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Resurrection Day! | Holy Week Day 8
675 Plays29 minutes ago
He is risen.
In this final episode of our Holy Week series, I walk through the resurrection account in Matthew 28, the history behind Easter traditions, and what it means to actually live in the power of the resurrection — not just know it as a fact. We close with a beautiful Easter poem by George Herbert.
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Transcript
Introduction and Significance of Resurrection Day
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello friends, welcome to Verity Podcast's Holy Week series. Welcome to Resurrection Day. Today is the day that Jesus rose from the dead and secured our eternal hope.
Biblical Account of Resurrection
00:00:19
Speaker
We're going to be reading in Matthew 28, verse 1 through 10. Now, after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow.
00:00:41
Speaker
The guards shook from fear of him and became like dead men. And the angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where he was lying. And go quickly and tell his disciples he has risen from the dead. And behold, he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him. Behold, I have told
Role of Women in the Resurrection Story
00:01:05
Speaker
you.
00:01:05
Speaker
And they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, Rejoice! And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. And Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go, bring word to my brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see me.
00:01:25
Speaker
This is the day we've been waiting for. in the quiet of Holy Saturday, in the grief of Good Friday, in the waiting of Maundy Thursday, in the pain of Spy Wednesday, we've been working towards this beautiful hope.
00:01:42
Speaker
And as we read this text, we see the hope of the women, the first witnesses to Jesus' resurrection were the women. My ministry is called Every Woman a Theologian. And it's beautiful how God revealed himself first to the women who then were witnesses to everyone else.
Easter Traditions and Origins
00:02:05
Speaker
As we celebrate this day, there are a few interesting pieces of church history that I think make it even more impactful. One is um at the beginning of Lent, they do something called burying the Alleluia, sometimes writing an actual Alleluia on a piece of paper and burying it in a garden or behind the church.
00:02:26
Speaker
But on Resurrection Day, everyone can say Alleluia again because they're celebrating Christ is risen. A question many of you might have is, where did Easter baskets come from? Like, how how come we see this Easter basket tradition, and is it really something Christians should observe? Well, what's interesting is, oftentimes on Pasha, which is the Latin name for Easter that came from Passover,
00:02:55
Speaker
You would bring food to be blessed, and that led to Easter baskets. So baskets of food being brought to the church to be blessed as you're going into the feast day, you're breaking your fast of Lent on Easter or on Pasha, you would have that food blessed, and that led to Easter baskets. Oftentimes for Easter meals, you would eat lamb, again, kind of calling back to that Passover tradition. Because the Passover being fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus is remembered by non-Jewish Christians from the very first century to today through practices and traditions that call back to the Jewish roots of our Christian holidays.
Living in the Power of the Resurrection
00:03:44
Speaker
And so the Jewish roots of these holidays, they're still woven throughout the liturgical calendar, which is really special. As you think about what Jesus did, the fact that Jesus died on the cross, taking all the pain, all the sin, all the shame on his body, his human body, so we didn't have to bear that in ours. I hope that you also see the resurrection shows his power over sin and death and the devil, that he has overcome the hold of shame. We do not have to accept it, participate in it, or live in it any longer because the resurrection proves that he has power over it all.
00:04:28
Speaker
So my question for you today is, are you living in the power of the resurrection? Or are you still living as if Jesus is in a tomb? Do you live as if he has power over these things? Do you ask him to intervene? Or do you live as if he is powerless?
00:04:45
Speaker
A lot of Christians, we know all these truths, but we don't live as if they're impacting us day to day. And that's the whole point. He didn't save you just so you could live as if this was intellectual facts that you repeat back in a Bible study.
00:05:01
Speaker
He saved you because it changes your life. It changes not just eternity, but your life today. Resurrection Day is a day we get to fully live and celebrate the goodness of what he did on the cross and through the resurrection.
Reflection and Conclusion
00:05:21
Speaker
And we can know that we are promised a resurrection ourselves because of his power over death.
00:05:30
Speaker
I want to conclude this series by reading you a poem by George Herbert that is about Easter. It's called Easter.
00:05:42
Speaker
And the word Easter for Resurrection Day is taken from the month in wheat in which the Pasha celebration fell. So,
00:05:56
Speaker
We call it Easter in English because English is a language taken from Anglo-Saxon, and Easter was an Anglo-Saxon calendar month. So for Anglo-Saxons who are, you know, living in England, um they were celebrating Pasha, a Christian festival of Christ's resurrection, and it fell in Easter month. So it took on the name Easter.
00:06:21
Speaker
But everywhere else, the celebration of the resurrection is called by um a name very similar to the word Passover. So Passover in Hebrew comes into the Latin, and Latin is the basis of the Romance languages. So if you look at Spanish and Romanian and Italian and French, all of their names for this holiday are more similar to something along the lines of Pasha or Passover.
00:06:48
Speaker
And so we're going to read this poem in conclusion of this series to remember what he's done. Rise, heart, thy Lord is risen.
00:07:00
Speaker
Sing his praise without delays. Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise with him mayst rise. That, as his death calcined thee to dust, his life may make thee gold and much more just.
00:07:16
Speaker
Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part with all thy art. The cross taught all wood to resound with his name, who bore the same. His stretched sinews taught all strings what key is best to celebrate this most high day.
00:07:32
Speaker
Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song pleasant and long. Or since all music is but three parts vied and multiplied, O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part, and make up our defects with his sweet art.
00:07:48
Speaker
I got me flowers to straw thy way, I got me boughs off many a tree, but thou wast up by break of day, and brought thy sweets along with thee. The sun arising in the east, though he give light and the east perfume, if they should offer to contest with thy arising, they presume.
00:08:06
Speaker
Can there be any day but this, though many suns to shine endeavor? We count three hundred, but we miss. There is but one, and that one ever.
00:08:19
Speaker
What Herbert is saying here is that there is no greater day than Resurrection Day. Resurrection Day is the best possible day because it guarantees us the hope that no matter what we're going through, no matter what we've been through, what we've done, there is always restoration and there is always resurrection.
00:08:40
Speaker
Thank you so much for following along with Verity Podcast's Holy Week series and using the guide that goes with these videos. I'm so grateful that you're part of the Every Woman a Theologian community. If you're new to my channel or new to my podcast and you enjoyed this series, I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at felicia at feliciamasonheimer.com. You can also follow along by subscribing on YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. We do ah all sorts of interesting episodes on theology and prayer, answering your questions that you send to me to help you grow in your faith and your love for Jesus Christ.
00:09:19
Speaker
I'll see you next time on Verity Podcast.