Arise: Easter Sunday: Seeking & Believing - 6 April, 2026

Bible with you. I'd like to invite you to open

it to Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24.

Luke 24 · chapter mention Luke 24 · chapter mention

This week I popped open my text messages and I had a message

there. Craig, would you like to go see

David Suzuki? And I was like, of course I want

to. That would be rain.

And I was so excited. And so later I said, so do I

meet you there or you just going to send?

How do how do I have a ticket? And she sent the ticket.

And then Tuesday afternoon, I was so excited about seeing

David Suzuki. And I was at an art show that my

daughter was doing. And then I said, I have to rush

out of here and head to campus for this event with David

Suzuki. I got to campus, I parked out, I

hiked into campus. I came across and as I'm coming

down to the Sears building, I'm thinking there are not a lot of

people here. What's going on?

Where is everybody? I got to the door and the door

was locked and every, the whole lobby was empty.

I was like, either the rapture has happened or I got the wrong

day. And so I popped open my phone,

looked closely at the ticket. Oh, it's Wednesday, it's

Tuesday, I'll come back tomorrow.

I was really disappointed, but I was so glad that I had missed

out. Do you know Easter morning was

like that for the Marys? They went to the tomb not

excited, but dreading the fulfillment of their

responsibilities to Jesus, who had died on the cross on Friday.

And they went to the tomb expecting that they would find

Jesus there. But he was not.

And so in their heart, they didn't know how to make sense of

this. They were as confused as I was

standing in front of the Sears building looking in, going,

Where is everybody? They're looking at an empty

tomb, going, Where's Jesus? Where is Jesus?

And so the story of Easter is the experience of this great

transition of mind to a new reality, to the new reality that

God has made. And we don't want you to miss

it. In fact, all those who recorded

this message did so, so that those who came after would not

miss Jesus the resurrected, but they would actually find in Him

that He is the ticket to new life, new purpose, new meaning,

New Hope. And so this is recorded for us

so that we also might go on that journey of transformation.

Let's follow along in the story of the first Easter day.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the

women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they

entered they did not find the body of Jesus.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in

clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the

ground. But the men said to them, Why do

you look for the living among the dead?

He is not here, He is risen. Remember how He told you while

he was still with you in Galilee.

The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be

crucified, and on the third day be raised again.

Then they remembered His words when they came back from the

tomb. They told all these things to

the 11 and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna,

Mary the Mother of James, and the others with them, who told

this to the apostles, but they did not believe the women,

because their words seemed like nonsense.

Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb.

Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves,

and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Now, that same day, two of them were going to the village called

Emmaus, about 7 miles from Jerusalem.

It's quite a walk, 7 miles. Someone told me this week they

don't like to walk even 15 minutes.

This was a long walk. They were talking with each

other about everything that had happened, and as they talked and

discussed these things with each other, Jesus came up and walked

along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, What are you discussing together as you walk

along? They stood still, their faces

downcast. One of them named Cleopas asked

him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not

know these things that have happened there in these days?

What things? He asked about Jesus of

Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in

Word and deed before God and all the people, the chief priests

and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and

they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the

one who was going to redeem Israel.

And what is more, it is the third day since all this took

place. In addition, some of our women

amazed us. They went to the tomb early this

morning but didn't find his body.

They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who

said he was alive. Then some of our companions went

to the tomb and found it, just as the women had said, But they

did not see Jesus. He said to them, How foolish you

are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things, and then

enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all

the prophets, He explained to them what was said in all the

Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village

to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if as if He was

going farther, but they urged him strongly.

Stay with us, for it is nearly evening, the day is almost over.

So we went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with

them, he took bread and gave thanks, broke it and began to

give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and

they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

They asked each other, will not our hearts burning within us,

while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures

to us. They got up and returned it once

to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 and

those with them assembled together and saying it is true,

the Lord has risen and he has appeared to Simon.

Then the two told what had happened on the way and how

Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

I have sympathy for those who find moments in their lives when

they hope there is someone for them.

They hope there is something on their side and in their search

to describe this kind of grace, they say something like this.

Well, I hope the universe is for me.

