“A New Day, A New Song”
Original sermon given on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025 written and delivered by Pastor Jeff Leininger at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church.
Watch the sermon live.
“A New Day, a New Song
Psalm 118
Psalm 118
In the name of the living God and his risen Christ. Amen.
The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
There are some victories so important, so remarkable, so powerful that they change you forever. Consider our own nation and the victorious battles that have made us who we are: Valley Forge, Gettysburg, Normandy. Just name them brings to mind decisive moments in our history. It is fair to say that we would not be the same without them.
Personal victories are also important. They too have the ability to change who we are. It may be as mundane as that first little league home run, or that decisive goal you scored in the last minute of your park district soccer match. (I can still remember that last second TD I threw to my twin brother at recess, just as the bell rang. I knew, for certain, from that moment on, that I would without a doubt be an NFL quarterback!)
Decisive victories can be very meaningful in our own personal struggles. Think of someone who is finally winning a victory over addiction or depression or cancer. Or consider a marriage restored and renewed after hard work, forgiveness, and sacrificial love. It is not an exaggeration to say that these personal victories change who we are — our histories — and we remember them forever.
We sang Psalm 118 a few moments ago in a marvelous paraphrase. “This is the day the Lord has made.” If you go back after church, after the Easter breakfast, and read the original Psalm 118 in the Bible, it’s one of those that’s got all the good lines. Verse 1: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.” Verse 14: “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.” Verse 17: “I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.” Verse 23: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” And perhaps the most famous, which we sant as a refrain: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (It’s got so many good lines, I wish I had written it. Could have retired on the royalites.)
It may come as a surprise to you that this seems originally to have been a warrior’s victory song in battle. The original poet sang in praise to God, because the Lord delivered him when defeat seemed certain. Imagine: at the very worst moment, surrounded on every side by the enemy, convinced that life is over, the ancient bronze age warrior beholds God working mightily for him. It is at this moment that he realizes: “I will not die but live… God will not give me over to death.” This victory was so momentous that it changes his whole life forever: he confesses that Yahweh Himself, actually is his salvation (Yashuah). And he writes a victory song about it!
The people of Israel took this warrior’s victory song, and they made it part of their own history. It is the climatic conclusion of the great Hallel, Psalms 113-118, recited still today at the Passover. They read these words yearly to recall how God had given them victory over Pharoah’s armies at the crossing of the Red Sea. No single victory has shaped the history of any nation like the Exodus event for the Hebrews. Caught on every side with nowhere to turn, the Red Sea in front of them and Pharoah’s army behind them, facing certain death, and then solely by the power and the love of the Mighty God were they rescued. Their victory was God’s victory, and for millennia God’s salvation, Yashuah, was recounted in Psalm 118.
Jesus, Yeshua, claimed this psalm for his own too. At the beginning of Holy Week, when predicting his death and resurrection, Jesus quotes: “The stone the builders rejected has become the chief corner.” The Lord likely sung the Hallel on that night in the upper room. So, Psalm 118 would have been the last song he sung before he went to the cross. By reading himself into these words, Jesus makes a bold statement about the history of the people of Israel: it must now be reinterpreted through him. In the words of the psalm: Jesus is the one through whom God works salvation, the victory over death.
Now today, on this day that the Lord has made, this warrior’s victory psalm is ours as well. How can this be? How are we able to sing these words as our own? The Scriptures say that all of those who have been baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. And “if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6.4-5).
This psalm is ours because in baptism the history of Jesus becomes ours, through faith. As Christ was raised from the dead by the will of the Father, so also we have victory over sin, death, and hell. We have been forged by faith into Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life. Yahweh, our strength and song, has become our salvation (Yashuah), for Jesus issalvation. That is what his name means, and that’s the name we wear.
Martin Luther called Psalm 118 his “own, beloved Psalm.” He wrote, “These words have helped me out of such straits as neither emperor nor king nor any one upon earth could have helped me.” For him, it said something powerful about grace: even death has no mastery over the steadfast love of God. When our strength has failed, when defeat looms over us, when all the reserves have been called up and we are still outnumbered, even when we stand in the face of death, we can sing this victory song of God’s grace. “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever.” Jesus, whose name means Salvation, has won for us the decisive Victory, he has changed our history forever… and ever… and ever.
The Lord Has Risen. He has risen indeed. Alleluia.