2000 and Counting

For the first time since 1971, I have no pulpit from which to preach the Resurrection message on Easter Sunday.  For the past 44 years I have had the privilege of preaching on this great Sunday. It is not likely at this late date that I will somehow make 45.  No one has invited me to preach this morning.  And, no one should.  Any preacher who has a pulpit from which to preach on Easter and chooses not to use it for preaching should be "un-ordained."  So, today for the first time in a long time, I will be in the pew and not in the pulpit.

 

As I thought about all this, I sought some perspective.  Roughly speaking it has been 2000 years since the Resurrection of Jesus.  If my math is correct, and my high school math teachers would assure you it could be wrong, there have been 104,000 Sundays and 2000 Easters since that day Jesus came forth from the grave.  Give or take a few.  There is nothing scientifically accurate about these calculations.  So, before I started preaching my Easter Sunday sermons, over 2000 Easter Sundays had passed.  I have preached on only 44 of those 2000 Sundays so Easter has surely not been dependent on me for preservation.  Who knows how many Easter Sundays are still to come?  Regardless of how you compute, my 44 is not even a drop in the bucket.

 

So, as I deal with my disappointment about not preaching today and seek some perspective, it seems rather obvious that Easter is not all about me.  It is going to be celebrated even if I am not preaching.  It always has and it always will.  Easter is not about me, not about you, but about Jesus being raised from the dead to assure us all that because He lives, we, too shall live.  Easter is about declaring victory over everything, including death.  While I would choose to preach any Sunday over sitting in the pew, I will be thankful this morning to be one of those resurrection people caught up in the joy of the greatest moment of celebration on earth.