I hope the universe will be on my side.

Have you ever heard someone say such a thing?

I love looking at the stars at night.

Difficult to do in Vancouver, but if you get out where the

light pollution is less and you look up into the stars, into the

heavens, you see light, you see the far reaches of the universe.

Is it for you or is it against you?

Is the universe friendly and on your side or is it impersonal?

Is there anyone out there who is for you?

We see the light of those stars, the far reaches of the universe,

and none of us have been there yet.

I guess there's hope that we might get to Mars because some

people are going to make it to the moon this week.

Did you all know that? But who has come from the far

reaches of the universe in order to show that He is for us only

God, the Creator of the heavens and earth, the Alpha and the

Omega? Only God has come to show us

that He is for us. And He is not impersonal, He is

so personal and He is for us. But in looking at the cross, we

would not imagine that the cross, the picture of a man

dying between two thieves, would actually be the picture of God

loving us. Because just taken as it was, it

was the picture of a man who had done good things, who was deemed

to be a prophet, a great preacher, a worker of some

powerful deeds, who died on a cross and perhaps was just a

tragedy, A tragic ending. And so he died, and it was over

without the resurrection of Jesus.

The cross itself is really confusing.

The cross itself is really ugly. It is the picture of Roman

power, the power of empire in the state, being exacted on an

individual and a people in order to show them who's really in

charge. It was a terrible death of

violence, where a body was broken and blood poured out and

ultimately all the air drained out of a person.

And this would have been a terrible ending except for the

resurrection. The resurrection of Jesus

transforms that moment. In fact, it illuminates that

moment so that now we can see the meaning of his suffering, we

can see the truth of his message, and we can experience

the abiding communion of his Commission with us.

So first is suffering. Jesus himself shows that the

resurrection illuminates his suffering and gives it meaning.

He says the Scripture says that He opened their minds so they

could understand the scriptures. He told them this is what is

written. The Messiah will suffer and rise

from the dead on the third day. They could not imagine that

God's appointed and anointed one would suffer such terrible

things and die. They could not imagine that God

would rather love his enemies than kill them until he died on

the cross according to the Scriptures and what had been

said. But it's the resurrection that

illuminates it. Without Resurrection Sunday, we

would not even remember Crucifixion Friday.

It's the resurrection of Jesus that shines a light backwards

and says that historical moment changed the whole world, changed

the cosmos. Here's Jesus on his cross.

Jesus said this. He said this on the occasion

that some Greeks came and said we want to see Jesus and the

disciples were wanting to protect Jesus from this moment

and from these Greek fellows. But Jesus says no, Now is the

time for judgement on this world.

Now the Prince of this world will be driven out, and I, when

I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Jesus says that the cross was going to do three things.

It was going to judge the world. He says the cross is going to

actually drive out Satan. He says that the cross will then

drag people. That word draw is drag.

It's going to drag people to himself that it's going to have.

It's like an attractional force. It's like a tractor beam that

draws people in. It was only after the

resurrection of Jesus that these words began to make sense, that

the cross actually has great meaning.

We've been singing about it all morning.

We've been singing about it because of Resurrection Sunday.

In fact, every Sunday after this is a celebration of the

resurrection of Jesus, and it's a remembrance of his death on

the cross, that he was accomplishing something there

for you and for me, that his suffering actually had great

meaning. Paul said it this way about the

suffering of Jesus. It's a great reversal.

Having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which

stood against us and condemned us, he has taken it away,

nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers

and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them,

triumphing over them by the cross.

Do you know Roman execution was so humiliating?

In fact, 1 was stripped of your clothes.

When we go into some churches, you will find a cross there, and

most often Jesus is clothed on the cross.

We're fairly modest people, but when Jesus was crucified, he was

actually stripped of his clothes and nailed to the cross.

When Jesus died on the cross, there was a sign above his head

that said Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

What kind of king is this that Rome exerts such power over and

humiliates completely? Who's completely powerless to do

anything yet Jesus said of his own moment in this.

No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own

accord and I have authority to take it back up.

