April Fools – Jesus is Alive! – Easter 2018 Sermon

Happy Easter! For Holy Saturday worship this year, we did a shortened Easter Vigil service with 6 readings from The Message paraphrase of the Bible rather than an early Easter resurrection worship service like we did last year.

On Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018, we had worship services at 7:00 and 9:30 am. Our high school students also hosted a breakfast between services. The texts for Easter Sunday are Isaiah 25:6-9, Psalm 118:1, 17-24; Acts 10:34-43, and Mark 16:1-8.

Check out this year’s Maundy Thursday and Good Friday sermons as well!

I’ve been looking forward to this morning ever since I realized Easter Sunday would fall on April Fool’s day this year. I know the youth have been talking about April Fool’s ideas for their brunch.

My idea was to have a mix of hardboiled and raw eggs, but nobody thought that was a good idea. I even thought of putting up a Christmas tree this morning, or poinsettias instead of lilies, but we didn’t do that either. Maybe next time when this happens again in 2029.

But it’s so fun having Easter on April Fools, because Jesus rising from the dead has to be the greatest April Fool’s joke ever. Just when the devil thought he’d won for good, just when God’s plan had been defeated, Jesus comes back to life!

For the women at the tomb on that first Easter morning, Jesus’ resurrection probably felt like a joke at first, and not a very good or funny joke. In fact, it almost seems cruel.

Put yourself in the place of these women, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome. This has been the worst weekend of their lives. They’d given up everything to follow Jesus, this revolutionary leader.

Like the rest of the disciples, they’ve heard him preach and teach, they’ve seen him heal people, they were there for the big parade last week as he came into Jerusalem. And then it all falls apart. He’s arrested in the middle of the night, there’s a sham trial, and then Jesus is killed, publicly executed by the Roman occupiers on the eve of the Sabbath.

Someone finds a tomb nearby for his body, he’s quickly buried, and then it’s over. He’s dead. They watched him die, helpless to do anything about it. Worst weekend ever.




Now, Sunday morning, the Sabbath is over, and they’ve decided to get up early and go at least anoint the body. It should have been taken care of when he died, but there wasn’t time then. At least there’s something they can do for him.

They get to the tomb as soon as they can, and there’s this guy in a white robe sitting there, and he says, “April fools! Jesus isn’t here!”

Actually, first he says, “Do not be alarmed” which is a ridiculous thing to say. It’s almost a joke in itself. How on earth could they possibly not be alarmed? They’re so frightened I’m not sure they hear anything the angel says after “He’s not here.”

On their way to the tomb, the women were worried it would be too hard to get to Jesus’ body, that it was too securely locked away. When they get there, they have the opposite problem – he’s not only not locked away, he’s not even there! This is the part that probably seemed like a cruel joke, like perhaps the body’s been stolen before they could even anoint it.

Instead, the angel tells them the good news that Jesus has been raised. The body’s not stolen, Jesus is alive and off attending to other business, and he’ll meet them in Galilee. Faced with this fantastic news, Mark tells us, “they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” And that’s the end of Mark’s gospel.

You might notice some more verses added on, but those were almost certainly added much later by others. Mark’s story ends here, with terror and amazement.

I don’t know if it exactly counts as a joke, but there’s certainly irony in the women’s response. As you may know, throughout Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ followers have misunderstood what he’s doing, and he’s continually told them to not tell anyone what they see. And yet, the crowds keep growing. They can’t keep silent. Now, it’s finally time to share the good news, and when the angel instructs them to go tell what they’ve seen, they’re too much in shock to say anything.

Fleeing in terror seems like a strange reaction, but it’s probably the most honest response to the resurrection that there could be. You don’t start out with “Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed!”

It’s too soon, too fresh. Too unexpected. This weekend has been too traumatic for them to get the joke.

I heard someone this week describe the resurrection as a “rip in the fabric of reality.” The most reliable boundary in the world has been crossed. God is at work. The one who was dead is now alive. If you can’t rely on dead people staying dead, what can you rely on? No wonder they’re terrified!

Looking back, we know this is good news. Remember, Mark started his entire gospel back in chapter one by saying this is the story of the good news of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. But for these women, before this is good news, this is shocking. This is terrifying. There’s no way this could be real. People don’t raise themselves from the dead. It’s ridiculous.

And yet, the tomb is empty. The angel says Jesus is alive.




As surprising as we might find it, the women’s reaction is appropriate, because if Jesus is out of the tomb, then nothing will ever be the same. Maybe we too should be a little scared that God is on the loose, going ahead of us.

The resurrection proves that this man, Jesus, is indeed God in the flesh. It proves that God has come into our world, that God is alive and active in our lives, and that has some profound implications. That changes everything, because if God has come to us in the flesh, then we’re not alone in the world.

Easter means we really are loved by our Creator. It means that the way we live matters. That feast Isaiah describes will actually come to pass. Death has been swallowed up forever. Easter means that we have hope, and sometimes, even having hope can be a little terrifying.

The women don’t stay silent. They do tell people, because obviously we know about it. If these women hadn’t proclaimed the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, no one would know about it. These women are the first Christian preachers! The rest of us are just following in their footsteps.

Sometimes, the best April Fools’ jokes are the ones you don’t get until much later. It’s too soon for the women to understand it on that first Easter Sunday, but for us, the real joy of Easter is that it proves God’s power to forgive. Jesus took all the sins of the world, all of our sins, upon himself on the cross, and put them to death.

Good jokes work when your expectations are subverted, which is why Easter is the greatest joke ever.

Instead of death having the final word, Jesus rises again. Instead of our sins separating us from God forever, God forgives us and we are given new life too. Instead of saying no and condemning us like we expect and deserve, God says yes to us out of love. God’s yes to us is foolish, and extravagant, and surprising, and loving, but it’s not a joke. God is deadly serious about loving you. Because of Easter, we know that not even death can end God’s love.

Christ is Risen!
Happy Easter!