he is risen

Sermon of the week: It’s Easter and He is risen indeed!

Easter Sunday: To many it means the Easter bunny, a day of food and celebration. For some it is an obligatory church-attending holiday, after which life goes on as usual. How sad that we have so quickly forgotten the true meaning of Easter. Our God reigns! Jesus Christ died, yes. But even more importantly, He rose again and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, as we say in the Lord’s Prayer.

On Easter Sunday, more than 2 billion Christians in congregations all over the world will follow a tradition that is thousands of years old. The pastors, priests or leaders will cry out in a triumphant voice, “He is risen!” And the people respond, “He is risen indeed!” It is because of the truth of this simple affirmation that the world, with all its many troubles, has hope.

The awful death of Jesus Christ was not the end of the story. Within three days Jesus rose from the dead; the tomb is empty. No one believed it would happen. Good news is Jesus still lives. He is risen indeed.

The resurrection still stands as the foundation of the Christian faith. His own resurrection is a guarantee of the future resurrection; death has already been conquered. The resurrection power is available to every Christian today; bringing each spiritual dead person to life. He is risen indeed!

Women went to the tomb on Sunday morning. They brought spices to the tomb just as we take flowers today as a sign of love and respect. When they arrived they found that the stone covering the entrance was rolled aside. In fact, this was their concern that who would roll the stone for them for it was heavy. It rolled aside so that others could get in and see for themselves that Jesus had indeed risen from dead just as he had said he would.

As women were wondering, two men stood by with shining garments and said to them: “Why do you seek the living among dead? He is not here, he is risen! Remember what he said to you when he lived among you, “The Son of man would be delivered in the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise again.”

These rushed back to tell His eleven disciples and everyone else among Jesus’ followers who had been in hiding since crucifixion. Amazingly, the disciples did not believe it; the story sounded to some like nonsense like it can sound to some of us today. But I have Good News for you today that Jesus Christ is risen indeed.

Peter, hearing this, ran to the grave and saw the empty linen wrappings. Peter went away wondering what had happen. How long do we keep wondering and not believing. Do not be like the doubting Thomas; be a believer that Jesus Christ is indeed risen from dead and lives at the right hand of Almighty God. We shall live because He lives. He is risen indeed. Amen.