Easter Sermon 2026 (Luke 24:1-12)

Easter Sermon (2025)

Easter Sunday Sermon 2020

Good Friday

Genesis 2:2-3
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
 The Seventh Day

  2 By the seventh day God had finished his work, and so he rested. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it special because on that day he rested from his work.

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  John 19:28-30
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
 The Death of Jesus

  28 Jesus knew that he had now finished his work. And in order to make the Scriptures come true, he said, “I am thirsty!” 29 A jar of cheap wine was there. Someone then soaked a sponge with the wine and held it up to Jesus' mouth on the stem of a hyssop plant. 30 After Jesus drank the wine, he said, “Everything is done!” He bowed his head and died.

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  Revelation 21:5-7
Contemporary English Version (CEV)

  5 Then the one sitting on the throne said: I am making everything new. Write down what I have said. My words are true and can be trusted. 6 Everything is finished! I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give water from the life-giving fountain to everyone who is thirsty. 7 All who win the victory will be given these blessings. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

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  What God begins, only God can finish.  The God who spoke the world into being, only he could finish his good work.  We could not have come along and finished it for him.
  The same God who enters creation as Jesus Christ, taking on our sins and ascending the cross for us -- only God could complete this work of atonement.  Note, however, what Jesus says before he gives up his life -- "It is finished."
  In other words, Christ has done all that needs to be done to atone for human sin.  Our work now is to accept this free gift of salvation with grateful hearts and to share the Good News.  We do not have to spend our lives trying to atone for our sins, trying to impress God by our words or deeds.  No, our task is to be amazed at the love that held God to the cross, to weep at the human violence that put him there, and to share the amazing & selfless love of God with others.  Trust that God has finished the work of atonement in the work and person of Jesus Christ, and let gratitude and awe guide you.
  For one day, God will bring creation to an end.  Only God can do this, and when he does, a new creation shall take its place.  What God has started, only God can conclude, and all things will be made new in the end.  We will receive new life, and the blessings of God will be of a greater magnitude than the sharpest human mind can imagine.  All this is made possible by what God has done and gives freely to you.

Easter Sermon

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Know what the two most dangerous words in America are? “Watch this.”

The three most dangerous words, of course, are: “Hold my beer.”

If you hear either of these two phrases, back away. We all know how what will follow will end, and if anyone is filming it, of which there is an increasing likelihood nowadays, it will probably end up with millions of pageviews on YouTube.

There are all sorts of situations in which something inside of us knows how it is going to end. I have the distinct memory of being at a Reds game with Rachel in which the Reds' worst pitcher had been brought in to face the opposing teams' best hitter with the bases loaded. I remember turning to Rachel and telling her to be ready for exactly how far that ball is going to fly. To this day, I don't know if I've ever seen a baseball hit farther. I'm not sure that ball has landed yet.

The same is true of every romantic comedy ever made. Within the first five minutes, or perhaps before it has even started, most men can tell the basic plot. Most women can, too, it's just that such knowledge doesn't prevent them from watching them.

We know how certain situations end. Some things are simply predictable. They end in a certain way, every time.

Death is that way, too. When someone dies, we know how it ends. As in, that is the end. The story of death isn't one that suddenly changes halfway through. When someone dies, we don't hang around the mortuary in the hopes of getting a burger with them later. We don't pop by the cemetary in hopes they don't have any plans that day. Death is a permanent condition.

At least, that's what the disciples thought. That's what the whole world thought when Jesus died.

But when Jesus died, everything changed. When Jesus died, our expectations shifted. When Jesus died, he came back alive.

The women went to the tomb that morning, and while they expected to find Jesus in the tomb, they instead found an angel rolling away the stone, and the angel was inviting them in to “Come, see the place where they laid him.” The women were invited in to view the new reality, to be amazed at what Christ had done, to witness the evidence that death was no more. The reality they expected to find had been shattered by this new reality, the one where life is the answer to the questions death raises.

After they were invited to come and See, they were sent to go and tell. The new reality into which they had stepped needed to be shared, and they were invited to step into this new way of life, where the good news of Christ's resurrection is meant to be shared with the world around them. Come and see, the angel says. Go and tell, the angel says.

And through it all, do not be afraid. The angel tells them not to fear, and the resurrected Jesus tells them the same thing. They have nothing to fear. This new reality is not laced with sin and death and fear and worry like the old one. Now that they have seen the new way of life, where the shackles of death no longer have power, they have nothing left to fear, for the Christ who conquers shall walk with them and give them the strength to overcome any obstacle that confronts them. They have no need to fear, for God is faithful and true. Note what the angel says—He has been raised, just as he said! What Jesus says is true—and if he can be trusted as to his own resurrection, he can be trusted with ours as well.

