5th April 2026 - Easter Day

EASTER DAY 2026.  Readings: Mark 16:1-8 & Luke 24:13-24

“But they did not see Jesus.”  What an amazing statement!

They didn’t see him because he wasn’t there, but today there are all sorts of wild theories out there about what actually happened that first Easter.  Some think that Jesus didn’t actually die on the cross, he just fainted from the pain and the fatigue, and they thought that he was dead, so they took him down too early.

Others think that he did die, and that his body was put in the tomb, but that the disciples stole it and pretended that he had risen again. 

Still others say that the disciples were all hallucinating, and that Jesus didn’t really come back to life at all.  Still more genuinely think that the whole thing’s a myth, because Jesus didn’t really exist anyway.

That’s all very sad, but not as sad as the fact that the majority of people don’t even give it a second thought, they just enjoy the chocolate,; and a day off work .  

Let’s pray.   Lord Jesus, at the moment your physical body couldn’t take it anymore, when you said “It is finished”, when you bowed your head and gave up your spirit, when the earth shook and the rocks split, and when the sun stopped shining, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and you gave us access into the Holy of Holies, into the presence of God, into His loving arms. 

And from the moment that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome discovered that there was no body to anoint, we have been able to join them in celebrating your resurrection.  

Help us this morning, as we come around your word, to fully understand the significance of Easter, and to bask in your mercy, your grace and your love.  Amen.

There are no two ways about it. Easter is undiluted good news!

Jesus had been lodging in Bethany, only about 3 kms from Jerusalem, staying with his close friends, Martha, Mary and Lazarus.  On Palm Sunday he rode the colt of a donkey into Jerusalem, in itself a miracle, to the tumultuous acclaim of the crowds that I talked about last Sunday.

The next day during supper, to the consternation of some of the disciples, Mary lavishly poured valuable perfume on Jesus’ head.

Maybe this had been the final straw for poor Judas, maybe the apparent waste had been the thing that had triggered his cowardly betrayal.  We will never know.

Meanwhile Jesus was trying to cushion the blow for the other disciples by telling them, and not for the first time, what was about to happen, but either they didn’t understand, or they couldn’t understand, or they just didn’t want to.

What Judas did released the terrifying and unstoppable chain of events that we prayed through on Friday afternoon. 

And then, astoundingly, unbelievably, wonderfully, …, very early in the morning, those dear ladies got the fright of their lives. The tomb was not only wide open, it was empty.  

What on earth was going on? They would instantly have come up with all sorts of ideas about what could possibly have happened to the dead body. But did they, for one moment, think that Jesus was alive again?

We heard that they were afraid, but I imagine that their overall feeling was one of distress, and that’s why I just love what the angel said to them, so softly, so caringly. 

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.  But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”  

Did you notice that he said “tell his disciples and Peter”.  Poor Peter, distraught that he could possibly have fallen into the trap of denying Jesus, not once, but three times in quick succession, had probably taken himself off somewhere, to be on his own, so the angel particularly wanted him to hear the good news too.  And what good news it was !

Later “that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, Gid just told us,about seven miles from Jerusalem.”  Oh, I just love that story, and some of you will have heard me preach about it, and other preachers too, I don’t doubt.

What I really love about it is when Luke says that it was when they were having supper together, that he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.  It was then that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and as they did so, poooph, he disappeared from their sight.  They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  Oh, how I wish I could have been there. 

What did those two men do? “They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem, probably a two hour walk, and it was getting late. There they found the eleven and those with them, assembled together and already saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then Cleopas and his friend told them what had happened to them on the way, and how they recognized Jesus when he broke the bread.  

“When he broke the bread”. How pertinent was that?

The point that I’m making this morning is that there was no deception. The idea that Jesus didn’t die simply isn’t realistic.  The Romans killed people on crosses all the time and they knew what they were doing.  Added to which, unlike the other two being crucified with him that day, Jesus had also been horribly beaten only hours beforehand.  The soldiers could see that he was dead, but just to prove the fact to the authorities, they pierced his side with a spear.  The gush of blood and water gave them the medical proof that they were looking for. 

The idea that his body was stolen is equally ridiculous. Jesus’ execution had been high profile, and the tomb was being closely guarded for exactly the reason that the authorities didn’t want any monkey business, or any fake news. 

As for mass hallucination, well that idea doesn’t hold any water at all. 

And the point of all that, is that what happened that first Easter had been forecast on numerous occasions throughout the Old Testament.  It was forecast by Jesus himself. And the historical evidence that it really happened, just as it was recorded in the New Testament, is irrefutable.

But people look for all sorts of weird and wonderful excuses not to believe, because being a Christian in western society today is just too inconvenient, too socially unacceptable.  

Well, I’m sorry, but they need to wake up and smell the coffee. They just need to get real. There IS life after death for all of us, and we get to choose where we want to spend it, amazing though that might seem.

Talking of smelling coffee, sometimes I look at what’s going on in the world and I despair. Then I think, “Oh well, it doesn’t affect me personally, YET.  Just enjoy life while you can.”  

But what I need to realise is that the world is not spinning out of control, even though all the evidence suggests that it might be.  God IS in control, and he did’nt send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. I also need to remember that whoever believes in him is not condemned, but that it is whoever does not believe, those people that I was just talking about, however good or bad they might be, they stand condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  This is the verdict, this is John chapter 3, as I’m sure you realise, this is the verdict: light has come into the world, but strangely people love darkness instead of light, and it’sbecause their deeds are evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3:17-21)

That, my friends, is the good news of Easter, and it’s OUR job to share it. 

Let’s pray.  Jesus, we have an expression that the best things in life are free, and it’s true enough, but THE one single BEST thing ever is certainly free – your forgiveness for sins, past, present and future, your infinite mercy, your unmerited grace, your freedom - for us.  That’s what your resurrection signifies, proves, promises, provides. How can we ever thank you enough? Amen.