Joy on the Mountain! Isaiah 25:6–9

 

Grace, mercy, and peace be with you, from God our Father, and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

 

Before I start, I would just like to say, He is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)

 

Today we rejoice on a Mountain of Glory; and as we rejoice, we see who the fool really is, and where the joy really is.

 

In our Old Testament reading, Isaiah compares heavenly life to a great feast on a glorious mountain: “On this mountain the Lord will prepare a great feast… On that day they will say… This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

 

It often seems like the best things in life are the things we wait for.

 

It takes nine months of waiting, but the experience of seeing your new born baby for the first time is amazing beyond words! You’re just overwhelmed by the love you feel for that beautiful little thing you’re holding in your arms, that miracle of life. It was well worth the wait, to say the least!

 

There are many seasons of waiting that we have to go through in this journey of life. In fact, in a way, life itself is one big season of waiting.  

 

When it’s the Lord you’re waiting for, His glorious Appearance on the Last Day, then it’s a wait worthwhile, and a life worthwhile. As Scripture says, no one who waits for the Lord will be put to shame, or made a fool of.

 

In the Church Year, we have this season of waiting called Lent. But it’s a wait worthwhile, because Easter comes, and once again we sing our Alleluias and shout our praise.

 

Looking back on Lent this year, we remember that it started on Valentine’s Day. So here we are, celebrating the joy of Easter on April Fool’s Day.

 

While Easter and April Fool’s Day are pretty much polar opposites, there is a comparison that we can make to help us better appreciate the Easter Gospel.

 

No one likes to be made a fool of. To be the butt of someone’s joke can leave us feeling disrespected and taken advantage of.

 

Now a little April Fool’s Day humor is okay, if done in the right spirit, and in moderation.

 

Jesus’ enemies went to the extreme in making a fool of him. They even insisted that He be crucified, which was considered the most humiliating way for a person to die.

 

They did that to try to destroy His reputation so that no one would believe in Him after He was gone.

 

They obviously failed. They failed miserably, because here we are today, along with countless followers of Christ all around the world, singing for joy, proudly proclaiming His resurrection; shouting just as loud as we want: He is risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)

 

But hanging there on the cross, Jesus looked a failed fool. Finally, his suffering came to an end: He bowed His head and died.

 

Some who saw it must have thought, “What a fool to think he could buck the system and win.”

 

But at that very moment, His soul was rejoicing in Heaven. As He promised the thief beside him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

 

Imagine that moment, when Jesus’ soul entered Paradise. Imagine the celebration. Saints and angels, singing and shouting and jumping and dancing; beside themselves with joy, “He did it! He defeated the devil; He saved the world!”.

 

As His soul rejoiced on High, Jesus’ body waited in the tomb below. Then came the third day; His soul rejoined His body, and Jesus rose to life.

God’s wisdom in saving the world was revealed. Now we can see what God was doing all along, and it was brilliant! Jesus beat the devil at His own game; He used death to defeat death.

 

Jesus died indeed; He rose indeed; He lives indeed; and He will raise us indeed.

 

Paul makes the resurrection of our Lord clear and certain to us in our Epistle today. He reminds us that Jesus rose on the third day and appeared to Peter, and then to the disciples, and to 500 of the brothers, and to his earthly brother, James, and to the apostles, and later on, even to Paul, himself.

 

That’s over 500 credible witnesses of Christ’s resurrection; far more than would be needed to verify something in a court of law.

 

In our Gospel this morning, we heard the story of the women at the tomb. Early in the morning they went to anoint Jesus’ body. On the way they got to thinking, “How are we going to move that massive stone and get inside.”.

 

When they got there, to their surprise the stone was already rolled away, and a young man in white, an angel, was sitting on it. He was waiting for them with instructions from Jesus: “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; He’s not here; He has risen. Tell the disciples to go to Galilee; you’ll see him there. ”

 

So if Jesus wasn’t there at the tomb, where was he? Let me answer that with a story.

 

A certain pastor I know was doing a children’s message one Easter morning. And you know how young children can hear things differently than adults do? Well, he asked the children, “When the women got to the tomb, and saw the angel, what did he tell them? ‘He is not here, he is…”, and one little girl chimed up and said, “in prison!”.

 

Actually, that may have been the case, or not far off. Because the first thing Jesus did after he rose was to descend into the prison of Hell; not to suffer, but to show himself alive; to show the devil that he had failed to stop him from saving the world; and to show the world who the fool really is.

 

The devil was a fool to think that He could match wits with Jesus. He never had a chance.

 

Jesus is unmatched in power, in wisdom, in strategy, in mercy, and in all His divine attributes, his amazing qualities.

 

And he’s unmatched in the gifts He gives. In Biblical times, kings were very wealthy, and give extraordinary gifts. No king back then, no billionaire today, can give the kind of gifts Jesus can give.

 

No one can forgive like he can forgive; His forgiveness gives eternal life.

 

No one can love so unconditionally, as he so loves the world.

 

No one can bring joy into life like He can, and no one can give life like He can; abundant, glorious, eternal, resurrected life.

 

How foolish we would be to turn it down; how happy we are to have it; what a joy to know and believe the Easter Gospel; and what an honor to follow Christ.

 

Some may think that we’re fools for following Him and trying to be like Him; but we know he’ll never let us down; not now, and not on that great and glorious day, when He will raise us from our graves, and bring us to the mountain of joy called Heaven. On that day we’ll say: “This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

 

Until that magnificent day, when we praise God on mountain of glory we call Heaven, we’re happy to serve Him here, in the valley called earth.

 

We rejoice to be loved here by our Lord, and to love one another here! We rejoice to live in His grace here, and share His mercy here! We rejoice to proclaim the Gospel here, and to shout: He is risen! (He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!)

 

May the joy of our risen Lord be yours forever, and may the peace of God, that passes understanding, guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, our unmatched, victorious, wise and glorious, risen Lord. Amen.