Come and see that God is stronger than death.

Go and tell that you are invited into this new reality.

And in all things, be not afraid!

Sunrise Service Meditation

John 20:1-10 
Common English Bible (CEB)

   Early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. 2 She ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him.”
  3 Peter and the other disciple left to go to the tomb. 4 They were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and was the first to arrive at the tomb. 5 Bending down to take a look, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Following him, Simon Peter entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. 7 He also saw the face cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t with the other clothes but was folded up in its own place.
  8 Then the other disciple, the one who arrived at the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 They didn’t yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.

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I love puzzles. I had to stop doing them, because Rachel got tired of being woken up at 3 am when I crawled into bed 4 hours after I promised I would finish once I got 'one more piece'. I have a hard time finding a good stopping point.

There's a certain moment in doing a puzzle in which you suddenly have enough pieces in place to have a clear picture of the end result. This moment often comes when you still have plenty of pieces left in the box, but enough have been placed that the jumbled chaos you began with now has a form and points clearly to what its final shape will be. Sometimes, if the puzzle is hard enough, this is enough. Other times, it is encouragement to press on to the finish.

In John's account of the resurrection, we come to a similar moment in verses 8-9. Mary has already been to the tomb and see the stone rolled away. Peter and John then rush out to the tomb, and when they arrive they come in to see the clothes on the ground and the head cloth neatly folded. John, we are told, is the first to believe in the truth of the resurrection, in the idea that Jesus Christ, who was brutally killed, has risen from the dead into new life. Verse 9, however, tells us that Peter and John still don't understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead. They have seen enough to believe, but they still don't grasp the complete truth of what has occurred.

In a similar vein, you and I know enough to believe. We have the testimony of the Gospel writers, and we have the letters that comprise the remainder of the New Testament. We have the witness of the early church and 2,000 years of church history. We have the general revelation all around us and the ongoing work of Christ within us. We have enough knowledge to believe that what the Gospel says is true—that Jesus Christ is the perfect Son of our perfect God, and that he was crucified, buried and rose from the dead three days later. This we believe.

But we still don't have the puzzle completed. We have a box with all these pieces rattling around in it, filled with our questions about the resurrection and the world around us and about God himself. We are unsure of so many things, of the nature of heaven and what our resurrection bodies will look like. There is much we don't understand.

But let us not confuse complete understanding with belief. We may not know all the answers, and there are times when we have to throw our hands up and admit that we don't see the whole picture. One day we will. One day we, like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, will look back and understand so clearly what has been happening these many years. It will all come into focus, and we'll realize what we had been missing.

But until that day, we can only believe. We have seen enough of the story to understand that God is bigger than death, that Christ has conquered the grave, and that God invites us into new life, a life that still includes death, but does not remain under its power. New life is available for all who believe, and let us rejoice this Easter morning because we see enough, Christ risen from the grave, to believe with heart, mind and soul that Christ is the one who can save us from sin and deliver us to new life in God!

Let us pray

2013 Easter Sunday Sermon

Matthew 28:1-10 

The Resurrection of Jesus

  After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men.

  But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
  Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’

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In 1985, chaos reigned for 79 days.

On April 23, 2985, the Coca Cola Company introduced New Coke. Their market share had been slipping for 15 years, and so they decided to reinvigorate the brand by toying with the original formula that had been in use for 99 years.

The outcry that followed was unexpected.

Their consumer hotline had previously received approximately 400 phone calls a day. Now, they were receiving 1,500 calls a day. People were hoarding old Coke like it was gold, and any Coca-Cola employee was a target of harassment. Protest groups sprang up around the country, songs were written in protest and an event was held in downtown Atlanta in hopes of swaying Coca-Cola to change their minds.

After 79 days, good sense prevailed and Coca-Cola Classic was restored. Almost 32,000 people called the company in response.

It was decided, universally, that the old was good. The new was not desired. Change was not welcome.

We do this all the time—we look at the new and decide that we're more comfortable with the old. Often, this is a wise decision. Just because something is new doesn't mean that it's better. It just means that it's newer. Even if new is better, change is hard. All sorts of factors come into play, including our sentimental attachment to the old. The Coca-Cola company had done rigorous taste tests of over 200,000 people to ensure that New Coke would be a success. What they hadn't counted on was people's emotional attachments to Coca-Cola Classic.

So we have to be careful when we think about new. It's appealing, but it can be difficult.

