Sermons

Luke 24:1-12

So What About Easter?

So what about Easter?  Did it make any difference to you?  Anything change?  Already moved on?

Truth be told, simply hearing this story of resurrection again doesn’t change many people.  Seldom do words have that kind of effect.  It didn’t for the women at the empty tomb.  They heard two men in dazzling clothes tell them Jesus is not here.  They received the news not with joy but with terror, bowing their faces to the ground.  They did not skip with delight to tell the other disciples, singing alleluias all the way, but simply returned from the tomb.

But they did do one thing.  They remembered.  The word in Greek for remember connotes a booster shot.  Jesus was activated in them as they recalled his life and his teachings.  As they did so, they began to feel that he was with them still, in spirit this time, and not as before.  He had changed.  He walked through walls.  He appeared as a Gardener.  He wasn’t recognized until he shared a meal with them.  Despite his death and the agonizing sorrow of losing someone so dear to them, they somehow had a sense of hope and promise, that life could go on, and Christ’s spirit would be with them.

So what about Easter?  It is much more than words shared once a year.  It is about Christ’s spirit in the world who reminds us that no matter how we feel, what we’ve done, the trauma we have experienced, and the betrayals we have endured, we can begin each day afresh.  What’s a difference that can make.