Acts
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Colossians 3:1-4
Matthew 28:1-10
Easter Sunday
Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!
I get pretty frustrated
with the calendar on my computer. Oh,
it's not because of the number of appointments, but instead, it's how the
calendar is laid out. You see, Sunday is
traditionally the first day of the week.
This is not a modern concept, but one that goes back to the ancient
world. Ancient Jewish tradition held
that Sunday was the first day of the week.
Yes, when God began creation, God created the first day Sunday. Yet, my calendar seems to start the week on
Monday. This is not because the calendar
is substandard, or a misprint, or a result of a bug in the programming. Instead, it's because the calendar is a
business calendar and the business week starts on Monday and not Sunday.
The truth is our society
has been highly influenced by the business world; which is not unexpected for a
society structured on capitalism. One of
the major ways the business world has influenced society is shifting the
beginning of the week from Sunday to Monday.
Because of this shift, many people have forgotten why Sunday is so
special.
So, why is Sunday so
special? Some may initially comment that
Sunday is the Sabbath. And since God
rested on the Sabbath and commands us to rest on the Sabbath, Sunday is
special. Well, remember that Sunday is
the first day of the week and scriptures say that God rested on the seventh
day. God rested on Saturday, not
Sunday. The understanding of Sunday
being the Sabbath came about in the 4th century when the first Christian Roman
emperor, Constantine the Great, passed a decree that gave Christians Sundays
off from work so that they could go to church.
You see, before this decree, Sunday was another work day. After all, it was the start of a new
week. The early Church, before
Now, you
may ask, "If Saturday is the seventh day of the week and considered the
Sabbath, why do Christians worship on Sunday?" We worship on Sunday, the first day of the
week, because Christ rose on a Sunday.
We worship on Sunday because it was on a Sunday that Mary Magdalene and
the other Mary came to Jesus' tomb and found it empty. This is, of course, the Easter story. It is the story we certainly associate with
Easter Sunday because it is the aspect of salvation history that we focus on
the most on Easter Sunday. However, it
is also the story we remember on every Sunday of the year. We worship on Sunday because Jesus rose on a
Sunday. Every Sunday is a little Easter;
every Sunday is dedicated to the implications of the empty tomb. Every Sunday is special because of what
Christ did on Sunday.
Yet, what
exactly did Christ do on Sunday? Yes, he
rose from the grave, but what did that do?
So often we talk about Christ breaking the power of sin and death upon
the cross, but we also often forget that in rising from the grave, he secured
for us eternal life. You see, God
doesn't just give us individually eternal lives, but grafts us into Christ's
death on the cross and the eternal life of resurrection. Christ's death becomes our death and Christ's
resurrected life becomes our resurrected life.
On that Sunday we read about in Saint Mathew's Gospel is the beginning
of the new creation in Christ.
Hmmm... Did you catch that? God started creation on Sunday and Jesus
Christ started the new creation on Sunday.
Yes, Sunday is the first day because it harkens in something new. It harkened in the beginning of time in the creation;
it harkens a new time in the new creation.
Now, I
mentioned that Saturday, as the seventh day, was the Sabbath. This is true based on the Old Testament as
well as the Jewish traditions prevalent in the New Testaments. After all, the Mary's came to the tomb on
Sunday, the first day of the week and not Saturday because Saturday as the
seventh day was the Sabbath and a day of rest.
That said, Sunday can also be considered the Sabbath. You see, the decree in the fourth century was
not just a pragmatic, practical move to allow Christians more time to worship
on Sunday; it was also a theological statement.
I
mentioned that Sunday, as the first day, harkened in creation at the beginning
of time. It also harkened in the new
creation at Christ's resurrection. Now,
what are the implications for this new creation? One is certainly everlasting life given
through Jesus Christ and received in faith.
The other implication is freedom, true liberty that comes with that
everlasting life. But what freedom is
that? It's freedom from the Law. You see, the grace Christ offered us on the
cross and in the resurrection is freedom from having to attain our own
salvation through observing the Law of Moses as the ancient Israelites and Jews
of Jesus' time had to. The constraints
of earning our salvation through the observation and practice of these laws
were lifted with the resurrection.
Sunday becomes a Sabbath in that we can rest from the labors of the
Law. And since this rest from the labors
of the law comes with the new creation, everyday is the Sabbath for Christians
since we no longer have to labor for the law.
Now,
living in this new creation, this eternal Sabbath, is not license to sin; we
are still expected to conform ourselves to God's will. Our salvation through Jesus Christ is still
about being perfected in grace and love through faith. Our faith is evident in our actions and can
be strengthened through our actions; but it is not our actions that save us,
it's the grace received through the faith embodied by our actions. The freedom to act by faith and in faith
instead of performing actions for the sake of the action is the freedom of the
new creation and the true Sabbath of Easter.
Easter is
the reason Sunday is so special. Easter
is the reason Christians worship on Sunday.
Easter Sunday is the highest holy day for Christians; but remember, we
remember the resurrection every Sunday.
Every Sunday is a little Easter; every Sunday announces the new creation
and the true liberty of God's grace through Christ.
Sunday
seems to have lost its importance in popular society. It seems like people look forward to Saturday
or Friday evening more than Sunday these days.
Sundays seem to have become the day we catch up on all the little things
we're not able to get to during the week or simply a day to recover from Friday
night and Saturday. Sunday seems to have
become a day in which we prepare for the dreaded return of Monday, the business
world's first day of the week. Sunday
seems to have become a dreaded day, a lazy day, a day to try to put off for as
long as possible. Maybe if we remember
that Sunday is the real first day of the week, why it's the first day of the
week, and why it's so special, maybe, just maybe Sunday will mean so much more
to us.
SDG