EASTER DAY - "He Is RISEN"
He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.
Matthew 28:6
What is more important, Christmas or Easter?
A friend of mine says that this is like asking which wing of an airplane is more important! Both are equally important and equally necessary—and the same is true of Christmas and Easter.
At Christmas, we celebrate the fact of Christ’s coming into the world. He was born as a helpless baby to a poor woman and her husband in an insignificant part of the Roman Empire. And yet that baby was different from every other baby who had ever been born, or ever would be born—for He was God in human flesh. From all eternity He was God—but on that first Christmas He entered time, and He walked among us.
At Easter, however, we celebrate the reason for Christ’s coming into the world. We have rebelled against God, and as a result, our lives are enslaved by evil and sin and death. But Christ came into the world to free us from all these—and He did this by dying on the cross for our sins and then conquering death by His resurrection from the dead. Because of His death and resurrection, we can have hope—hope for our lives right now, and hope for all eternity.
Easter is; He is not here, for He is risen: For the first time, the followers of Jesus – these faithful women – heard what they did not expect to hear. They heard that Jesus was not in the tomb, but risen to resurrection life.
In Israel today, one may see many graves and tombs – there is an ocean of tombs on the Mount of Olives, and a vast sea of graves outside the eastern wall of the temple mount. You can see the tomb of Rebekka, the tomb of David, the tomb of Absalom – but you will not see or find the tomb of the Lord Jesus anywhere. Why? He is not here, for He is risen, as He said (Matthew 28:6).
Read
Matthew 28:1-10.
Prayer
Creator God and Lord of Life, You who call forth from the darkness of death all those who love You. Today, along with all the Church, I rejoice, on this Easter Sunday, in the resurrection from the dead of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.