Text: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Luke 24:1-12
Pastor Jean M. Hansen
This is the Day that the Lord has Done It, Let Us Rejoice and be Glad in It!
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” We read that, and other verses from Psalm 118 every Easter because that Psalm is assigned for every year, while the other readings rotate. Why every year?
I guess it’s because the events of the passion and resurrection of Jesus seem to be captured in the Psalm. For example, look at verses 17-18 and 22-23, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord indeed punished me sorely, but did not hand me over to death,” and “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. By the Lord has this been done; it is marvelous in our eyes.” The psalm also may be seen as a prayer of thanksgiving, expressing joy and gratitude for what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
That’s the view of the Psalm from a Christian perspective. For our Jewish friends, one time the Psalm is sung is during Passover, to remember the suffering of the people of Israel while they were slaves in Egypt and to give thanks for liberation from bondage by God. Both traditions celebrate the redemptive power of God using Psalm 118.
In fact, because it was used at Passover, it may be that Psalm 118 was the hymn that Jesus and his followers sang before going to the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was betrayed and arrested. For Jesus, was the Psalm an expression of faith that in spite of the turmoil and suffering that was about to endure, the Lord is good and God’s mercy endures forever?
Chaplain David Keck was seeking just such an expression of faith when his Methodist minister mother was dying of Alzheimer’s Disease. He writes that on that Easter she wore a hospital gown rather than the white alb she had put on for many Easter Day worship services. When the family gathered for a final vigil, no one knew quite what to do, so they decided to read Psalms.
“I remember wondering which psalms we should read,” says Chaplain Keck. Psalm 118 might have been a terrific choice. It celebrates God’s victory over death, calling us all to celebrate the steadfast love of the Lord and to rejoice in the day the Lord has made.” (1)
It turns out that they decided to read through all the psalms, and to trust that the Spirit would be at work as needed. I wonder, was that that day, for that family, a day that the Lord had made, a day to rejoice and be glad?
This all comes to mind because when my beloved friend Anne was in hospice care in March, there was a hand-written sign in her room that proclaimed, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” She pointed it out several times when the mood was becoming too somber.
I do not know how the sign ended up there, but I do know Psalm 118:24 was a favorite verse of hers and that later it was read at her Memorial Service. At the time, though, as I sat with Anne, whose death was that odd combination of unexpected, but certain, I wondered about that message. It occurred to me that every day is one that the Lord has made and for that reason alone we should rejoice and be glad in it. Although, I was not finding that easy to do as I said good-bye to my “chosen sister.”
The amazing thing is, though, that she could rejoice and be glad, and she did so even then. That’s because she was confident in the decision she had made to enter hospice care, because of her friends and family whose love surrounded her and whom she trusted to “carry-on” without her and because of her faith in the promise of a life that extends beyond this one. Psalm 118, verse 24, was her guide and her goal.
Even so … here’s an interesting detail for us to consider; an alternate translation for that verse is this, “This is the day that the Lord has done it; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (2) No doubt that grates on the ear a bit since the other version is so familiar. But what if we looked at it this way: “the day” is the one we read about in the Gospel of Luke this morning, the one we are here to remember and celebrate.
It’s the day Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and other women who followed Jesus went to the tomb to prepare his body for burial. It’s the day they discovered that the stone was rolled away and Jesus’ body was missing. It’s the day they were greeted by two heavenly beings in dazzling clothes who asked them what I have always considered a question with an obvious answer. “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” Then came the astounding Easter proclamation, “He is not here, but has risen!”
Jesus is alive! This is the day the Lord has done it! Jesus has defeated the last enemy of humanity – death! And even though the male disciples did not believe these first preachers of the good news, thinking they were excitedly sharing an “idle tale”, they eventually got on board and, along with the women, became resurrection people.
That’s who we are too, which means that resurrection – new life, hope – is possible even in the most difficult of days. Author Richard Rohr reminds his readers that the Christ in each of us is the risen Christ. (3) Listen to how the Rev. Eileen Weglarz describes that reality, “The Christ within us knows death and dying, and just as importantly promises us resurrection out of every situation. We may even see difficulties with new eyes. We can be like the women bringing spices and myrrh to the empty tomb, trying to understand what could possibly come out of such an awful situation. We grieve, we wait, trying to stay aware of our next step, trying to do the right thing, and being open to the resurrection that we have been promised will happen. God can, and delights to, bring resurrection and redemption to every situation of our lives. Sometimes it’s not what we expect and so we miss it.” (4)
But we do not always miss it; sometimes it reveals itself in obvious ways, perhaps in a handmade sign in a room where death draws near. And so we remember that, as St. Augustine wrote, “We are an Easter people, and Alleluia is our cry.” Or perhaps we should adopt this proclamation, “This the day that the Lord has done it, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” AMEN
(1) “In the Lectionary” by David Keck, April 16, 2014, The Christian Century
(2) “Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Commentary” by Stan Mast, March 27, 2016, www.cepreaching.org
(3) “Sermon: Easter Day Year C”, April 21, 2019, by the Rev. Eileen Weglarz
(4) Same as #3