This is part of the worship series,
"Via Doloroso—The Way of Sorrows”
Series Introduction
Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5
Palm Sunday | Easter
Easter Sunday
The End of the Via Dolorosa: Why Are You Crying?
Scripture
Text: John 20:15
Auxiliary Scripture: A litany of Mark 16:1–5, “Low in the Grave He Lay,” and Matthew 28:7–10, helped us move experientially from the doubt and confusion of early Easter to the celebration of later that day, and today.
Sermon
This sermon tried to show how the resurrection of Jesus brought Mary, and all like her, to the end of their personal Via Dolorosa. The risen Christ asks all of us the same question the angels asked her, “Why are you crying?”
We spent some time reflecting on her grief, which is really the heart of the world’s grief—“They have taken my Lord away, and I don’t know where they have put him.” The absence of God in a world of pain fills millions with deep sorrow. On Easter, Christ comes into such a world with this penetrating question: “Why are you crying?”
Like Mary, however, the world doesn’t recognize Jesus. We asked why Mary didn’t know her Master and concluded that the bottom- line reason was that she hadn’t expected to see him there. So it is with a grief-stricken world. Jesus is there behind us all the time, but we keep staring into the empty tomb, at the losses and disappointments of life. And even when we do see him, we don’t recognize him.
We never will until we respond to his personal call (“Mary!”) and turn toward him as she did. Only then can we turn toward others and say, “I have seen the Lord.” And only then will our Via Dolorosa come to an end.
We closed the sermon and the series with an invitation to leave the Via Dolorosa and enter the Via Gaudeam, the way of joy, because, by faith, we have seen the Lord.
Congregational Prayer
This prayer of praise and thanksgiving was a celebration of the victory of Christ, which transforms human life from a trail of tears in the darkness to a journey through the dappled territories of human existence into the unbroken sunshine of heaven.
Children’s Sermon
We used an empty plastic egg (an old L’Eggs pantyhose container) to illustrate the empty tomb. “What do you think is in this egg?” “Nothing!” Just like Jesus’ grave. “He is not here, he is risen.” So we can rejoice.
Music Suggestions
Gathering
“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” Wesley
Anthem: “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today” arr. C. J. Favreau
Anthem: “This Is the Day” Jacobus Gallus (Concordia)
“The Strife Is O’er” Symphonia Sirenum, Colonge, 1695
Word
“Give Thanks to God” (Psalm 118) Wiersma
Response
Anthem: “Alleluia! Christ Is Risen” W. Mathias (Oxford)
“Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain” John of Damascus, 8th cent.
“I Serve a Risen Savior” Ackely
Revised Common Lectionary
Years A, B, C: Easter—Resurrection of the Lord
