April 5, 2026 | He is Risen!

This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Now, after the Sabbath, towards the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.

And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.

And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

But the angel said to the woman, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

He is not here, for he has risen.

As he said, Come, see the place where he lay.

Then go quickly and tell the disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee.

There you will see him.

See, I have told you.

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell the disciples.

And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings, and they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him.

Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid.

Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Pray with me, please.

We pray, come, Holy Spirit, open the scriptures to us today, that we might see Jesus, that we might behold Him.

We pray, Jesus, take your place among your people, to the glory of your Father.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

I'd like you to please be seated.

I'd like to begin by saying that, really by stating the obvious, that this day, this moment, this Easter is all about Jesus.

It's all about him.

It's not about Easter bunnies and Easter egg hunts.

It's not about Easter outfits.

It's not about lilies.

It is all about Jesus Christ this day.

And we journeyed with him.

A week ago here, we journeyed with him.

We journeyed with him into Jerusalem.

It was Palm Sunday.

And Jesus was riding on a donkey.

And he was riding in, and he was hailed as a king.

Palms were waving, people were bowing, and they were shouting, Hosanna.

And our journey led us four days later to an upper room in Jerusalem.

And there we found Jesus having a meal with his disciples.

And there he broke bread and he gave it to them.

And he took a cup of wine after he had blessed both the bread and the wine, and he gave that to them.

And he said, Eat and drink.

This is my body broken for you.

This is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.

Whenever you eat of this, do so in remembrance of me.

And later that night we consider that Jesus got up from that table and he took on the posture in the form of a servant.

And in complete silence, he went to the feet of his disciples and kneeling, he washed all of their feet.

And he did it for a reason.

He would say later, love as I've loved you.

With the whole point of that object lesson of washing feet, we cannot love until we first receive his love.

We cannot give away what we don't have.

And then we were led.

We were led outside of Jerusalem to a hill outside of Jerusalem.

Jesus was led to Calvary's Hill, to a place called Golgotha.

And there we considered and we saw that he was he was nailed to a cross.

And he was crucified between two criminals.

And there hanging on the cross was the perfect Lamb of God.

The Lamb of God who was found to have no blemish.

He was the spotless Lamb of God.

There on the cross, he who knew no sin, he became sin.

That we might become the righteousness of God.

It was there on the cross, on that good Friday, that he took the whole weight and burden of your sin and my sin.

And because of that, he experienced death.

Death.

Because you see, the wages of sin is death.

And Jesus became your sin and my sin.

So that the death that he experienced wasn't just his death, it was your death and my death.

And we walked out of that service.

We walked out of that service, feeling that death is so final, that death is the end.

That death has all the power.

And we walked out of that service with the words ringing in our ears.

Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?

Today.

Today we hear of two women.

Two women who were there when they laid him in the tomb.

Two women, three days later, they go back to the tomb.

And there they hear the most powerful words spoken in the world.

The most powerful words ever spoken.

The most powerful words spoken in any language, in any culture.

There, when they went to the tomb, they heard, He is risen.

He is risen.

He's not here.

He is risen just as he said.

They went to the tomb.

Heavy hearted.

They went to the tomb grieving.

Realizing that death has the final word.

But then they hear from the angel, he is not here.

And the three most powerful words ever spoken, he is risen.

There are moments.

Moments in history when everything changes.

Moments that divide time itself into before and after.

Moments when the world we thought that we knew and understood is suddenly no longer the same.

And Easter morning.

Easter morning is that moment when everything changed.

And it's captured in three words, the most powerful words this world will ever know.

He is risen.

This moment, this Easter moment, this event shaped the world, reshaped the world.

I say this every year.

This Easter moment is the line that's drawn in the sand.

This Easter moment is the moment that everything is measured off of this moment, life and death itself.

And we heard today that it's in fulfillment of everything that Jesus said, just as he said, he would rise.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, they all record Jesus saying that he must be handed over to the authorities, that he must be crucified and then on the third day that he will rise.

He is risen.

This is the proclamation.

This is why people all over the world come on this particular day.

It's because he is risen.

Peter writes about this moment.

He says this in 1 Peter chapter 3.

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

He says this, for Christ died for sins once for all.

Do you hear that?

That Christ died for sins once for all.

Do you know who is included in all?

All of us.

He died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous.

To bring you to God.

This is the reason he did it.

He was put to death in the body, but he was made alive in the spirit.

You know what that is?

That's the Easter story in a verse.

You see, in God's eyes, in his sight, we are all sinners.

And we know that to be true.

God says that in his word to us, that no one is righteous, not even one.

So that the problem that we face is a universal problem.

The problem is called sin, and it's not just unique to Christianity.

All religions of the world know that there's a problem, and all the religions of the world define how you can make yourself right to enter into rightness with God, whoever your God might be, whoever you might serve in that religion.

And for us, for all, Jesus died for our sins.

Once for all.

I don't care who you serve, I don't care what religion, I don't care what doctrine you believe in, He died for all.

So it's relevant, it's pertinent to every single one of us if we believe it or not.

He didn't take a poll, he didn't take a referendum to find out if he needed to do this.

