「感謝をもって、大いに喜び、大いに祝え」 イースター礼拝 宣教 2025年4月20日
マタイによる福音書 Matthew 28章1〜10節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. Happy day on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am grateful to be celebrating Easter with you this year. This morning, under the theme “Be Thankful, Rejoice greatly, Celebrate greatly,” I wish to share with you why Easter is an event to be thankful for, why it is an event to rejoice greatly, and why it is a celebration to celebrate greatly.
However, some of you may be skeptical about Easter. Some of you may honestly feel that the resurrection of the dead is impossible and unbelievable. Some of you may have the belief that you only live once, so you will live out your life the way you want to without any regrets. There may be those who believe that unless there is scientific proof, they will not believe. However, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not something that can be proven by experimentation. You need to listen carefully with your own ears to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, which the disciples, who were indeed reunited with the resurrected Jesus, have been preaching for more than 2,000 years with their lives, and if you don’t understand it the first time, listen to it again and again, and finally believe it with your own heart.
As a call to worship this morning, we read 1 Corinthians 15:17 and verses 20-22. 2000 years ago in the Christian church, there were those who heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news, and believed in Jesus as their Savior, and there were those who doubted the resurrection of Jesus, saying that there was no such thing as the resurrection of the dead. To such people, the apostle Paul, a disciple of Jesus, says in verse 17, “If Christ has not risen, then your faith is futile, and you are still in your sins”. Without Jesus’ resurrection, it would be absurd for us to be worshipping as we are this morning. To be “in sin” is to live in anxiety, fear, and anguish.
But Paul’s argument does not end there, for in verses 20-22 he writes, “But in fact Christ rose from the dead and became the firstfruits of those who had fallen asleep. Since death came by one man, the resurrection of the dead will also come by one man. In other words, just as Adam caused all men to die, so Christ will cause all men to be made alive”. The word “firstborn” simply means “first”. According to the Bible, the first human being to sin was Adam. The second was Eve. Whom did they sin against? It was God who created them. Their sin made them mortal, but God did not do so in wrath.
When God gave life to Adam and Eve and made them to live, He created them to live forever in His love. But instead of obeying God’s Word, they put their own thoughts and desires first. By their own will, which was the free will God gave them, they chose on their own to disobey God’s word. It is not God’s responsibility. Through the “sin” of disobedience to God’s Word, people became people who live a life of hardship, separated from God and from God’s love. However, God did not create us to struggle through life, to suffer, to be exhausted, and ultimately to “die”.
To resolve this division between God and us, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to the world, who bore all our sins and died on the cross to pay the price for our sins against God. We may doubt that a single person can bear all our sins, but there is nothing that God cannot do. God not only forgave our sins through Jesus, but also raised Him from the dead and made Him the firstborn of the resurrected in order to connect us to God forever.
To those who believe in Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, as their Savior and listen to and obey His words, God will give eternal life and eternal blessings. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world [us] that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. Jesus died on the cross and rose again on the third day in order to reconnect us to God and make us alive.
Now, the Bible encourages us to rejoice and celebrate Jesus’ resurrection with thanksgiving, and I would like to show you why from Matthew 28. And the two Marys went to see the tomb. The two Marys were female disciples who had always respected and followed Jesus. Their hearts were bound tightly to Jesus, but Jesus died on the cross. They must have been deeply mourning and at a loss. It was in this context that they “went to see the tomb” where Jesus was buried, in other words, they went to visit his grave.
In the other Gospels, it is stated that they went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ corpse with perfume, but in Matthew’s Gospel, it is only stated that they “went to see the tomb”. It seems that the women felt pity for Jesus, who had died an unreasonable death, and wanted to “at least do something for him,” but it seems that the reason they came to Jesus’ tomb was actually for themselves. It seems that they went to Jesus’ tomb to cry as much as they could, to ease their sorrows and to fill the hole in their hearts, even if only a little.
But they experience something amazing at the tomb where Jesus’ body was buried: verses 2-6, “And there was a great earthquake. An angel of the Lord descended from heaven, approached, rolled a stone aside, and sat on it. His appearance shone like lightning, and his robe was white as snow. The guards trembled with fear and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid. You are looking for Jesus who was crucified, but he is not here. He is risen, just as He said He would be. Now look where the body has been placed. The same is true for the body of Jesus Christ”.
Mary and the others must have been astonished to the point of sitting up at the sight of the angel shining like a bolt of lightning. They had come to the tomb to see the dead Jesus, and one startling event after another occurred. The guards, who were guarding the tomb to prevent the disciples from taking Jesus’ remains, are startled by the appearance of the angel and seem to faint from fear.
The angel tells Mary and the others, who are feeling fearful and anxious, that they have nothing to fear, but they would have thought that it would be strange if they were not afraid. However, the angel told them in astonishment, “The Jesus you are looking for is no longer here. He is risen, as you have been told”. The unthinkable is happening right before their eyes, as they had watched the whole process of Jesus’ crucifixion, his spectacular death, and the burial of his body in the tomb. But the angel tells them that this is what Jesus had foretold many times before, and invites them to remember his words and see for themselves that they have now come true.
The angel tells Mary and the disciples in verse 7: “Go quickly and tell the disciples this. Go quickly and tell the disciples, ‘He has been resurrected from the dead. He is risen from the dead, and will go before you into Galilee. And he will go before you into Galilee. There you will see him”. To Mary and the other disciples who had come to see the dead Jesus, the angel gave them the task of telling the other disciples that he had risen. This became their new reason for living, their purpose in life, and their joy.
Verse 8 says, “The women, though afraid, rejoiced greatly and hurried away from the tomb and ran to inform the disciples.” They must have been half happy and half perplexed. However, the hearts of these women are given the desire to tell them about this and to let them know as soon as possible. When we believe and obey the words of Jesus Christ, God gives us the power to live.
Verse 9 says, “Then Jesus stood as He was going and said, ‘Good morning,’ and the women approached, embraced His feet, and bowed down before Him.” The first words uttered by the risen Jesus to Mary and the other women were “Good morning. This word “good morning” is the Greek word “chirete”, which can be translated not only as a greeting but also in two other ways. One is “Rejoice,” and the other is “Be at peace”.
What God wants us to do through Jesus is not to be sad, pained, afflicted, or troubled, but to live in peace, thanksgiving, and joy. One day our life on earth will come to an end, but by believing in the resurrected Jesus, we can be freed from the fear of death and live in joy, gratitude, and peace, with the hope that we will be given eternal life. This is God’s desire for us. Therefore, the next words of the resurrected Jesus are, “Do not be afraid”.
Has anyone recently told you that you don’t need to worry? We have many things to worry about: our future life, our future, our health, our money, our children’s growth and future. But the resurrected Jesus invites us, “I will be with you all the days of your life, protecting you, supporting you, and giving you what you need, so believe in me and follow me”.
Two things are important for us. One is to approach Jesus who says, “Rejoice and do not be afraid,” to embrace His feet and bow down before Him, in other words, to believe in Him and offer worship. The second is to “go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee.” The second is to tell people that Jesus has risen and to turn their hearts to Him, as it says, “Go, tell my brethren to go to Galilee”. Sharing God’s love with others with excitement is the joy and strength that fills the gaping hole in the hearts of our hearts.
Jesus was resurrected to walk with each of us to fill the holes in our hearts with joy, peace, and hope, and to give us a new purpose in life. God resurrected Jesus. Therefore, Easter is a day of celebration, of thanksgiving, of great joy, and of great celebration. As the Bible says, Jesus Christ, our Savior, was certainly resurrected. Let us celebrate Easter with thanksgiving and joy together. Happy Easter!