Hymn of Joy – Easter Day

Alleluia, alleluia!
Hearts to heaven and voices raise:
sing to God a hymn of gladness,
sing to God a hymn of praise.
He, who on the cross a victim,
for the world’s salvation bled,
Jesus Christ, the King of glory,
now is risen from the dead.

Hear the roar of the earth quaking and the angel descending. The risen Conqueror of Death removes the boulder! No gate shall hold Him. Not the gates of death, nor the gates of hell, nor this gate of rock, nor the gates of Jerusalem. We heard Christ pray Psalm 22 from the Cross as His dying act was the living presentation of Psalm 22 on Good Friday. The Lord fulfilled Psalm 23 by going into the “valley of the shadow of death” and rescuing the saints of the Old Covenant from Sheol. Now on this morn, we see Christ fulfill in part Psalm 24: “Who is this King of glory? * It is the LORD strong and mighty, even the LORD mighty in battle.” (Coverdale Psalter, 1928 Edition). The gates of our enemies are uplifted as Christ has thrown down death, holds the keys to Hades, and destroyed Satan’s gates around mankind.

Hence we pray, “Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life” in the collect of the day. Christ destroyed the gates of our enemies and opened eternally the gate of everlasting life. The gate of the curtain in the temple is torn in twain, because God is with His people, never to die again. God in the flesh, Immanuel, shall remain forever the God-man and shall never abandon His resurrected and now glorified body as a testament to the future body that awaits us and our future with Him.

Now the iron bars are broken,
Christ from death to life is born,
glorious life, and life immortal,
on this holy Easter morn.
Christ has triumphed, and we conquer
by his mighty enterprise:
we with him to life eternal
by his resurrection rise.

Alas, we may not know what Christ said to the dead when He rescued them, but we know what St. Paul reported to the Ephesians, “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” (Ephesians 5:17, KJV). I can think of no better words that Christ might have said to the faithful departed awaiting our Lord in Sheol. These words bring forth praise, thanksgiving, alleluia, and feasting beyond measure as we joyfully enter Eastertide. The Light of the world has returned. He who made the Light descended into the darkness and showed it to be a kingdom of broken gates and rubble for walls like Jericho. The Light of Christ shines even within you, O Church, for you have been promised that the gates of hell shall never prevail against Christ’s body, the Church.

On this blessed morning, Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter, and John discover an empty tomb. Yet more than merely a tomb without a body. They find the evidence of our Lord having risen from the dead, unwrapping Himself, and then placing the holy napkin  “wrapped together in a place by itself,” demonstrating the purposefulness and care of our Lord laying aside His burial clothes. (Gospel lesson, John 20:7, KJV). This is no grave robbery, and St. John knows it. John “saw, and believed” this evidence of gentleness and care in setting aside in good order the burial linens and cloths. What beautiful and simple faith that each of us should have.

Christ is risen, Christ, the first fruits
of the holy harvest field,
which will all its full abundance
at his second coming yield:
then the golden ears of harvest
will their heads before him wave,
ripened by his glorious sunshine
from the furrows of the grave.

On this glorious day, the ancient prayer book kicks off our feasting by providing a new anthem in place of the Venite in morning prayer. Before we enter into the feast of Holy Communion, we feast on the following anthem from Scripture:

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; * therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, * but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:7-8.
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; * death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died unto sin once, * but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, * but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:9-11.
Christ is risen from the dead * and become the first fruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, * by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, * even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Corinthians 15:20-22.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, * and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, * world without end. Amen.

What a feast on the Word of God we begin this day with! We learn in our first canticle in morning prayer that our Passover has been accomplished and we are invited to feast – not on the stale bread of sin but on the unleavened bread of life in the Holy Spirit. Because Christ has risen, we can and are called in the Spirit to be dead to sin but alive through our union with Jesus. This feasting is so contagious that we sing from 1 Corinthians that Jesus is the first fruits of the great harvest that is to come. Under the old law, we all died due to our union with Adam and our union to his death, and our sin. But because we are now united to Christ Jesus, we are promised not a land but a resurrection, new life, and a new creation!

Christ is risen, we are risen!
Shed upon us heavenly grace,
rain and dew and gleams of glory
from the brightness of thy face;
that we, with our hearts in heaven,
here on earth may fruitful be,
and by angel hands be gathered,
and be ever, Lord, with thee.

This new life is not a promise taking root after death. The new life is promised in the here and now. Indeed, it is what we pray for in today’s collect, when we pray that God go before us, or as the collect words it: “We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.” Amen.

Dear reader, on this joyful day, learn these words: if you die while living, then you shall live at your death. We learned in last night’s lessons and collect for Easter Even, that our baptism united us to Christ’s death. Therefore, if you are united to Jesus in His death, how much more are you united immediately into His resurrection! Or as St. Paul tells us, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.” (Epistle lesson, Colossians 3:1, KJV). Therefore, destroy your passions for the flesh and the world, and instead, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2, KJV). You are no longer a slave to Satan, nor a whim to the world, or a fool for the flesh, “for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Ephesians 3:3, KJV).

The ways of evil should not be named among us, and can be countered by the Spirit of God within you. For truly, the reign of God is within you now. Therefore, this day and each morning resolves thereby to “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.” (Ephesians 3:5-7, KJV). 

Once we walked as children of the devil, but today we walk as children of the Light. Christ has broken down all barriers between us and the Father. The question is, will you trust that Jesus truly accomplished this for you? Stop building and rebuilding the gates of old in your soul and let Christ dismantle and destroy the gates of hard-heartedness. Mortify your flesh and open yourself to the freeing Spirit of our Lord and Savior, who died for thee and was raised for thee. Because the Lord shall return, will you be found as one of His flock who hears and knows His voice? The Savior comes to gather His chicks as a mother hen, shall you recognize your Lord when He descends like lightning from the sky? There is a Day appointed for raising the dead and opening the Book of Life. Trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and God, and lay your sins upon Him and take His light and easy yoke. For on that Day of the Lord, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4, KJV).

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory be to God on high;
Alleluia! to the Savior
who has gained the victory;
Alleluia! to the Spirit,
fount of love and sanctity:
Alleluia, alleluia!
to the Triune Majesty.