Indiana District President Stuckwisch article about the Easter Vigil Proclamation of the Resurrection

 

Easter Vigil Proclamation of the Resurrection

I had the special privilege of spending the final few days of Holy Week and the first few days of Easter with my own congregation, Emmaus in South Bend, preaching, presiding, and assisting with Services from Maundy Thursday through Easter Monday. It was a joy and a delight to share in those sacred days with so many people I have known and loved for so many years, including a number of my own children and grandchildren.

One of the Services for which I had the opportunity to preach was the Easter Vigil, which has long been one of my favorite occasions of the Church Year. I was first introduced to the Vigil and fell in love with it while doing my field work with Pr. Peter Ledic at Immanuel, Decatur, in the early 1990s. And I was subsequently able to introduce the Vigil to Emmaus, South Bend, in the spring of 1998. So, it’s become a dear old friend over these past thirty-six years.

As many other pastors have done, for the first couple years of observing the Easter Vigil at Emmaus I used the Easter Proclamation of St. John Chrysostom as the homily for the Service. The LCMS Commission on Worship had shared that beautiful brief sermon in its newsletter, and I was pleased to put it to good use as it serves the purpose well. But since it was my goal to keep the Vigil every year, I thought it good to look for other homilies that would also fit the occasion. To that end, I redacted an Easter sermon by St. Gregory of Nazianzus in 2000, and for the next six years after that I alternated between St. John and St. Gregory. Much more recently, in 2018, after a colleague made me aware of the second-century Paschal Homily of St. Melito of Sardis, I took it in hand and crafted a shorter version for use at the Easter Vigil in a similar fashion.

Aside from these profound patristic homilies on the Paschal Feast, I did also write an Easter Vigil Proclamation of my own, back in 2007, which I have on occasion included in the rotation. It was my attempt to gather up the various accents of the Vigil into a relatively brief homiletical summary, declaring the glory of the Lord’s Resurrection and calling the people to rejoice in the glad tidings of His great Exodus through death and the grave into everlasting Life on our behalf. It was this Easter Vigil Proclamation of the Resurrection that I preached at Emmaus this year, and now in these early days of Eastertide I share it with you, as well, in the joy of our Lord:

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

It is the beginning of the New Creation, the dawning of the neverending Eighth Day, in which there is no longer any night, nor is there death anymore forever.

The Creator of the heavens and the earth, who caused the Light to shine out of darkness at His Word, has brought forth the true Light, Jesus Christ, out of the darkness of death and the grave, to shine upon you in grace, mercy, and Peace.

That true and living Word by whom all things are made — who for you and your salvation became Flesh, who bore your sins in His own Body on the Cross, shed His Blood, and suffered death on your behalf — He has risen from the dead. And now He makes of you a new creation in Himself by the Voice of His Gospel.

As by one man, Adam, all men died, so by this New Adam, Jesus Christ, all men are made alive. He is brought forth from the dust of the earth in righteousness, and He breathes the living and Life-giving Holy Spirit into your nostrils, into your dry bones, by and with His forgiveness of all your sins. Thus do you live!

The waters of the Flood have overwhelmed you and covered you, drowned and destroyed you. Yet, the Lord Himself has entered those same deadly waters along with you, and He has emerged and arisen victorious. Out of the water He comes, and you are with Him, anointed by His Spirit and blessed by His God and Father.

Thus do you pass through the waters on dry ground — out of Egypt, out of the bondage of sin and death, out from under Pharaoh’s bitter yoke — through the wilderness, and into the Promised Land of milk and honey with the Lord Jesus.

The waters that have drowned and destroyed you in Adam, and put the old Adam to death in you, have lifted you up in Christ Jesus, and Christ has risen in you, so that you are now kept dry and secure within the Holy Ark of Christendom.

Here there is the foretaste of the Feast to come. Here there is Christ, your Manna in the wilderness, the true and living Bread from heaven. From Him flow streams of living Water, even here and now, in the desert of this sinful, dying world.

He pours out His Spirit generously upon you. Therefore, you shall not die but live. For the Lamb has been given in your stead. His Blood covers and protects you from all evil. And He is your Meat and Drink indeed. Even in the fires of trial and temptation, He is yet your cooling shade. He shelters you round about. Whether for death or life, you are the Lord’s. You are hidden with Christ in God.

Let no fear or trembling seize you now, for sin, death, and hell cannot have you. The devil and his chariots and horsemen are defeated. They cannot harm you anymore, for they are all undone. And though you are up to your neck in trouble, know that Christ is with you even there, and that you shall rise and live with Him.

Gracious and merciful is the Lord forever. He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. His Word and Spirit have called you to repentance and to faith in His forgiveness of all your sins, and knit you together in the Body and Blood of Christ. Where He is, there you shall be also, body and soul, forever and ever.

He has died your death, and you are now raised up in His mighty Resurrection.

You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. It is meet and right that you do. But He is no longer in the tomb. He has risen. He lives and abides for you — in His own Flesh like yours, and with His precious Blood — within the Holy of Holies made without hands, eternal in the heavens, in the presence of the Father forever and forevermore. For He is your merciful and great High Priest, this one Lord Jesus Christ, who is with you always in the waters of your Baptism. He is in the Gospel of forgiveness, the Word of Absolution. And He is set before you at His Altar to eat and to drink. He is in your ears, and in your mouth, and in your heart, and in your body, unto the Resurrection and the Life everlasting!

For Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!