I can’t imagine what it would have been like that first Easter Sunday—to have been one of the first people to come to the tomb, and to hear the angels say, “He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said” (Matthew 28:6). To see the empty grave clothes. To meet Jesus and mistake him for a gardener. To walk alongside him on a road and not recognize him. To feel my heart burning within me as he spoke, but not understand what was happening.
To watch the beginnings of everything sad coming untrue,[1. With apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien.] and not realize it.
Yet, this is what happened, starting on that fateful morning, isn’t it? As the women came to honor Christ in death, they discovered death could not hold him. As the disciples’ sorrow turned to joy as Christ revealed to them all that the Scriptures testified about him. As Jesus appeared to his followers and allowed Thomas to touch the holes in his hands and feet, and see that he really was alive.
That’s what’s been happening—and has continued to happen every day for 2000 years since, as Jesus’ followers took the message throughout Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And as this message has taken root in the hearts of men and women everywhere,
- Sadness has been exchanged for joy.
- Enmity with God has been exchanged for friendship.
- Sinfulness has been exchanged for righteousness.
- Fruitless toil has been exchanged for rest.
- Folly and striving after the wind have been exchanged for true wisdom.
- Separation has been exchanged for unity.
- Death has been exchanged for eternal life.
No more striving in vain. No more hoping to earn what he freely gives. No more trying to do what only Christ could do for us. “It is finished,” Jesus said on Good Friday. And on Sunday, the angels confirmed it: “He is not here! For He has been resurrected, just as He said” (Matthew 28:6).
That is the good news of Easter, friends: Christ is risen—and everything sad is coming untrue. That is the good news we celebrate not simply on one day of the year, or even every Sunday, but every day!
