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Welcome to the Lightly Salted Podcast.
These are the readings and sermons of St. John's Lutheran Church of Park Rapids, Minnesota.
They are offered so that the Word of God would shape and strengthen you to be what He calls you to be, salt and light.
You can find us at stjohnspr.org.
Now, on to the Word.
Our first reading for Easter Day, the resurrection of our Lord, from the tenth chapter of Acts, beginning at the 34th verse.
Peter opened his mouth and said,
Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him.
As for the Word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ, He is Lord of all.
You yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed.
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.
He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
And we are witnesses of all that He did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem.
They put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree.
But God raised Him on the third day and made Him to appear not to all the people, but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses,
who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.
And He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead.
To Him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The epistle is from the third chapter of St. Paul's letter to the Colossians, beginning with verse 1.
f then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The Holy Gospel, according to St. Matthew, the 28th chapter.
Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.
His appearance was like lightning, in His clothing, white as snow.
And for fear of Him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
He is not here, for He has risen as He said.
Come, see the place where He lay, then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead.
And behold, He is going before you to Galilee, there you will see Him.
See, I have told you.
So that He parted quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples.
And behold, Jesus met them and said, greetings, and they came up and took hold of His feet and worshiped Him.
Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid, go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me.
This is the gospel of our Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Christ has risen. He has risen indeed. Hallelujah.
Please be seated.
Fear.
t's one of the more powerful emotions that we have.
t can be caused by a whole bunch of things.
For example, the soldiers fell down in fear, terrified of these angelic beings who obviously wielded much more power than they did.
Fear, it can be instinctive.
t's meant to help us recognize a dangerous situation and escape or do something about it.
Fear can also be a learned response.
We live with fears, great and small, rational and irrational.
Sometimes the fear steals us for action, and other times it freezes us in our tracks.
A lot of fear has to do with the unknown.
Will I have even enough money to pay the bills this month?
A downturn in the economy, what does that mean for my job?
What will the doctor find with this test?
Will I be accepted into the college I want? The program I desire.
Can our relationship survive this crisis?
Some of our fears are deep and personal.
Maybe you fear most being humiliated in front of others.
Maybe you fear simply being insignificant or alone.
Maybe you fear being rejected by somebody you hold in high esteem.
Maybe you simply fear failure.
Perhaps you live in fear of losing someone or something.
A fear of suffering pain.
And very common, a fear of dying.
There are a number of ways that we can deal with our fears.
There's the ignorance's bliss approach.
And it does work in some ways until reality simply slaps you in the face.
There is the suck it up soldier muster your courage, conquer your fears,
and do what you have to do approach.
And by the way, that approach helps a lot of people in a lot of situations.
Sometimes, that's what we need to hear.
But there is another way, and it's the way that we're celebrating today.
t's the way of not simply ignoring our fears or simply mustering the courage
to overcome our fears which doesn't always work, does it?
Rather, it's the way of faith to know, to trust,
and to rejoice that we have a God and Savior who has dealt with everything
that causes us to fear.
He has come and He has conquered everything that stands against us.
He has come.
He has faced our enemies and defeated them.
And He comes this morning, triumphant from the grave, triumphant over death,
triumphant over our sins, and triumphant over the devil.
And thus, victoriously, He has a very simple message for us.
A message spoken first by the angel and then by Jesus Himself.
The Easter message of what it's all about.
Do not be afraid.
One of the root causes of our fears is so often times they spring up
because we are not in control of a situation.
Fear springs up when we can't prevent some of the things that would happen to us
that we rather would not have happen.
There are some things that are far too big for us, overwhelming,
and therefore frightening because they're outside of our control.
They leave us wondering what the future will hold.
Now, I'm sure of how everything's going to turn out.
But the good news of Easter is that even though we are not in control, Jesus is.
Even though there are many things that go way beyond our control,
nothing is beyond His control.
As a man, as our Savior, He knows our fears.
He faced them too.
Money troubles?
Jesus had them.
He would warn a person who wanted to follow Jesus.
He'd warn them, the foxes have holes and the birds nests,
but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.
Fear of humiliation?
Jesus was stripped of all of His honor and dignity.
Fear of pain?
He endured that as well, especially at the hands of the brutal Roman soldiers
who whipped Him and crucified Him.
He knows sin.
He knows temptations.
He's wrestled with them too.
And the fact of the matter is that Jesus knows these things far more
than you and I actually will ever know them.
Because Jesus bore the full, all-out assault of Satan against Him,
sometimes in direct confrontation, but most often in subtle lies.
The weight of all the horrors of the world's sin, it was laid on His shoulder.
The fear of being left alone, the fear of being rejected by someone important,
well, He was on the cross, completely forsaken in some mystery
by God the Father and Spirit, left there utterly alone as the sinner
bearing our sin with no one to help.
