“Longing for New Life”: Matthew 28

Today we come to the end of our Lenten Series on the theme “unbound: longing for wholeness”, 

Where we’ve pondered whether “the opposite of being bound is being whole? “

We’ve come to realize that our world is filled with things that hold us captive. These things that bind us prevent us from living the whole, abundant life that God has promised us. 

These past 6 weeks we’ve heard stories of regular people encountering Jesus, and being drawn to the wholeness that Jesus provides, 

And through these stories we have learned about our own longings.

We’ve examined wholeness as a longing for mystery, relationship, community, authenticity, 

courage, intimacy and solidarity,

And today we look at how wholeness 

can occur in our longing for new life.

Do you ever long for new life?

Do you ever wish that your tired old life could be replaced with something fresh and novel?

Wholeness requires new life.

When we’re burnt out, afraid, or without purpose, our life seems fragmented.

When we’re separated from our loved ones, disillusioned with ourselves and disconnected with the Ground of all Being, then our sense of harmony is dashed.

Can you think of a time when you longed for new life, where you needed new life? Maybe that moment is today?

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I’m often inspired by people whose lives have been radically changed by Jesus.

As a cradle Lutheran I don’t have too many exciting personal stories about how Jesus altered my life. My experiences have been mostly pretty boring, subtle, small.

And this is quite common in mainline denominations (in the West)

Unlike our more evangelical Christian siblings, where born again or born anew stories are more frequent.

In my late teens I was involved with Inter-varsity Christian Fellowship, an evangelical campus group, and I remember a particular evening worship service that featured a gripping testimonial.

The speaker told her life story:she had grown up in foster care, had a rough childhood, got into drugs and petty crime and ended up in jail.

It was in jail that she became a Christian, started reading the Bible and God turned her life completely around. After being released, she went back to school, got her High School diploma, got a job, and spent a lot of her free time at her church helping out.

It was a gripping testimony that reminded me how God still changes peoples’ lives and gives them hope and a new life. These miraculous transformations happen, although we don’t often hear of them in our Lutheran circles.

Most of our personal stories are nowhere near as exciting or sensational as this woman’s story, but it’s important to remember that they still do happen. 

We need to remind ourselves that Christ’s resurrection from death to life is not just something that happened to Jesus (2,000 years ago), but is something that can happen in our lives as well.

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As we heard of today, in the Gospel of Matthew,

The disciples were burnt out, afraid, without purpose, their lives were fragmented.

They were separated from their community, disillusioned with themselves and disconnected from God. Their sense of wholeness had been dashed in just a few brief days.

But then amidst the background of earthquakes, guards shaking and becoming like dead men,

We hear the Angels’ message to the women: “he is not here, he has been raised (as he said).”

And soon after, Jesus himself appears to the two Marys and says: "do not be afraid: go to Galilee and there you all will see me (again).”

With just a few words and an appearance, 

the angel and Jesus bring Mary Magdalene and her friend back to wholeness. 

Jesus’ resurrection has an immediate impact upon their lives. 

Their connection to God, to each other and to themselves is restored and they realize that all the sorrow, pain and deaththey had experienced over the past few days had melted away.

Jesus’ new life invites them into new life as well.

As Mihee Kim-Kort mentions:

“Easter is God’s definitive “no” to every force that binds us 

and God’s “yes” to a wholeness more expansive than we imagined. 

The empty tomb reveals that death is not the final boundary, 

that despair does not have the last words, 

and that resurrection bursts open every closed place of our lives.”

Through the resurrection, Jesus invites us to live with new life,

To experience resurrection ourselves,

And to live as people of hope!

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How does this happen, you may ask?

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Well it starts by realizing that God is our God, and we are her people.

God is not just a far-off deity, but a God that is intimately involved in our lives, and is willing to get down into the messiness, the pain and the discomfort of human lives. (Jeremiah)

God wants a relationship with us, and is willing to do whatever it takes to break down any barriers we have.

Through the resurrection, we also can see that Jesus is Lord of all (Acts).

Through his raising from the dead, his conquering of death and the devil, we can see that Jesus is the name above all names and that with Jesus at our side, we have nothing to fear.

Any of our past mistakes, our sins are forgiven,

Any of our brokenness can be made whole,

Our suffering can be redeemed.

"The things that held us captive have been put to death and we have risen with Christ”. (Natalia Terfa)

Christ’s resurrection is our resurrection,

As Christ was liberated from Satan’s powers, so we are liberated as well,

As Christ achieved wholeness by going through his valley of the shadow of death, so we participate in his descent and his rising, and achieve redemption and wholeness as well.

As Christ rose, we are given new life because he destroyed death and brought new life for all.

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Resurrection and wholeness is a personal reality for us,

But it also affects our community as well.

Amidst the social realities of church attendance decline in the West,

St. Matthews has suffered as well.

We have had to allow expectations and processes to die,

And to embrace change.

We realize that to rise up to a new life as community, we need to let go of things that hold us back.

But I see resurrection hope stirring in our congregation:

Our community hub “The St. Matthews Centre”is growing by leaps and bounds,

Our housing development work is steadily continuing,

And we are close to establishing congregational goals that will help focus how we become St. Matts 2.0,

Blending tradition and innovation,

Keeping what is necessary from the past, but building towards the future.

Our priorities of:

-Cultivating Community Connections

-Creating an Inclusive Culture of Hospitality and Welcome

-and Discerning Faithfully and Acting Courageously,

I believe will help St. Matthews achieve wholeness. 

As our mission and vision for our community becomes clearer.

We are becoming unbound from the unrealistic expectations of the past,

The burdens of who we were in the 1980s,

And realize that new life as a congregation is possible:

Some things will be look different, but other aspects will stay constant:

meaningful, varied Sunday worship, good music, quality faith development,and an emphasis on fellowship and discipleship.

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As individuals and as community,

The Easter message challenges us 

to live as people unbounded by fear,

Animated by Christ's new life, 

willing to trust that God is still rolling stones away.

May we, this Easter

Remember that new life is possible through Jesus Christ,

Both in our personal lives and also for our community.

May we as Christians live our lives aware that we are unbound by God, and that new life in Christ gives us the wholeness we long for.

*Hymn of the Day 361 “The Day of Resurrection!” 

 

Source: Churchanew.org; Lent to Go Vol 5 (Lent 2026)