It's the resurrection that shines a light on that moment, a

great reversal, Jesus. Paul says here that the cross

actually strips away the thin veneer of respect and nobility

that the authorities in this world carry themselves in

because they believe that their power, their ability to kill,

their ability to exact violence on others is actually a sign of

their great strength, their great personhood, their great

power. But Jesus says no, I'm going to

show them for who they really are, with my cross and with my

life given out, with my death given on their behalf, and then

with my resurrection, I will show them.

I will make a spectacle of them. Pilate and the authorities had

more trust in Jesus's words and suspicion about Jesus than the

disciples did. Did you know that when they

buried Jesus in a borrowed tomb given by Joseph of Arimathea,

Pilate ordered that the stone be put there, the stone be sealed,

and then have soldiers surround it.

And so, since Friday night, the soldiers had been standing guard

at this tomb. Why?

Because they had heard there was some rumor, perhaps that Jesus.

Would be raised from the dead and the disciples seem to have

forgotten in their grief, in their trauma, they forgot and

God did the very thing he promised.

Now this also illuminates his message for us.

This great reversal is a change for us.

Even while Jesus was on the cross, he said, Father, forgive

them. But its meaning for us is this,

that repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be

preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

I want you to think for a moment for the thing that you wish no

one knew about you. I want you to think for a moment

of the thing for which you have most regret.

I want you to think for a moment of the thing that you know would

embarrass your family. And it's for all this that Jesus

died. For all of those things, the

guilt we fill, the shame we experience, the fear that fills

us, it's for all of that, that Jesus died, that it might be

transformed and changed in our lives, that it might be

forgiven, that it might be dropped.

That if God looked at us and said, I have an issue with you.

But now, because of Christ Jesus, his death on the cross

and his resurrection, I'm going to drop it.

Imagine that God had an account of your life and all the things

for which there is guilt that you have, and all the things for

which there is shame that you have, and all the things that

fill you with fear. And he looks at that and says,

oh, what a terrible wait in their lives this is to bear.

I will bear it myself. It shall be nailed to the cross

with Jesus so that now I can forgive them.

I can drop it, for that is what the word forgiveness means.

God looks at us and those who receive him in faith and say I

receive you, Lord Jesus, as Lord God says all of that that might

be held against you. I drop it, I forgive it.

Jesus did this at the cross and he does it for everyone to this

day. It says that the cross, two

other men, both criminals were also let out with Jesus to be

executed. And when they came to the place

called the skull, they crucified him there along with the

criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

And Jesus said, Father forgive them for they do not know what

they are doing. And they divided up his clothes

by casting lots. When God comes to visit, when

God is treated shamefully as if he is guilty, he is not filled

with fear. He's filled with forgiveness and

looking out from the cross. Jesus says, Father, forgive

them. They don't know what they're

doing. This echoes the very teaching of

Jesus. Forgive your enemies.

Forgive those who persecute you and hate you and treat you

badly. Forgive them, pray for them,

love them, do good for them. Bless them and here at his life,

he end of his life, he embodies the teaching and he shows us

what is coming. Forgiveness.

And now the message of the church is to be forgiveness.

Now, the message and move of every disciple of Jesus is to be

the power to forgive your enemies, the power to forgive

those who have been filled with fear, shame, and guilt, and they

don't know what they're doing, but to forgive them.

What a transformation of life. It's the resurrection that

illuminates this, but it's also the resurrection that makes it

possible. Because how many of us want to

volunteer for an assignment that says, I want you to go out into

the world on Monday and you're going to find that you have

enemies and I want you to forgive them?

Anybody volunteering for that one?

It's just reality. It's just the experience of

living that if you go through this life, you will actually

find that you carry within yourself grudges and resentment

and hurts and pain, not just towards people but perhaps also

towards God. What a misunderstanding we have.

So how is it possible that we could actually take a message of

forgiveness and repentance to the world unless God is actually

with us and in US? Notice Jesus says you are

witnesses of these things, and I'm going to send you what my

Father has promised. But stay in the city until you

have been clothed with power from on high.

You're going to be clothed with power on on, on high.

