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Sharon was a prominent woman in town.  No one was exactly sure where her money came from, but tit didn’t really seem to matter.  Her husband ran a successful business as well.  Together they were two of the most generous people around.  They had even built an extra room in their house to shelter any traveler who needed a place to stay.  Through the eyes of most of her neighbors, Sharon seemed to have everything.  But to those who knew her best, knew that she lacked one thing, the one thing she wanted most. She wanted a son.  Everyday was a little less happy than it should have been because she didn’t have a son.  Sharon was old enough now not to expect to give birth anymore.  So, imagine the surprise, imagine the joy, when a son finally arrived.   

Sure, he came a little later than expected, but he came.  He was the joy of the town and much more the joy of Sharon.  One of his favorite pastimes was to join his father on the job.  As soon as he could walk, he would walk along with this father.  One day he complained to his dad that his head hurt.  His dad was busy and thought that it was probably just a headache.  But the headache got worse.  The boy collapsed.  The boy died.  The father was shocked.  Sharon, as you can imagine, was devastated.  It seemed to her to be the cruelest joke that fate could play on her.  All that she ever wanted was given to her, only to be taken away too soon. 

Larz wasn’t so prominent in his town, but he was the head of his family.  He was a faithful, generous man.  His religious faith told him to be kind to others.  Larz took this to heart in opening his doors to his extended family.  Many of them lived with him and they had come to rely on him for support and for guidance.  Larz was often the center of attention and the center of joy in the family.  One day he fell ill.  Doctors came and went, but there didn’t seem to be anything they could do.  Larz finally died.  You can imagine that the family would fall apart.  When the support and guidance is gone, what is there to prevent the family from crashing down?  When the center is gone, what is left to prevent it from coming apart?   

Tabitha had devoted her life to good works and charity.  No one knew much about her, if she was married or had any children.  It didn’t matter really because she seemed to have adopted the whole neighborhood as her family.  Adults called her “Mom.”  Children called her “grandma” even if they had no relation to her at all.  She was always sewing clothing for someone.  People felt safer on the sidewalk, safer in their homes, because they knew Tabitha was keeping watch over them.  They knew they would never lack for anything because Tabitha would always find a way to meet their needs.  Then, Tabitha was gone.  She died.  The neighborhood didn’t feel so neighborly anymore.   

What are these stories?  Are they articles from the NY Times?  No, but I suppose they could be.  Are they stories from the Grand Rapids evening news?  No, but they could be that as well.  Maybe they’re stories that have happened in this neighborhood, but they’re not that either.  They could be stories that have been experienced by people in this sanctuary, but they’re not that either.  Are they just some stories that Pastor Peter told to ruin our Easter joy?  They could be that too, but they’re not.  Each of these stories, embellished just a little, come from the Bible.  And, they’re not finished. 

Sharon is a the shunammite woman from a story in the Old Testament.  She really was prominent.  She really did build another room on her house.  She regularly welcomed the prophet Elijah to stay there.  It was Elijah who promised her a son.  At the end of the story, it would be Elijah who brought her son back to life after he died. 

Larz is Lazarus from the gospel of John.  Many of you know this story well.  He really did fall ill.  He died because Jesus took his sweet, old time in getting there.  This confused a lot of people.  When Jesus did arrive, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already.  Still, Jesus called out to him and Lazarus came out of the tomb, alive like he had never been before. 

Tabitha really was a woman devoted to good works and acts of charity.  She really did make a lot of clothing.  There is a story about her in the book of Acts.  When she died the widows of the town called for Peter who was in a nearby town.  When he arrived, he sent everyone out of the room, prayed, and then said, “Tabitha, get up!”  She did.  She was alive again. 

All of these are stories about resurrection.  Death is an enemy of life from the beginning of the Bible until its end.  I’m sure that many of you could relate to the pain in at least one of the stories you heard this morning.  A mother who loses a child.  A family who loses its center.  A neighborhood who loses a key member.  Those are familiar stories and painful stories.  But the Bible wants us to know that there is another side to the story.  While death is an enemy, it is not an enemy that gets the final word.  It seems that God is always sending people on his behalf to show the world that there is a force alive that is more powerful than death.  The ability to raise people from the dead seems to be one of those signs that the Bible uses to point out true and faithful men of God: Elijah, Elisha, Jesus, Peter, Paul. 

But what happens when the man of God dies?  What happens when the one who raises the dead is overtaken by death itself?  Who will raise him from the dead?  It seems to be the questions the disciples have been defeated by on that first Easter morning.  They fully expected to find Jesus there.  The women showed up early.  They brought the spices that they had prepared.  They would continue to care for Jesus even if know one else would.  They knew that much.  What they didn’t know was where Jesus had done.  When they showed up the stone had been rolled away and Jesus’ body was gone.  They were perplexed. 

