Sunday, April 27, 2025
St. Luke Lutheran Church, Albuquerque, NM
8.15 am Service

PALM 118.14 – 29

 14 The Lord is my strength and my song,

  and has become my salvation.

 15 Shouts of rejoicing and salvation echo in the tents of the righteous:

  “The right hand of the Lord acts valiantly!

 16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted!

  The right hand of the Lord acts valiantly!”

 17 I shall not die, but live,

  and declare the works of the Lord.

 18 The Lord indeed punished me sorely,

  but did not hand me over to death.

 19 Open for me the gates of righteousness;

  I will enter them and give thanks to the Lord.

 20 “This is the gate of the Lord;

  here the righteous may enter.”

 21 I give thanks to you, for you have answered me

  and you have become my salvation.

 22 The stone that the builders rejected

  has become the chief cornerstone.

 23 By the Lord has this been done;

  it is marvelous in our eyes.

 24 This is the day that the Lord has made;

  let us rejoice and be glad in it.

 25 Hosanna! O Lord, save us!

  We pray to you, Lord, prosper our days!

 26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord;

  we bless you from the house of the Lord.

 27 The Lord is God and has given us light.

  Form a procession with branches up to the corners of the altar.

 28 You are my God, and I will thank you;

  you are my God, and I will exalt you.

 29 Give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good;

  God’s mercy endures forever.

HOLY HALLEL! [הַלֵּל]

+ In nomine Domini. Amen.

Today is the Second Sunday of Easter — not the Second Sunday IN Easter, but OF Easter; because Easter is a Season, not a day. Easter is in fact a Season of 49 days.

But this is also Holy Hilarity, Bright Sunday, the Risus Paschalis (in Latin, the “Easter Laugh). The word hilarity comes from the Latin hilariter which comes from the Greek ῐ̔λᾰρός [hee-lah-ROS] which means “cheerful, merry, joyous, glad, happy.”

It all goes back to the 5^th Century and the great preacher and Bishop of Constantinople, St. John Chrysostom (his name means “honey-mouth” an indication of the sweetness of his Sermons). Chrysostom called Easter a great cosmic joke that God played on Satan — that when Jesus was killed on the cross, the Devil thought it had won and all goodness had been defeated. But after laughing for only a few hours, God shamed Satan and defeated him on Easter morning. God had the last laugh! And so do we, children of God, full of grace and joy.

You all remember Joseph of Arimathea, the man who gave up his beautifully hand-hewn tomb so that Jesus could be buried there following the Crucifixion. Well, a neighbor came up to Joseph and asked him why he had done that? And Joseph answered, “Well, he only needed it for the weekend.”

It’s just like Psalm 118 (some wonderful verses of which we read/sang this morning) — it is called a הַלֵּל [Hallel, in Hebrew; which means “praise!”] And when we say “praise” we should always place an (!) exclamation point after the word. It is a psalm of gratitude and joy; why? Because of what God has done; for whom? For us!

(By the way, those two words are emphasized again-and-again by Martin Luther in sermon-after-sermon — they are the most important words, he believed [für uns]. It doesn’t matter a whit what God has done, is doing, or will do — unless we understand that it is for us!)

That is the point of Psalm 118 and the whole point of Bright Sunday — the Holy Hilarity is that God has brought life from death, promised endless love and endless PRAISE.

That’s why I entitled this sermon: HOLY HALLEL! You and I are the descendants of those who constantly offer praise as did our ancestors in faith even in times of treachery and tyranny, even then, we sang and sing our praises to God. Maybe we should remember that fact in these times.

So, many have immigrated to New Mexico in the last several decades or so to do science. Perhaps you’re one of them. If so, you may appreciate the molecule that walked into a bar and said, “I think I’m missing an electron. Has anyone seen it?” Says the bartender: “Are you sure?“ Answers the molecule: “I’m positive.“

Or, the one about the neutron who walks into a bar and asks, “How much for a drink?” The bartender replies, “For you, no charge.”

Easter is a time for understanding not only the meaning of the Resurrection, but understanding others and their ideas and faith. You know mathematically, there are only two kinds of people: those who understand binary and those who don’t.

The famous philosopher Descartes walked into a bar. The bartender asked: René, would you like your usual? Descartes answered, “I think not” and promptly disappears.

In Church, as people of faith, we need not only to listen to the Gospel, we need to hear it. I was reminded of the necessity of this a number of years back when I was at my doctor’s office getting my blood pressure checked. After removing the arm-band, the nurse said: “Ben. Your blood pressure is fine. Dr. Golub will be in to see you shortly. Do you need to find a ladder?”

“Ladder‽” I said, “Why do I want a ladder?”

The nurse said, “I asked you, ‘Do you need to empty your bladder?’”

I made the mistake of telling this story to one of the members of my parish in Santa Fe, a big mistake because soon that tale went through the occupants of the pews like wildfire.

Of course, I have hearing aids. Really wonderful hearing aids. And I only have one ladder in our apartment.

Children know about Holy Humour, perhaps the best. A 6-year-old was overheard reciting the Lord’s Prayer: “And forgive us our trash passes, as we forgive those who passed trash against us.”