I wonder if in that moment they remembered Jesus naked on the

cross, stripped in all appearances of power, but in

that moment he was actually clothed with power from on high

'cause he could say, Father forgive them what power

demonstrated in weakness. And this is our Commission, that

we would be witnesses of these things and that we would be

clothed with power from on high. I'm not sure what you think is

going to make you a powerful person.

Is it your degree? Does that make you a powerful

person? Does it command respect?

A little bit, yes. I give you hope for your

studies. Yes, it does.

Maybe it's your culture. Does your culture create power

for you? Maybe a little bit.

But cultures and societies come and go and change and and we

actually become hybrids. We become morphs of our cultural

legacies. Is it your maleness or your

femaleness? Is your great power, your

intellect and your brain? Is your great power your ability

to collect wealth and money? Or is your great power the very

presence of God in your life? Because this is the power, the

clothing that God wants to provide.

This is how Jesus described it. He said, I will not leave you as

orphans. So an orphan you might imagine

is is one who doesn't have a family, doesn't have a heritage,

who's lost track of all of that. And they might not even have

shoes. Their clothes may not indicate

that they have any greatness about them.

But he says I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.

Before long the world will not see me anymore.

But you will see me because I live.

You also will live. On that day you will realize

that I am in my Father and that you are in me and that I am in

you. This is the power that Jesus

wants to grant us, that by His Spirit, the gift sent from the

Father, He would clothed you with the presence of God in your

life so that you are not alone in this world.

You are not the only one in charge of your destiny, but you

have God on your side. The invitation then in our lives

is to actually let the resurrection shine this way into

our life. Not just back on the cross, but

let the resurrection of Jesus shine towards our lives so that

there is meaning granted to our suffering.

And the story we tell about the sufferings in our lives is

transformed because we say God showed up and brought healing in

my life, that God transformed the messages that we have

beforehand. Our messages in life may have

been around our own petty differences with others or with

our experience of difficulty of our experience of broken

relationships. But now in Christ, our message

becomes God forgave me. God's transforming my

relationships. In fact, He's giving me more

Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness,

faithfulness, and self-control. He forgave me.

I do not carry the weight of my guilt or shame.

I am not filled with fear anymore.

And then we have a new mission. And our new mission is to live

in the presence of God for the rest of our lives.

And the resurrection shines a light towards us, towards you,

and says, hey, this is possible. FIFA is coming to town and

they're going to play the beautiful game, aren't they?

That's our idealism about soccer, football, That is the

beautiful game. But I I wonder if in your own

life you realize that you are intended to live a beautiful

life, that there is a beauty that's meant to inhabit and take

shape from your life. Our fear is that our life is

just a series of terrible crosses to bear, terrible

disappointments, terrible pain. But the Scripture says that

anyone who sets their heart in Christ Jesus goes on pilgrimage

so that they transform those places of pain into places of

incredible beauty. This is our destiny as

Christians today, if God can take a cross and turn it into a

beautiful thing such that we would actually take the Roman

cross and wear it as jewelry. Do you have a cross on today

that we would actually have it as a tattoo on our bodies?

Anybody have a cross tattoo? Do you want to confess that we

would actually have great art made over the last 2000 years

that shows a cross? And we look at that picture and

we go, wow, that's sort of beautiful.

How did the cross become a thing of beauty?

It's because it doesn't just show the ugly side of life, it

shows the beautiful side of the creative power of God to

transform our lives. And so then I know if God can

make a cross beautiful, he can make my life beautiful.

If God can make a cross of Jesus beautiful, he can make your

lives beautiful. Do you want that?

Do you want a beautiful life? It starts with saying yes to

Jesus and saying I've had lots of fear and pain and shame and

guilt in my life. I have stories that I don't know

how to tell. Oh Lord Jesus, come and start

your work of transformation. This is how it starts with you

saying yes to Jesus. Heavenly Father, we pray that

you would transform our lives so that in your time you would make

all things beautiful as we come to your table and remember the

body of Jesus broken for us and your blood poured out for us.

We pray that you would even now transform our lives so that we

might live a resurrection life, that we might live a life in

which you dwell in US. Lord, we pray make all things

beautiful in your time. Let's stand together.