The Profundity of Repetition

The repetitive nature of our religious calendar poses some problems for pastors, especially at Easter.  Are we tired of hearing the same old message year after year?  How can you take the same story and repackage it to make it sound new or different?  It’s certainly not that the message has lost its relevance or profundity—it never will—and that message is as exciting as it was 2000 years ago.  But after countless sermons, Maundy Thursday worship services, or Easter celebrations, what else can be said?  Is there a danger in repeating ourselves?

I read this story online:  A preacher once said, “I’ve preached multiple times on every character in the Easter story. If only God could have slipped in one more name, I would have another ten years of sermons.”  The desire to have something new and different to say has even led some to create fictionalized people who participated in the story to tell their version of it, just to hear a new voice.  Quite honestly, I find nothing wrong with making up fictionalized characters to bring out various aspects of the stories we know so well, but perhaps we shouldn’t be so concerned about repeating ourselves.  You see, the story of Jesus Christ, who lived to show the compassion of God, who called the world to repentance, who came to initiate the kingdom of God on earth, and who sacrificed himself for us, needs repeating.  Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection have cosmic implications, and there is no amount of repetition that can or should render that less profound.  Jesus died, of that we have no doubt.  After three days, Jesus lives, and we should be screaming that from the tallest steeple in Lebanon.   In Jesus, our victory is complete.  Death, sin and evil are destroyed.  The great news of Easter is this: “O death, where is thy victory?  O grave, where is thy sting?”  It just doesn’t get any more profound than that.