Sermon on April 4, 2026
“Practicing Resurrection with Easter Courage”
By: The Ven. Margaret Grayden
Gospel: Matthew 28: 1-10
Some of the most amazing, awesome things start in darkness. Like new life. New life takes root in the darkness of the earth, in the darkness of space, in the darkness of the womb, and in the darkness of the tomb. We don’t see its beginnings or the long slow process of growth until new life suddenly bursts forth into the light. The Resurrection is like that. There are no eyewitness accounts of the moment when God raised Jesus from the dead. We are left to wonder. Was it something like the raising of Lazarus? Did Jesus sit up, unwrap the linen strips that bound His body, arise, roll back the stone, and leave the tomb in which He had been laid? We don’t know. By the time we find out about it, it has already happened. The tomb is empty. The focus is not on how exactly the Resurrection was accomplished, but rather, on the human response to it.
In Matthew’s account, the response of the women at the tomb to the Resurrection was fear and joy. That’s an odd combination, isn’t it? The Greek word translated as fear in this text is phobeisthe, whoseroot is phobeo, from which we get the word phobia. Phobeisthe carries a range of possible meanings depending on the context, all the way from abject terror to reverential awe. Matthew’s terse, dramatic account offers us examples from each end of the fear spectrum. At one end of the spectrum is the response of the guards—abject terror. “For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.” At the other end, the women respond with reverential awe, a mix of fear and joy. What I find compelling about this account is that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary are still afraid at this point—and they obey the angel’s command anyway. “So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”
Friends, on this most holy night, when our Lord Jesus Christ passed over from death into new life, it is important to remember that courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is feeling the fear, and choosing to act anyway. As retired UCC pastor and theologian Martin B. Coperhaver has noted, “When the angel says, ‘Do not be afraid,’ or when Jesus says, ‘Fear not,’ it is not assurance that nothing can go wrong, because often things do go wrong….Rather, it is assurance that, whatever a day may hold, God has the power to strengthen us and uphold us; that whatever we must face, we do not face it alone; that nothing we encounter is stronger than God’s love; that ultimately God gets the last word; that in the end—and sometimes even before the end—God’s love is triumphant.”[1] This kind of courage is what Easter is all about—a faith in things seen and unseen that gives us the ability to hold fear and joy simultaneously without being held captive by either one. Fortunately, our liturgy teaches us how to do this. During one of our Eucharistic Prayers, we affirm the mystery of faith by saying: “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.”[2]
Christians are “an Easter people.”[3] We are called to treat Easter as a verb, not as a noun. That is, Easter isn’t simply a religious holiday that we celebrate as a sort of liturgical reward for surviving the rigors of Lent. Rather, Easter is a way of living, of what theologian Megan McKenna calls “practicing resurrection.” Although we can’t literally bring the dead back to life, make no mistake—there are other ways to practice resurrection, that is, to bring new life to people and to situations in which all appears to be lost. As McKenna explains, “Every time I bring hope into a situation, every time I bring joy that shatters despair, every time I forgive others and give them back dignity and the possibility of a future with me and others in the community, every time I listen to others and affirm them and their life, every time I speak the truth in public, every time I confront injustice…I bring people back from the dead.”[4]
I wonder…what would it look like for us to practice resurrection with what Lutheran pastor and theologian David Lose has called Easter courage[5], to create new life in the midst of our fear? I think it would look a lot like the response of the women at the tomb to the news of the Resurrection. It would involve holding fear and joy simultaneously, allowing ourselves to feel the fear of the new and unknown even as we act, responding to God’s call to be a candle of hope, a light in the darkness of a broken and hurting world. When we cultivate new connections—for example, by working with the Yolo Interfaith Immigration Network to assist our migrant neighbors—we create new life. When we open our hearts and our wallets to help those on the margins—for example, by donating to our Easter offering to support the HEART of Davis Safe Parking Program for our unhoused neighbors who live in their cars—we create hope.
On this wonderful and most holy night, so many people in so many places in the world are struggling to hold on to hope, to kindle joy, to respond with courage to a seemingly unending stream of threats to life as they have known it. My prayer for us all is that no matter what challenges confront us, we remain firmly anchored in God’s steadfast love and compassion even—and especially when—we are most afraid. May we practice resurrection with Easter courage now and always.
AMEN
[1] Martin B. Copenhaver, “Matthew 28:1-10: A Pastoral Perspective,” in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds., Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year A, vol. 2 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), pp. 348, 350.
[2] Eucharistic Prayer A, The Book of Common Prayer 1979, p. 363.
[3]https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/angelus/1986/documents/hf_jp-ii_ang_19861130.html
[4] https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/naming-the-days/view/10963/easter-resurrection-as-a-spiritual-practice
[5] David Lose, “Dear Working Preacher: Easter Courage,” April 16, 2014, accessed at https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/easter-courage on 4/3/26.his love. Amen.
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