HAPPIEST DAY

“Oh Happy Day”, recorded by the Edwin Hawkins Singers 40 years ago, reached the top five on the pop charts. The oft repeated line of the song is, “Oh happy day when Jesus washed my sins away.”

If that day was a happy day, and indeed it was, as we call it “Good Friday,” then the following Sunday was the “happiest day.”

Chapter 24 of the Gospel according to Luke begins with the words, “Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.”

Luke continues the Easter story with verses 13 and 14. “Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened.” After being taught by the resurrected Jesus, the two pilgrims returned to Jerusalem.

On the “happiest day” the women returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest” (Luke 24:9). Reporting to the same group,  the two on the road to Emmaus “told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:35). It was natural to go home and tell!

Just as on the first Easter the first disciples of Jesus told the story, we gather on Easter morn to celebrate the resurrection of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Actually that is the reason we gather every Sunday morning, to commemorate the resurrection and worship our victorious Lord.

Luke ends his Gospel with these words after the Ascension, “And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.”

Let me change gears a bit on the topic of “Happiest Day.” Sometimes there is beautiful art with multiple meanings, perhaps unintended by the artist. The clip below from the Steven Spielberg movie, “A.I.” (Artificial Intelligence), reflects on the “Happiest Day” for a young boy.

Some quotes from this scene:

• “Maybe the day will last forever.”
• “We only want for your happiness.”
• “The new morning has come.”
• “I never forget.”
• “There was no grief.”‘
• “Such a beautiful day.”
• “I do love you. I have always loved you. That was the everlasting moment he had waited for. David went to sleep and for the first time he went to that place where dreams are born.”