Pastor Dan Eddy

Luke 23:50-56

“Watch, Prepare, and Wait…It’s Almost Here”

4-3-10 (Easter Vigil)

HOLY GOSPEL…………………………………………………Luke 23:50-56 NIV

P The Holy Gospel according to the St. Luke the 23^rd Chapter:

C Glory to you, O Lord.

⁵⁰Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, ⁵¹who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. ⁵²Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body. ⁵³Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. ⁵⁴It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. ⁵⁶Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C Praise to you, O Christ.

THE EASTER VIGIL HOMILY……… “Watch, prepare, and wait…it’s almost here”

Text: Luke 23:50-56

I often think of Easter Vigil like a mini-Christmas Eve. The night before the big day. Except this isn’t a Christmas Eve service…far smaller and quieter. But then tomorrow is no Christmas…it’s much bigger and has a greater impact on eternity.

Back to Christmas Eve…what makes it a special holiday for little kids is they are taught watch the time so they can get into bed before Santa Clause comes to their house. They prepare for Christmas by being good little boys and girl, and going to Christmas Eve worship services, and they wait quietly for Christmas morning by trying to sleep.

As children, we would soon find out the watching, preparing and waiting in the quiet were well worth it when it came to the joy of Christmas morning.

Watch, prepare and wait…a slogan for much of what we do in life. We watch for opportunities to succeed in school, work, at home, and life in general. We prepare through reading, listening, learning, schooling and hard work, and we wait for the right time to do the right things improve our lives and the lives of our friends and families.

But are we always watching, preparing, and waiting for the right things? And is it always worth it in the end?

Take our characters in tonight’s Easter Vigil narrative.

Joseph of Arimathea was watching Jesus and thought he knew this was the Messiah foretold throughout what we would call the Old Testament. But his minority vote did nothing as the Sanhedrin prepared to have Jesus killed, anyway. Joseph thought He was waiting for the Messiah to bring in a better Israel than they had even under King David. The watching, preparing and waiting did not meet his expectations and he was relegated to watching Jesus die, preparing His grave, and waiting for the Sabbath to be over, so Jesus’ body would be properly anointed for permanent burial.

This was not the watching, preparing, and waiting he wanted.

Much the same story could be said for the Galilean women. They watched Jesus perform miracles for three years, prepared to live better lives by following His teachings, and too were waiting for Him to even do even more spectacular things. But now they were waiting quietly for the Sabbath to be over so they could do what they never thought they would have to do.

But let’s look at Jesus watching, preparing and waiting from His standpoint. He watched for the right time to be incarnate as one of us on that first Christmas Eve, where in the quiet of the night in a small town and in a smelly barn He was born to humankind. Jesus prepared 30 years for His earthly ministry, living a perfect life. He spent three years preparing to suffer and die on the Cross…preparing by teaching and healing, and on that Saturday night, He was waiting for the right time to rise from the dead and be glorified by God.

Unlike Joseph and the Galilean Women…His watching, preparing, and waiting had the big picture in mind. Christ has all of time in His hand. And on that Saturday night…unbeknownst to the women…they would soon find out the watching, preparing and waiting in the quiet were well worth it, and would soon exceed their expectations. For they would soon know for sure that Jesus was watching out for their eternal welfare, preparing their hearts to be forgiven of their sins and to pass that onto others, and encouraging them to encourage others to wait for the incredible life ahead. What Jesus did for them, He also does for you and me as well.

And so here we are on this quiet Easter Vigil. What are we watching, preparing, and waiting for today?

Tonight’s Cross Piece is an eyepiece to remind you and me what we are to watch, prepare and wait for.

We watch a world today where billions of pieces of information are now available in the palm of our hands (pull out iPhone), at the touch of our fingers. Where we have quicker access to God’s Word at any other time in history, and yet biblical illiteracy in our country is at an all time, where one survey revealed more people believe in Angels than believe in the Holy Spirit. Where almost ½ in another survey thought Jesus Christ had sinned during His life. We watch for opportunities to witness, serve, and love.

And we prepare for those opportunities to serve by being blessed in worship…to be edified by God’s Word, not for only for your own enjoyment…but so that we can prepare this body of Christ to bring in, love, and anoint more hurting people.

Our Holy Week blessings received in worship prepare us to witness and work for the Lord as we wait not for Christ to rise from the dead. He already did that. We wait for the ultimate Christmas, the ultimate Easter, the celebrations of all celebrations. We wait and encourage many others to wait for our Lord and Savior to return face to face, in the flesh, to open up all the tombs, resurrect all believers from their graves, and bring the Kingdom of God in its full power and purity to a New Heaven and a New Earth.

Like with many Christmas Eves and Easter Vigils, we would soon find out the watching, preparing and waiting were well worth it. Amen.