Easter Sunday

Throughout our celebration of Holy Week, we've listened to stories.

On Palm Sunday, we heard the story of Jesus entering into Jerusalem - how the crowds hailed him as the "Son of David," the king they'd been waiting for.

Then on Thursday, we heard the story of the Last Supper - how Jesus showed his disciples how they were called to be servants, like him, and he gave them the memorial of his sacrifice on the cross, the Eucharist.

On Friday, we walked with Jesus on the way of the cross - from his betrayal in the garden to his trial to calvary, where the Son of God died on the cross.

Today, we hear a new story: the story that was proclaimed by Peter, Paul, John, Mary Magdalene, and disciples throughout history - that Jesus is alive. John's account includes lots of details: who reached the tomb first, what they saw, how the burial cloths were arranged - details that tell us it was an eyewitness who wrote these words. He was there, and he wants us to know that all this really happened.

Christianity hangs on that claim.

If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then none of this matters. We shouldn't be here, we shouldn't pray, and we shouldn't call ourselves Christians.

It's only if Jesus lives that we have any hope.

These stories that we've heard matter for us because they're not just events that happened a long time ago - they are our stories. As the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said, "Either we are contemporaries of Jesus, or we can have nothing at all to do with it."

We hear these stories year after year because they are vitally important for us now. What Jesus did in Jerusalem so many years ago matters for all time.

With the resurrection of Jesus, the world has entered into it's final stage. God spent years revealing himself, forming a chosen people, and preparing the way for his Son to come into the world. Then Jesus came and showed us the love of the Father - a love so strong, so complete, that it led him to give up his life for us. And that love raised Jesus up from the dead.

God has spoken his final Word to the world and that Word says that he loves us so much, that he gave us his only son and if we believe in him, we can live forever with him.

That's the heart of our Faith.

And it puts a choice before us: either all of this is just a story, or it's the most important thing you've ever heard.

For the apostles, their lives were never the same. They all faced death because of this claim. Christian martyrs over the centuries have done the same - freely accepted death rather than deny that Jesus, the living Jesus, is their savior and their Lord.

That's our faith.

And it presents a question to us: what will we do about it?

Will we live our lives constantly in the light of the resurrection of Christ? Will we do everything in the knowledge that God loves us to the point of death?

How will you respond to the resurrection of Jesus?

That's the question I want you to answer before you leave this church today.

Our celebration of Easter should not be just a one day event. The true meaning of Easter extends to every moment of our existence all the way until we're face to face with our Lord.