
The Resurrection of Our Lord
Easter Morning
Almighty God the Father, through Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, You have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by Your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

An Overview
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Artwork: Christ appears as the Gardener. Artist and Date unknown. From "The Welcome Collection."
The Old Testament
Job 19:23-27
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Translation Notes
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The Epistle
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
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Translation Notes
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The Holy Gospel
John 20:1-18
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Translation Notes
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Poetry Used in the Liturgy of Easter Morning
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Victimae Paschali- An eleventh century hymn of the resurrection
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Psalm 8- The Introit for Easter Morning includes the words of the angels from Luke 24: "Why do you seek the living among the dead? Remember how He told you that the Son of Man must be crucified and on the third day rise." The text that we use from Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise that the LORD has crowned the One Whom He made "a little lower than the heavenly beings" with glory and honor; namely, how God the Father raised the Son to His Glory.​​​
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Psalm 118- What better time to sing "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!"? If we were to pray Psalm 118 in its entirety, we would not only praise God, but also thank Him for delivering us from the enemy and from our cries of distress. This is certainly a perfect conclusion to the season of Lent.​​​
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1 Corinthians 5- The repetition of the Epistle lesson shouts triumphantly that the final and perfect Passover Sacrifice has been made, and now we are to keep the feast in sincerity and truth by singing Alleluia and hearing the story of our Lord's Resurrection.
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Artwork: Jacob Wrestling the Angel, Pietro Monaco. Italian, 18th Century. Metropolitan Museum of Art.


Further Reading & Listening
Artwork: Marble relief fragment with the head of Medea. 1st–2nd century. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This marble sculpture very well could have been seen by the recipients of Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. This image is a copy of a relief from 400 years before Christ was born. Medea was a witch who tricked the daughters of King Pelias into boiling their father in hopes of rejuvenating him. The full marble relief, from which comes this fragment, depicts Medea and the girls about to commit the terrible act. You can read more about the myth of Medea here. If you'd like more information on the historical background of Thessaly, you can purchase The Lutheran Bible Companion Volume 2.