He Will Swallow Up Death Forever: Ashley Palmer
The following homily was shared at our Sunday Evening Eucharist service Easter Day (4/20/25).
Readings:
In our reading from the Gospel of John, John tells us that Mary Magdalene was the first to discover that Jesus was not in the tomb. Jumping to the only reasonable explanation in a fallen world, she assumes that Jesus’ body has been stolen from the tomb. Mary Magdalene—from whom Jesus cast out seven demons, who watched Jesus die two days before while Peter was denying that he even knew Jesus. Her grief must’ve been unimaginable. She had followed Jesus as He went about doing good, as He healed those oppressed by the devil. She had seen that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power. She had known Him as her teacher, her friend, her Messianic king. And now He was dead, his body stolen.
Peter and John run to the tomb, and John mentions over and over, like he’s setting the record straight, that John got there first. I love that we’re reading John’s account of the Resurrection today. It’s so human, to be dwelling on the details of who was faster, who got there first, in the midst of the discovery that will change Peter and John’s lives forever, that will change the course of all history that comes after them. I can see my brothers and sisters in Mary Magdalene, in Peter, in John. I can see myself in them. In these people who are following, but do not yet understand.
In their accounts of the Resurrection, Peter and John both affirm that the prophets foretell Jesus’ rising from the dead. Isaiah proclaims that the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, and He will wipe tears from all faces, and He will swallow up death forever.
He will swallow up death forever.
And that starts with the empty tomb. With Mary Magdalene, Peter, and John, who do not yet understand the Scripture that He had to rise from the dead.
Two thousand years later, we Christians often don’t live like death has been defeated. We live in fear. We store up treasure on earth. We work in anxious toil. We go to church and sing songs of praise affirming that Jesus defeated the grave, and yet we look at Jesus’ cross, at the empty tomb, and we don’t understand. We look at our dying world and don’t understand.
Death is all around us, and the project of American culture is to avoid it in every earthly way possible. To keep our old folks far away. To put Botox in our faces so we don’t look old. To extend life in every way. Because death is scary, and death is bad, actually. We define sin as separation from God, and we understand that death is separation. The wages of sin are death because death is the most ultimate kind of separation. And no matter how people try to justify that it’s a natural part of the life we know, death is bad. Isaiah affirms this, Mary Magdalene affirms this, Genesis affirms this, our own grief affirms that death is not what God wanted for this world.
And so God died.
And so He rose again. And He swallowed up death forever.
Peter didn’t understand it on that Sunday morning. But by the time Peter speaks as told in the Book of Acts, he understands. Peter knows that Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected, the stone that is now the cornerstone. Peter knows that everyone who believes in Jesus will receive forgiveness of sins through His Name. No longer will we be separated. In the forgiveness of sins, we can become one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at His heavenly banquet.
So often we are not one with each other. Still there are so many divisions, so many little deaths, so much brokenness—even among us Christians, the citizens of the kingdom of heaven who are supposed to be showing the world what a healed world looks like. When we live like death is victorious, we live in division. But the risen King calls us to live. To weep, and to wipe away one another’s tears. To laugh. To feast. To love one another deeply. And to testify to the resurrected King of Kings, who has conquered death, who is coming soon.
Isaiah says that on that day that death is swallowed up, it will be said: “Behold, this is our God. We have waited for him, that He might save us. This is the LORD, this is the God who was and is and is to come, we have waited for him: let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
Let us rejoice in the feast that Jesus has made for all peoples: the feast of His body and blood.
Ashley Palmer (a LA Tech graduate of Computer Science and English) is a blessing to The Wesley. As she continues to live in Ruston, she works as a remote Software Developer for Praeses, LLC in Shreveport. She is also a fantasy novelist currently editing her first novel: Among the Skies. In addition to writing, Ashley enjoys making attractive websites and apps, digital art, reading, and good food. She is kind, knowledgeable, and devoted to her relationship with the Lord. She is also a member of our Wesley Discipleship Team. We love her and are thankful to have her in our community!