in a tomb and rolled a giant stone over the entrance. Jesus was in there a couple of nights. But on the third day he rose from the dead. Because it ain't over 'til it's over.
 
The women fled from the tomb and said nothing because they were afraid. Yet Jesus would meet his friends again in Galilee. Death could not keep Jesus. It ain't over 'til it's over.
 
It's Sunday morning. The women run away. Mark's gospel seems to end in mid-air. But it ain't over 'til it's over.
 
You and I have our troubles.
Someone we love may have a serious illness.
Our children are born with disabilities.
But it ain't over 'til it's over.
 
You might lose your job.
I might sink into deep depression.
A significant relationship might be broken.
But it ain't over 'til it's over.
 
I might ruin someone's life by my own selfishness or stupidity.
You might be in bondage to addiction.
Our kids might cause us to tear our hair out.
But it ain't over 'til it's over.
 
You may think the lights are going out
and the good times will never roll again
and there is no hope left.
But it ain't over 'til it's over.
 
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!
 
There is hope for you.
There is hope for me.
And there is hope for the whole world.
'Cause it ain't over 'til it's over.
 
Dawn comes after the night.
Spring comes after the winter.
Easter comes after Lent.
And love is more powerful than death.
 
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed, alleluia!
It ain't over 'til it's over!