But let's take a moment and think about life as we know it. How are things going in the world at large? I started reading a book about raising positive kids in a negative world—it was going on and on about all of the problems in the world, from drugs to violence to television, and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, I realized the book was published almost 30 years ago. The world isn't doing so hot right now.

Think about it for a moment. Think globally. Europe is in the midst of a massive recession where unemployment numbers are too high to contemplate. We are in the midst of a war in Afghanistan that has been dragging on for over a decade. Syria is in the midst of civil war. Uncertainty looms all around the globe. Then bring it a little closer to home. America has unemployment problems of our own. We have inequality in this country, with the gap between rich and poor growing daily. Prices of everything, particularly gas, keep rising while wages remain stagnant. Nothing productive ever seems to come out of Washington, D.C. Now bring it all the way home—think about your own life. We all have struggles of our own. Some of us struggle with illness or loneliness or doubt or despair. Some of us wrestle with demons buried deep within us, and others have current difficulties that sit heavily upon our souls. We all have struggles.

Life is tough. The world as we know it could use a hand, right?

I have great news for you.

Listen again to Matthew 28:1: After the sabbath, as the 1st day of the week was dawning...

On that first Easter morning, a new week was dawning. The old week had passed away, and in its place something new was being born, and this wasn't just a repetition of the old. Things would not just continue in the way they always had. No, on this first day of the new week, as the sun peeked over the horizon, something cosmic was happening, something new, and the old would be gone.

God was doing a new thing. God was building a new kingdom here on earth, one that would replace the old kingdom. God was starting something new.

The old kingdom was ruled by sin, death and decay. The old kingdom, the one that began at the moment of the first sin, the initial betrayal, has been reigning here on earth ever since. Every death, every disease, every instance of brokenness between two people is a reminder of the old kingdom.

The good news is that the old kingdom's days are numbered. God has been building his new kingdom, and in his kingdom there is no room for death. There is no place for disease. Sin and pain and suffering and anger and betrayal won't be able to break into the new kingdom. The new kingdom is marked by life and love and wonder and worship.

God is building a new kingdom, and he is doing it here on earth, in the midst of the old kingdom. All the wonderful things in our lives, from the beauty of a daffodil in the spring to the sound of a child's laugh, are signs of God's kingdom, reminders that God is at work here in the world.

What's even more amazing than the fact that God is brazenly building this kingdom here while the old one still stands is that he is using men and women like you and I to do so. God is at work, and he wants to use us. He wants to use your life, for you to join him in the effort. He wants your time and your energy to be dedicated to building his kingdom, and he promises that there is a place for you in this kingdom. Rather than serve the old kingdom and watch it decay, God calls you to join into this new kingdom work and watch it grow, and you will grow along with it.

This is God's new kingdom work. And it begins here, in Matthew 28, that first Easter morning.

The women had gone to the tomb, ready to anoint Jesus' body, ready to say their final goodbyes. In the old kingdom, there are lots of goodbyes to be said, because death runs rampant, like an unleashed German Shepherd in a spring meadow.

The women went to meet death, but instead saw the beginning of something new, the first building block being set in place as they found life where death once reigned. In the garden, they had thought they would find a dead body in a dark tomb, but instead they found angels in clothes like lightning that proclaimed that Christ was risen, that Christ had conquered death and risen from the grave to prove that men and women might no longer die, to initiate a new kingdom, a new way of life, a new beginning. Christ has conquered death, and the women were the first witnesses, hearing the message from the angels that the old has gone, the new has begun, and that Jesus has gone ahead to lead the way.

Jesus leads the way. He shows us how we are called to live, and then he demonstrates that we are not called to die, that we are a people over whom death has no power. We are a resurrection people, citizens of the eternal kingdom of the reigning and sovereign God, and he leads us forward. The angels tell the women that Jesus has gone ahead of the disciples, and he is ahead of us, too.

He leads us forward. He leads you forward, into a future that is filled with grace and peace and mercy and love. He promises you that your future will not hold death, but rather life. He does not say it will be easy. He does not promise that the road will be smooth.

What he promises is that the new kingdom will prevail, and if you place your trust in him as Lord and Savior, there is a place in it for you.

So let us stop clinging to the old, to the ways of sin and death, to the idea that we have to prevail over our neighbor, to the idea that it's all about us, to the idea that life is about money and success and power. Let's give up those old idols and worship Christ in his glory, join with God's grand effort in building his kingdom. Let's worship Christ with all of our lives and let ourselves be caught up in God's glorious kingdom, devoting our lives and our eternities to his glory.

Let us pray