Weekly Sermon: 04-05-2026 - Easter Sunday

The Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord.

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, for 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 and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.

Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee.

There they will see me. This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ. I'm not impressed.

I was at a conference last month, and I heard this true story of a minister

named Pastor Mark, a different Pastor Mark than the one who was recently here.

His church member, Joe, was dying of cancer, and his teenage son,

Junior, was angry at the unfairness of it all.

Joe asked Pastor Mark to stay close to Junior after he was gone.

Before his dad died, Junior asked Pastor Mark how he would know that his dad

was okay after he passed.

And Pastor Mark said to him, You will know.

I don't know how, but I promise you, you will know.

Later, Pastor Mark thought to himself, why did I say that?

I can't promise that he will see a sign.

I can't guarantee that he will know peace.

Pastor Mark tried to love this family well, to be there, to say the right things,

to say what would be meaningful. and now he worried that he had made a big mistake.

It was spring and the day of Joe's funeral came.

Near the end of the graveside service, a single butterfly came into view and landed on Joe's coffin.

Pastor Mark looked over at Junior and raised his eyebrows as if to say,

here is your sign that your dad is okay.

Junior scowled at him, rolled his eyes in a way that only teenagers can do.

And with a huff of anger that a stupid butterfly could mean anything it all, stomped off to the car.

Afterward, Pastor Mark apologized to Joe's wife, and she said not to worry.

It will just take time.

She was grateful for all he had done.

But Pastor Mark left the service with feeling that love is just not enough.

You try your best, you do everything you can, but love at times feels inadequate.

He drove home feeling like a failure.

We have all been there, haven't we? Regardless of the kind of work that we do

or the relationships that we have.

Sometimes love just does not seem like enough.

When your child is struggling and you don't have the answer.

When your spouse or partner loses their job and you cannot fix it.

When someone you love is caught in the cycle of addiction and you cannot save them.

When grief hits hard and nothing you say or do can take the pain away.

We believe in love, but sometimes it feels powerless.

If love is the greatest thing, if love is all we need, if love makes the world

go round, then why does it often feel like it's just not enough?

Well, it's nice to know that we are in good company.

The two Marys in our Easter story go to the tomb because they love Jesus.

But they go to the tomb with a love that can only grieve. Talk about feeling inadequate.

Their love showed up over and over and over again. They followed Jesus his whole ministry.

They made meals. They washed clothes. They gathered the water.

They kept the fires hot and so much more, but their love did not stop Jesus' death.

The women's love was real.

Their love was faithful. Their love was beautiful, but their love did not save Jesus.

But you know, Easter is not the story of people who love well enough to fix

everything, or even to fix anything at all.

It is the story of God's love, refusing to let death have the last word.

Easter is the story of God's love, doing something that their love,

that human love, that our love cannot

do the earth shakes the

stone rolls away an angel speaks into their grief do not be afraid he is not

here jesus has been raised from the dead life and love win.

God's love is not just a feeling

it is not just a warm fuzzy

god's love shows up god's love acts god's love makes a way where there is no

way for us to act god's love makes life where there was only death.

God's love is able to do what our love cannot do.

And then the most amazing part of the story, the part of the story that the

angel, the angel himself doesn't even know.

The risen Jesus meets the two Marys on the road.

I'd like to call it a bonus appearance because the angel promises that Jesus will show up in Galilee,

but the two Marys get a bonus Jesus resurrection appearance that's just for them.

He meets the two Marys on the road, And this matters because when Jesus meets

them on the way, everything changes.

They came to the tomb with a love that could only grieve.

But when they encounter the risen Jesus, they are filled with something so much more.

They are filled with an everlasting love in the risen Jesus who has found them

on the road, on the way, on the journey.

There is no reason to fear the future or to fear that our love is inadequate

because Jesus has done what he has promised.

He has gone ahead of them and he meets them there on the way,

filling them with his presence, filling them with his eternal love.

With the two Marys, we can trust that Jesus' love, that Jesus' presence is already

going ahead of us, on the road, on the way,

on the journey.

That Jesus' love is in the middle of whatever it is that we are facing,

especially when our love feels inadequate, like it's not enough.

We need not fear this afternoon or tomorrow or next week. Why?

Because the risen Jesus is already there, and he will meet us on the way,

on the road, in the future.

Remember Pastor Mark? His story didn't end at the graveside with an angry teenager.

When he walked in his house after the graveside service, he got a phone call from Joe's wife.

She asked him, to drop everything and to come immediately to her house.

She didn't sound upset, but she was very urgent.

She told him the front door was unlocked and to come downstairs to the room

where Joe had been staying.

When he got there, she said they left the window open just to air out the room.

Pastor Mark walked in and saw Junior sitting on the bed, laughing and crying.

The bed was just covered in butterflies.

God's love can do what ours cannot.

The great news of Easter is that when our love runs out, God's love shows up.

When we don't know what to say or how to fix it, we can trust that the risen

Lord is already going ahead of us and is at work on the journey.

And then, and then, we can ask how we might show up and come alongside.

The signs may be small and easy to miss.

The signs may be easy to dismiss.

But when we look with Easter eyes, we begin to see that resurrection love is

already breaking in and is always, in fact, breaking in.

The bird singing outside your window or as you walk into work.

A phone call or a text at just the right time.

A song that comes on that lifts your spirits just at the right moment. A stranger's kindness.

And please, do not discount that solitary butterfly.

Or a whole bunch of them.

These aren't solutions. They don't fix everything.

But they are signs that love is still moving,

that resurrection is already breaking into your life, that you are being held

and guided by an eternal love.

And like the two Marys, we can receive this love and let it move us to respond

with new actions that show up for others and bring good news.

For that is what Jesus' love does.

It fills us with hope. It fills us with new life. And it calls us into loving action.

The women fall at his feet in worship. And then Jesus lifts them up and sends them out.

Resurrection love finds us on the road and then sends us back out on the road for others.

This is why we begin our Values That Stick series today.

You can see the picture in your bulletin. Galatians calls it the fruits of the Spirit.

The logo is in the bulletin. It looks like this, the tree with all of the fruits

of the Spirit or the values that stick, love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

And we'll focus on these values. So they stick in our lives,

our kids, our grandkids, our kids at school, if we're a teacher.

And then we're gonna post activity cards, five for each value or fruit.

And I printed them out real big so you can see what they look like,

but we can print them out like a deck of cards, five for each one,

and they have activities on them.

And we're gonna post them on the website and our Facebook page.

So please watch for those.

Here's joy right here. Next week is joy. And today we started with love.

Because of course, Jesus, risen from the dead, love.

The eternal love of Jesus has found you on the road today with what?

Lots of butterflies, wouldn't you say? Amen.

So this week, you are sent on the road for others. So keep your Easter eyes open.

Pray for the person you feel powerless to help.

Help the person that you can. A card, a text, a call, a casserole.

Sit in the hard moment with someone. You don't need words. Just say, I'm here.

Be kind to everyone you possibly can be, even in small ways.

Trust that Jesus meets them and you on the way, and God will always show up,

making much more out of our love than we can ever possibly ask or imagine.

Let the church say amen.

Filled with resurrection joy, go in peace to love, serve, and welcome all.

Thanks be to God and we will If you were inspired by this week.