Easter Message 2026

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026
Matthew 28:1-15

At the beginning of worship:
A man once had a lamb. He treated it like a pet, but when hard times came, he found himself forced to sell the lamb. Unfortunately, three thieves heard of his plans and plotted against him. 

Early in the morning on the day of the market, the man put the lamb on his shoulders and headed off. Along the way, the first thief came up to him and asked, “Why are you carrying that dog on your shoulders?” 

“This isn’t a dog,” the man said. “It’s a lamb and I’m taking it to market.”

Further along the way, the second thief crossed his path and said, “What a fine dog you have on your shoulders. Where are you taking it?”

“It’s a lamb,” the man insisted. “I’m taking it to market.”

As he approached the village walls, inside of which held the market, the third thief stopped him. “Sir, dogs are not allowed in the market.” 

This confused the man. If three people say this is a dog, it must be. He took the lamb off his shoulders and sat it down and went into the market. Had he looked back, he’d seen the thieves running away with his lamb.^[1]

Those who make up Christ’s Christ are often like this confused man. We lose focus by allowing other people’s opinions shape our vision. To appease the world, some try to conform the gospel to science or popular opinion and end up not knowing what they believe. Or they end up with a hollow gospel. 

God raised Jesus from the dead. That’s the truth of the Christian faith, which we celebrate this day, and every Sunday. We can’t prove it. The Apostle Paul, in the first century, admitted the resurrection makes no sense outside of faith. To non-believers, it sounds like foolishness. But we proclaim Christ crucified!^[2] And that’s the Easter message in a nutshell.

Before reading the Scripture:
Again, this week, we’re looking at the end of Matthew’s gospel. Last week, we heard about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Pilgrims packed the city. They’d made their way to the Holy City for Passover. The setting for today’s reading is more subdue. The day hasn’t fully awakened. Only a handful of people experience what happened. In fact, Matthew along with all the other gospels, doesn’t describe the resurrection. Instead, it’s presented as a fact. Jesus rose from the grave. We learn about the resurrection for the effect it has on the women and the disciples who met Jesus. And the power of the resurrection is confirmed by the effect it has had on others who believe, throughout history. 

Read Matthew 28:1-15
What do we celebrate today? For some, the idea Jesus laid in a tomb deader than a doornail and then rose from the grave is a scandal. It’s easier for them to believe the propaganda spread by the religious leaders 2,000 years ago who suggested Jesus’ followers stole his body from the grave. Of maybe, for us, it’s easier to believe in some silly bunny, a rabbit who should be the patron saint of all dentists, bringing chocolate to kids (and lucky adults). 

Or maybe we just celebrate Easter as a rite of Spring. As a child, it marked the time when we brought out our spring clothes. We always took pictures on Easter Sunday, generally in front of blooming azaleas or dogwoods. On Easter, my sister could once again wear white shoes, which she got to show off till Labor Day. My brother and I and our dad got to wear light colored jackets instead of the darker ones of winter. I’m not sure who the fashion police were back then, but I know my mother and many other mothers lived in mortal fear of them… It was all a part of Easter becoming a holiday in which marketers could sell more clothes. 

But none of that is what Easter is all about… Christ has risen and he has given the church two things to offer the world which no other organization has: forgiveness and hope!  Forgiveness is centered around the events of Good Friday, when Jesus died for our sin. As Peter wrote in his first epistle: “Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross, that we might die from sin and live for righteousness.”^[3]  And the hope comes with the empty tomb. There, in the graveyard, when dawn began to break, the women and the disciples discover God’s power is greater than all the powers of evil combined. God’s power is greater than the grave. As Christ’s Church, we offer forgiveness and hope to the world, telling the gospel story repeatedly to each new generation. 

According to Matthew, it was a working day, the first day of the week. The resurrection didn’t occur on the Holy Day of the week.^[4] Sabbath ended at sunset, the evening before and now, the day begins to break. It’s quiet. The crowds of a week ago must be sleeping, but they’ll soon pack up their stuff. The Passover has ended as has the Sabbath. They’ll head home soon. But at this hour, most people remain asleep, as the two Marys make their way to the tomb. 

While most of the disciples ran and hid when they crucified Jesus, the women stayed close by.^[5]  And once the Sabbath ended, they return. Matthew doesn’t tell us that they want to wash or prepare the body for the grave.^[6] Other gospel writers provide us those details. Instead, we might infer, after having been close to Jesus for so long, they want to be beside his tomb. They want to see it, maybe just to be sure that this wasn’t all just some bad nightmare. 

Then the quietness breaks as they experience what seems to be an earthquake with a angel descending and rolling back the stone covering the tomb. Sitting on the stone door, the soldiers who guarded the tomb faint. Matthew, I think, makes an ironic joke here. The guards who are supposed to be guarding the tomb appear dead while the man placed in the tomb dead, is alive and out wandering around. The women, we can also assume, are afraid, but the angel comforts them. The angel also knows who they are looking for. They’re told he’s not at the tomb, but they’re invited in to see for themselves. 

As with the other gospels, we’re not given a first-person account of the resurrection. Jesus rose beforehand. The stone door didn’t stop him. The angel, it seems, rolls away the door, not to let Jesus out but to let the women in to see for themselves that Jesus is no longer in the tomb. And the angel gives them a mission—go and tell the disciples that Jesus has been raised from the dead and will meet them in Galilee. 

And so, they leave the tomb, but before they get very far, they bump into Jesus. Greeting, our text reads. But it could also be translated as “Rejoice!”^[7] And rejoicing we have done ever since. Jesus reiterates what the angel said about meeting up with the disciples in Galilee. 

In a way, we assume the climax of Matthew’s story occurs here with the resurrection. But the story is not over. There’s a mission. The gospel doesn’t end with Jesus rising from the grave, but with him sending the disciples to the ends of the earth to make more disciples, to baptize, and to teach what Jesus taught. While the resurrection is the center of the gospel, we end as with the women’s story this morning, with a mission.

But there’s also a counter-mission. As the old proverb goes, “Wherever God erects a house of prayer, the devil builds a chapel.”^[8] On the Day of Resurrection, when the guards, shaking in their sandals, tell the Chief Priests what happened, a conspiracy hatches. The Jewish leaders make up a story about the disciples stealing the body and give the soldiers a large sum of money to buy their silence. For them, this is easy money. After all, who’d believe their story? But there are those who believe. I hope you came to church today because you believe, and to be reminded of the great truth of our faith. Jesus Christ lives and remains with his church to this day.  And we still march to the same orders given to the women at the t

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^[1] William R. White, Stories for the Journey, (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1988), 26-27. 

^[2] 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.  

^[3] 1 Peter 2:24. 

^[4] Frederick Dale Bruner, The Churchbook: Matthew 13-28 (1990, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 780. 

^[5] Matthew 27:55-56.

^[6] Mark 16:1 and Luke 24:1. 

^[7] Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew: Interpretation, a Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: JKP, 1993), 330. 

^[8] Bruner, 799.