Then, all of a sudden, they were consumed by a dazzling white light.  Two men stood beside them.  Confused, the women threw themselves on the ground and bowed their faces to the ground.  The two men question them about Jesus but never say his name, as if this was so easy to understand and expect.  “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen.  Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”  Those words did sound awfully familiar.  In fact, Jesus had said them many times.  They had to go remind the disciples as well.  If the women remembered those words, the men must have too. 

But, to the men, this story of the women, seemed like an idle tale.  Something made up.  Something that you only read about in books.  Those men should have remembered their books of the Bible, remembered Elijah and Elisha, remembered that there have been times when death does not get the last word.  But they didn’t remember.  They did not believe the story the women told them, except for Peter.  Peter got up and ran to the tomb.  He was afraid to go in, it seems.  He stooped down and just peeked in.  He saw the linens on the ground by themselves and that was enough.  He didn’t go away leaping with joy as some might expect.  He went away filled with wonder.  It wasn’t so much, “He is risen indeed!”  It was more like, “He is risen, hmmm?” 

That would be enough for Jesus, though.  In fact, Jesus would come and show himself to all of his disciples and more to show them that what seemed too good to be true, actually was true.  God has shown his right hand of victory.  God has, once again, shown his power over death.  This time in a way not seen ever before.  God was doing a new thing here.  This was a whole new ball game they were playing.  They had the chance to start all over again and do something completely new.  Life, itself, was new.  This was a day the Lord had made.  They would rejoice and be glad in it. 

It’s something I’m sure that was also part of the stories from the beginning of this sermon.  The woman who gets her son back from the dead.  The family who gets their center back.  The neighborhood who gets their grandmother back.  All of them would experience life in a new and special way.  We know what that is like.  Whenever we get something new and unexpected, or find something we had lost, there is a deeper care for it, there is a more intentional time, there is this overwhelming desire to tell the story.  Life seems to have begun again and it seems so much better again.  Everything seems new and fresh. 

Imagine what it was like for the shunammite woman to get her son back, what it would have been like for her to see him for the first time.  Imagine how much more deeply she would have cared for him, how much more grateful she would have been to hug him and kiss him goodnight, how much more significant small gestures became.  Imagine what it was like for Mary and Martha to get Lazarus back.  Family dinners would have been new again.  They would have been more important again.  All of the family would have been more intentional about spending meals and days together because they had rediscovered how important they were to one another.  Imagine what it was like for the town to get Tabitha back.  You have to believe it would have been the talk of the town for days, for weeks.  To have Tabitha back from the grave would have been a story that brought laughter and joy to many a neighborhood conversation for years to come.   

It’s a rare occasion that we get the chance to experience life as new, to get a fresh start, to experience a new day in which we can rejoice.  There are plenty of days when we wish we could have one.  The things is this is precisely what was promised to us in our baptism.  We heard this morning how Paul wrote that in our baptism we have died.  We have died with Christ, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life,.  Like Lazarus, through our baptism, we have been given a new lease on life, we are starting a new ball game with no deficit.  Because life is new, we can walk in that life in a new way.  So that we too might value life with a deeper care.  So that we too might be more intentional with how we spend our time.  So that we too might begin to tell the story about how we find this newness of life. 

What makes all the difference for those of us gathered here is that we have this promise hanging out there.  That is, if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  The promise is that if we have died with Christ through our baptisms and by the Holy Spirit, we will also live with him for all eternity.  This promise is so powerful that it seems to make our whole life new.  This promise of a difference future is so filled with hope that is changes the way we live in the present.  This promise helps us to experience our lives in a new way, as a fresh start, as a new day in which we can rejoice.  Our sins are forgiven.  We are God’s people.  It is no longer death that waits for us at the end of our lives, but more life. 

Realizing the hope of the resurrection to eternal life this morning, what would it be like for you to walk in newness of life?  What would it be like for you to care more deeply about your life and the life of others?  What would it be like for you to be more intentional about the way you spend your time with others?  What would it be like for you to begin telling others the story about how God made your life new again in Jesus Christ?  What would it be like for you to wake every morning knowing that God has this same experience too? 

We can imagine how deeply Sharon would cherish her son.  We can imagine how much Larz’s family would want to be with him after his resurrection.  We can imagine how much joy there would be in the neighborhood at Tabitha’s return. But will you allow yourself to imagine what it is like for God to have you back.  If, through our baptism, we have died and been raised, then it is as if God has you back from the dead.  Imagine who deeply God cherishes your life.  Imagine how much God longs to be with you.  Imagine how much joy there is in heaven and in God’s heart at your return into the family of God.  We rejoice in the new day that God has made, and God rejoices in it too.  We look forward to an eternal life with God, and God looks forward to it too.  We celebrate the new life we have found in Jesus Christ, and God celebrates it too. 

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!  The Lord is on your side to help you.  The Lord is our strength and our might; God has become our salvation.  We shall not die, but we shall live because we have been joined with Christ.  This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.  This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  O give thanks to the Lord, for his is goo, for his steadfast love endures forever!  Amen.