Many of you know that I have a difficult time doing Children’s Sermons — in my parish in Santa Fe I only did about 6 with any success. I usually drew a cartoon of a monk and used that to talk with the plethora of children who would gather around. It was Palm Sunday and I was drawing the monk with a palm branch in his hand. “What is that he is holding?” I asked the children. “It’s a feather!” they all shouted. Yes, my members called that day “Feather Sunday” for years to come.

This came from Pastor Hal Nilsson (former Pastor of St. Luke, one of my bicycling partners, clergy colleague, and a very dear friend — in fact I am drawing upon his collection of a half-dozen Bright Sunday Sermons which he shared with me, so in a mystical but mirthful sense Pr. Nilsson is present with us this weekend. He tells me that the joke came from a group of Lutherans in Lindsborg, KS.) Var så god!

At an Easter mass, at which some young ladies were to take their final vows to become nuns, the presiding bishop noticed two rabbis enter the church just before the mass began.

They were seated at the back of the sanctuary and insisted on sitting on the right side of the center aisle. The bishop wondered why they had come but didn’t have time to inquire before the mass began. When it came time for some announcements, his curiosity got the best of him. He announced that he was delighted to see two rabbis in their midst at the mass but was curious as to why they were present at this occasion where the young ladies were to become the “Brides of Christ.“

The elder of the rabbis slowly rose to his feet and explained, “Family of the Groom.“

OK, since the Season of Easter is a time for change, it’s time for some How many? jokes.

How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb? [planned response from the congregation should be: Change! Whoever talked about change in this church‽]

How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb?

At least one to change the light bulb, and two or three committees to approve the change. Oh, and also one to provide a casserole.

How many Independent Baptists does it take to change a light bulb?

Only one, because any more than that would be Ecumenicalism.

How many Roman Catholics does it take to change a light bulb?

None. They use candles.

How many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb?

None. God has predestined when the lights will be on and off.

In tribute to Pr. Nilsson: How many Bicyclists does it take to change a light bulb?

One to change the bulb and 14 to share similar experiences and how the light bulb could have been changed differently, 7 to show off their LED Flashing when the bike slows down or is braking so as to alert caution to drivers behind the bicycle, 6 to argue over the correct term (light bulb or lightbulb), and 15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the light bulb industry and that “light bulb” is perfectly correct.

Here’s some thoughts about Musicians:

What’s the difference between a bassoon and a chain saw? The exhaust.

What’s the difference between a French Horn and a lawn mower? You can tune the lawn mower.

Do you know the definition for perfect pitch? When you throw the banjo into the dumpsite and it lands right on the accordion.

Why are violins smaller than violas? They’re really the same size, but violinists have bigger heads.

What do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians? A drummer.

What is the definition of a quarter tone? Two oboes playing in unison.

What do you get when you play New Age Music backwards? New Age Music.

What does it say on a blues singer’s tombstone? “I didn’t wake up this morning.”

How many musician jokes are there? Just one. All the rest are true.

Back to children.

A Sunday school class was studying the Ten Commandments. They were ready to discuss the last one. The teacher asked if anyone could tell her what it was. Jennifer raised her hand, stood tall, and quoted, “Thou shalt not take the covers off thy neighbor’s wife.”

A little boy asked his grandmother how old she was. She teased him, “I’m not sure.” “Look in your underwear, Grandma,“ he advised. “Mine says I’m four to six.”

A preschool teacher was taking a van full of children on a field trip when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog’s duties. “They use him to keep crowds back,“ said one child. “No, said another, “he’s just for good luck.” A third child brought the argument to a close. “They use dogs“, she said firmly, “to find the fire hydrants.”

On a completely different note —

Toward the end of his life, when he was suffering from the accumulated effects of a lifetime of drinking, a very ill W. C. Fields was discovered by one of his friends reading the Bible. Flabbergasted, his friend asked, “What are you, an atheist, doing reading the Bible? Fields replied, “I’m looking for loopholes.”

I should mention historically that the observance of Risus Paschalis was officially outlawed by Pope Clement X in the 17th century. Perhaps people were having too much fun. On the other hand when the Queen of Sweden converted to Roman Catholicism, she convinced Clement to outlaw the chasing of Jews in the streets of Rome during Shrove Tuesday (or carnival). Maybe the Queen and the Holy Father he read the selection from the Acts of the Apostles with which we began, and took it seriously!

As we draw this Sermon to a close, and think on this Bright Sunday of Holy Hilarity about what we believe, it’s time to hear from some of the saints, the holy ones who have gone before us:

We believe with the Bible that “there is a time to weep and a time to laugh.”

We believe with St. John Chrysostom that “laughter has been implanted in our souls.”

We believe with Martin Luther that “You have as much laughter as you have faith.”

We believe with Jean Calvin that “we are nowhere forbidden to laugh.”

We believe with John Wesley that “A sour religion is the devil’s religion.”

We believe with Sǿren Kierkegaard that “Humor is intrinsic to Christianity.”

We believe with G.K. Chesterton that “A good joke is the closest thing we have to divine revelation.”

We believe with Dietrich Bonhoeffer that “Ultimate seriousness is not without a dose of humor.”

We believe with Charles Schultz that “Humor is proof that everything is going to be alright with God nevertheless.”

And let us all say: Amen!

Deo Gratias (+)

The Rev. Benjamin Larzelere III
Retired