Enfolded between love and life – come and see! (Easter Sunday 2025)
Easter Sunday 2025 – “Enfolded between love and life – come and see!”
I want to start today by sharing with you one of my short reflections from Lent, the six-week period leading up to Easter, when we focused on seeking to draw near to God prior to the great celebration of Easter.
John 3:16 (NRSV) – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
John 3:16 has been termed as “the golden text of the Bible” or “the gospel in a nutshell”. The late Rachel Held Evans, an influential 30-something Christian columnist, blogger, and author, wisely noted that “Jesus did not simply die to save us from our sins; Jesus lived to save us from our sins. His life and teachings show us the way to liberation.” On the other end of the age spectrum, 90-something Christian writer, famer, academic, and activist Wendell Berry penned these words, “All my life I had heard preachers quoting John 3:16 … They would preach on the second part of the verse, to show the easiness of being saved (“only believe”). Where I hung now was the first part. If God loved the world even before the event at Bethlehem, that meant He loved it as it was, with all its faults.” God loves us as we are, with all our faults. Jesus lived to save us from our sins.
As I reflect on this very well-known Scripture, I am drawn to the verbs, the actions. God loved, God gave, everyone who believes, may not perish, may have eternal life. In some languages and cultures, the most important phrase in a sentence is placed in the first or second position. In others, the most important phrase is placed last in the sentence. John 3:16 is enfolded between love and life. May we aim to both remember and practice the most important things. We, too, are enfolded between love and life. God loves us as we are, with all our faults. Jesus lived to save us from our sins. May all that we are and all that we do contribute to a single-minded devotion to Christ as we continually choose love and choose life.
Let’s hold this beautiful reality in one hand that we are enfolded between love and life. In the other hand, let us consider the phrase “Come and see.” As I pondered Easter Sunday this year, the Holy Spirit brought “come and see” to mind, a phrase that occurs three times in Scripture. In each case, it is a special invitation to turn more fully toward God. It is a beckoning to devote our attention and our senses to God.
The first invitation is provided in Psalm 66:1-5, which calls to us, “Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise. Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you. All the earth worships you; they sing praises to you, sing praises to your name. Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.” We are invited to come and see what God has done. As we come, and as we see, may our hearts and minds and bodies, our voices and actions and lives worship God as we make a joyful noise, give God glorious praise, and sing the glory of God’s name. Living a life that is tilted towards God and actively worshiping God increases our awareness and assurance that we are, indeed, enfolded between love and life.
We find the second invitation in John 1:43-46, the day after Jesus called the apostle Peter to follow him – “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’” We are invited to come and see Jesus. As we come and see, may we follow Jesus every step of the way, in every season of life, in every kind of weather. We can trust that Jesus always leads us on a path in which we are continually enfolded between love and life.
The third and final invitation is given later in the gospel of John, when Jesus responds to an invitation to visit the home of siblings, Mary and Martha and Lazarus, who was very sick and has already died and been buried. John 11:32-36 – “32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’” As we come and see, may we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. May we allow God to call us to places where the deep gladness we have received in Jesus Christ meets the world’s deep hunger. It is in those places where we proclaim, demonstrate, and embody the reality that we are enfolded between love and life.
Beloved brothers and sisters, today is the day when we celebrate love and we celebrate life. Christ has risen, he is risen indeed! In his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ, the living God, overcame all the powers of the world to establish his rule of justice and peace, on earth as in heaven. Christ has risen, he is risen indeed! God’s plan to put the world right has finally been launched. Come and see! Christ has risen, he is risen indeed! We are invited to receive the good news that we are enfolded between love and life. We are invited to experience this good news as we come and see. We are invited to continue spreading the good news of the kingdom of God, as Jesus began to do. We are invited to become part of and to embody the good news wherever we go, for the greater glory of God!
And now we are going to celebrate Communion, the Lord’s Supper, together. We celebrate Communion each and every Sunday at Liberty Vineyard. But today we are going to do it a little differently. As a foundational step in embodying the good news, I want to invite each of us today to come to the front here to receive the elements, the bread and the cup, as we commune with Jesus Christ together. Here’s how it will work – make your way to where Jim, Dawn, and Patricia are standing. If you would cup your hands in front of you like this, Jim will tear off a piece of bread to place in your hands – “the body of Christ broken for you.” Then you can dip it into the cup which Dawn is holding – “the blood of Christ poured out for you.”
Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for your body and your blood which you have given for us. We rejoice that you are risen from the dead and, because of that, we are invited to receive the good news that we are enfolded between love and life. We believe you! Please help our unbelief. We receive your good news! Please help us to receive all that you are and all that you want to give us. We want to spread your good news wherever we go! Please help us to be faithful spreaders of the good news of the kingdom of God, for your glory! Amen.