And then, like us, Jesus faced and Jesus entered into death
relying solely on faith.
The Father who we cried out, why have you forsaken me?
He then also cries out, Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.
Jesus has faced the worst of it far more than what you and I may face.
And today, He is alive.
He could not be defeated, but instead defeated everything that came against Him.
The full fury of sin and death and the devil, and He won.
And so when He says to us today, do not be afraid, those are not mere words,
but they have words that have the power to do what they say,
words that are filled with the power of the resurrection,
words that are filled with forgiveness, words that are filled with victory,
words that give us hope.
We have a Savior who loves us, who laid down His life for us,
a Savior who has risen for us and who is ruling all things for the good of His people.
We have a Savior who has the authority to say, do not be afraid and mean it.
But it doesn't always seem that way, does it?
There's still a part of us that wonders and frankly, even doubts.
And the world around us is more than willing to whisper into our ears questions that really bug our soul.
So if God promised you daily bread, why do you still have money problems?
f Jesus loves you so much, why are you dealing with three kinds of cancer?
f Jesus is so powerful, why do you still struggle with that addiction, with that sin?
f Jesus is your rock, how could you have let down so many people?
f your Christ is risen, why do you feel so alone?
And it seems that way, doesn't it, sometimes, like God's not in control?
And it's easy for us to be afraid, to get confused.
And things don't seem so clear as when we're proclaiming the resurrection of Christ.
t happens to all of us.
Just ask the ladies who were at that tomb, Easter morning, covered in fear and doubt,
or the disciples that we find are still locked away in an upper room in the evening.
And so the words of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians are good for us to hear as well.
To help us understand, to see things the way they really are.
The Holy Spirit moved Paul to write,
f then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on earthly things, for you have died.
And your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Your life is hidden with Christ in God.
We are always tempted to live life only by what we can see, or what we can feel, or what we can experience.
The world around us constantly wants proof, immediate results in order to accept something as true.
But our life is hidden in Christ.
The proof of the Christian truth lies in the death and resurrection of Jesus 2,000 years ago.
its conclusion must wait until Christ appears again when we will appear with Him in glory.
For now, what we see and feel and experience, it is only part of a greater reality.
Paul would write to the Romans, these wonderful words of comfort.
Our present sufferings, whatever they may be, they are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us.
Our lives are lived in this greater reality that if God did not spare His only Son, but gave Him up for us all,
how will He not along with Him also give us all good things?
Our lives are lived in this greater reality that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
That neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers,
neither height nor depth nor anything else in all of creation.
Nothing else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the confidence that we have because of today, because of Easter day.
So no matter what you are facing in your life, challenges, fears, doubts, uncertainties, Jesus says, do not be afraid.
And He has the authority to do so.
For your Savior has triumphed. He is here, triumphing for you still.
And yes, He is hidden right now, hidden in the Word that is preached and the Word that is simply read and proclaimed and shared responsibly.
Christ is here right now, hidden, hidden in the waters of holy baptism where He united you to His death and resurrection and promises you,
will never leave you or forsake you.
Christ is here now, bringing to us courage and hope.
He's hidden with the bread and the wine of Holy Communion, delivering to us the victory of His resurrection right into our bodies.
Christ is here now, hidden under His means to forgive you, to strengthen your faith, to provide what you really need in life and saying to you, do not be afraid.
And as we leave this place and as we go back out into the world, as we go back and face situations, some filled with joy, others we dread,
we go out hidden in Christ and Christ in us.
He is sending us into this world, hidden in us so that we might bring to the world, that we might bring to a whole variety of situations that we find ourselves.
Christ Himself to bring Him to others as well.
In our joys, we bring even greater joy with the resurrected Jesus.
In our struggles, we are confident that He continues to remain with us, guiding us, directing us through His Word.
In conflict, He is hidden with us in that conflict that we might bring peace, forgiveness, love, resolution.
Our lives are hidden in Christ, and as we go out from here, Christ hidden in us is being brought into the world.
So what is it you're facing in life?
Seem too big to handle?
Maybe too great to forgive?
Maybe a situation seems too strong or overwhelming?
Too whatever?
Here again, what the angels said to the women, do not be afraid.
For I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified, He is not here, He has risen just as He said.
Easter means that we have a Savior risen from the dead, a Savior who is victorious, a Savior who ultimately is in control, and a Savior who has won and delivers to us consistently a victory.
So do not be afraid.
For Christ has risen.
Alleluia.
Thanks for listening to Lightly Salted.
We'd love to hear from you.
You can contact us at StJohn's PR.org or look for us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Our thanks to Eric Mediasch at soundimage.org for morning due.