He just did it.

And listen to this.

He did it.

We read in Revelation chapter 13 that he did it, that the that the lamb, the lamb was slain before the foundation of the earth.

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

Do you know what that means?

He knows the beginning from the end.

You know what that means?

That the lamb was slain before the foundation of the earth.

He knew that we were gonna have this problem with sin.

But do you know what he did in his love and his mercy and his grace?

He made a provision before the foundation of the world to solve the problem.

The problem of sin.

You remove the sin.

You remove the problem.

You remove the sin.

You remove the separation from God, the separation from one another, you remove death, which is what death is.

Death is the ultimate separation from one another and the separation from God.

You see, it's so easy for us to come to this particular day at this particular moment on Easter Sunday.

It's so easy for us to come here and just leave this moment as a historical moment that took place 2,000 years ago.

Oh, it's just something that happened then, 2,000 years ago.

It's just something that we celebrate now, kind of like the 4th of July.

We just, rather than having fireworks, we have Easter egg hunts.

But you see, the question of Easter is not just did it happen?

But the question of Easter is what does it mean to you?

This is the question of Easter.

The Bible says, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, that this is of first importance.

There's nothing more important than this, that Christ died for your sins, and that he was raised from the dead, and that he was seen by all the brother, 500 people.

There are witnesses to the historical event that this took place.

And he goes on to say that if Jesus wasn't raised, then what we believe, our trust that we put in him, then it's futile.

And we hear today that the women that go to the tomb, they encounter the risen Christ.

Not only them, we heard in the first reading that the disciples encounter him.

They have a meal with him, they fellowship with him because he's alive.

And the question of Easter is, does what does this mean to you?

John.

John writes in his gospel when Jesus stood and he said, I am resurrection and I am life.

All those who believe in me, even though they die, yet shall they live.

Do you hear that?

I am resurrection.

It's his resurrection and it's our resurrection.

All those who believe in me, even though they die, yet shall they live.

Jesus said it this way before he went to the cross.

He said, I'm gonna come and take you to be with me with where I am, because in my father's house there are many rooms.

And if that's not the case, if that's not the truth, I would not tell you that.

But then he said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, that no one comes into the Father's house but through me.

Do you hear that?

This is why he came, this is why he is risen, that we might enter into a relationship with him.

You see, so many people think in our world, so many people think when it comes to Jesus, okay, yes, he died on the cross, okay, he became my sin.

Okay, he rose from the dead, okay.

That means, guess what?

I'm in a relationship with him, but that's not the truth.

Jesus would say this all those who believe in me, all those who receive me, I give the right to become children of God.

Children not born of parents, but children born of God.

You see, it's all about the relationship.

What does this mean for you today?

I've been here for 14 years, and I proclaim the very same message on this day, on this Easter Sunday.

Because this is what we heard is to proclaim.

This is the gospel.

This is what needs to be proclaimed.

Why?

Because Jesus loves us, He loves us.

For God so loved the world that he gave his son that all who believe in him should not die.

Death has been defeated.

All those who believe him should not die, but have life, life eternal.

You see, Easter morning he is risen, death has been defeated.

Sin has been removed, but we've got to receive the gift.

You know what Jesus is doing right now?

He is in glory.

And you know what he's doing?

He's praying for you.

And he's praying for me.

You know what he's praying?

Father, I pray that they will be one, just as we are one.

That they will know me and know you.

This is his prayer for all people.

All people.

So, what does this morning mean to you?

He stands in our midst.

He stands in the midst of the church and he says, Come to me.

Are you broken?

Are you heavy laden?

Are you lost?

Come to me.

You see, maybe some of us, maybe we've started out really, really well with this relationship.

Maybe we started out on fire, but now the fire has dissipated.

And maybe we've kind of lost our way.

Maybe we have done so well in life that we've created other gods, and now we bow and we serve those other gods.

And Jesus says, turn to me.

Come to me.

Because I am life.

Maybe there are some here today that just see this as a historical moment in history.

And so it didn't make any difference to me.

And I would say to you today, reconsider why you're here.

Reconsider why you're here.

You are hearing these words.

These are the words of the Lord speaking to you.

And you are going to be responsible for these words.

What does this day mean to you?

The three most powerful words ever spoken, He is risen.

All those who come to me, I will not turn away.

Because He is risen, everything that He said is true.

Don't let this Easter moment pass by without getting real with Jesus.

Because it's all about Him and His love for the world.

The most powerful words spoken.

There have been many words spoken in history, but none like these.

Not because they inspire, not because they move hearts, but they change reality itself.

Death has been swallowed up in victory.

The grave is no longer the inn.

Death is no longer the master.

Oh death, oh death, where is your sting?

Jesus is no longer in the tomb.

Alleluia.

He is risen.

He is risen indeed.

Hallelujah.

Father God, we thank you for the glory of this day.

Oh Lord, in all humility, we bow before you.

It's not about us, Lord.

It's all about you.

And we thank you for your saving love.

Thank you, Lord.

That the tomb is empty, that you are alive, that we can know you.

And we can enter into life everlasting, beginning today with you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.