Easter Sunday 2026

Sermon: Easter Sunday 2026

Texts: Acts 10:34-43, Matthew 28:1-10

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once said: “The stone that was rolled before Christ’s tomb might appropriately be called the philosopher’s stone because its removal gave not only the pharisees but, now for 1800 years, the philosophers so much to think about.” Indeed, the removed stone of Jesus’ tomb is the opening through which the Resurrected Christ changed the course of humanity, it is the sign that up until to this year of 2026, we are still grappling, being challenged, uplifted, inspired, strengthened, by the event of the Resurrection. It is the reason why it is Good News, it is why we say Hallelujah, God be praised! It is the reason why joy, that feeling that can flutter even amidst suffering, is the essence of our Easter proclamation. For even amidst the troubles of this life, we have a living hope that can overcome injustice; we have a living hope that can change our worldview and preserve us for goodness; we have a living and

daring hope that can make saints out of sinners, and overcome hatred, with love and mercy. The stone that was rolled away from Christ’s tomb is not just the singular event that transpired 2,000 years ago. It is the liberating event that will roll away the stone in the tombs of our own lives! Every day we carry things that deadens us, or perhaps make us feel that we are entombed already. But the Resurrection of Christ from the dead is precisely so that we might be called out from our deadness. Like Jesus to Lazarus, “come out!” See the light of day, emerge from your dark chamber, let the light pour in. Our brother Kierkegaard is right, the Resurrection of Christ has given each one of us a lifetime of wonderment!

I invite you to ponder, beloved, how the resurrection of Jesus from the dead changes the equations of your lives, how you structure and think about it. I remember once an interview given to the Presbyterian pastor Tim Keller, before he rested in the Lord after enduring the trial of his cancer diagnosis. He

reflected on his whole life, his anxieties, the things that have been and will not be in his earthly life: “If the resurrection is true, then everything is going to be alright”. And he added, not only was he going to be alright, but that the promise of the Resurrection extends to the whole world. Our faith puts it’s hope not simply on individual salvation, it is an expectation of a resurrected world. The promise of God extends widely into all of Creation, a promise that looks forward for Heaven to come down to Earth, a yearning for justice, for healing, for restoration, for universal community in the One love of God that Christ manifests upon the world. So indeed, Pastor Keller said, EVERYTHING will be alright.

This does not mean, however, that we will not suffer, and feel pain, and doubt. That we might feel small or afraid at the largeness of the worlds troubles, or at the fear of our vulnerability, for we are mere mortals. We witnessed on Good Friday, the suffering God on the cross. There are no tears we

have shed that have not fallen upon that rugged cross. Our faith simply whispers along to us as we struggle that our hardships will always exist within the landscape of the Resurrection of Christ. That below the soil of this world in which we tread, the cold ground of winter will give out to the soft and effervescent Spring of life. So what does it mean to live knowing that all things are going to be alright? The Christian response throughout the ages since the stone was rolled away is freedom. Freedom not given for apathy and renunciation of responsibility in this world. I’m made free to live according to God’s desired goodness. I’m made free from fear of death, so I will live fully the radicalness of the gospel. I’m made free to love, so I will expand the reaches of my love to all, including my enemies. I’m made free to be generous, to give freely of my time to be present to those God calls me to meet with fullness of love. I’m made free from the world’s illusions and trappings, the race to power and ambition, the need to hold power and control over others. I’m free to hope and dream for God’s Kingdom on this

earth as it is in Heaven, acting on behalf of those the powerful consider inconvenient, not worth your time: the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed, the foreigner, the migrant, the stranger. All has been given unto your hands, your life is gifted back to you from the many small deaths we suffer from in our daily lives. You have been created for life, you have been created to glorify God in your body and spirit. Jesus’ resurrection is the first seed of this new reality in our midst, we will rise from Him unto your gifted life. And this is not given to you for any selfish or individualistic existence. You are given freedom so that you might give yourself freely to others. For the resurrection that has lifted you, lifts you as part of a greater resurrected world. The resurrection is a community event, the resurrected life in you undoubtedly leads you back to your neighbor and unto God.

Which is why amid times like the one we are living in, full of despair and uncertainty, of division and hatred, of war and violence raging, we proclaim and celebrate Easter as a life-giving

defiance against the powers of death and those that bloody their hands. Easter is the church’s celebration of God’s preference for life and mercy. The stone in the tomb of our drive for self destruction has also been rolled away. And we know these do not have the final word. There is a painting by the Argentine painter Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, that beautifully captures this meaning of Easter for me. It’s part of a set of paintings depicting the stations of the cross, interpreted through a Latin American perspective, and the most powerful is the final 15th station. It shows a risen Christ, brown skinned and glowing with the light of the resurrection, accompanied by a large crowd of people from all walks of life, black, brown, white, every color. Poor children, indigenous peoples, freed African slaves, mestizos, workers of every stripe, priests and martyrs for justice like Monsignor Oscar Romero behind Jesus, all processing in the footsteps of Jesus towards the viewer of the painting, as if marching towards you, indeed alive again from wherever they were laid to rest. And way in the back of the

painting, there are depictions of the suffering historical present and past of Latin America: the conquests, the wars, the slavery, the swords of colonizers, the economic oppression of the modern economy crushing the workers, the environmental hazards of industries and resource extraction. They are in the back because the Resurrection is not an event that looks to the past. It looks to the future. The Resurrected Christ rises from the ground of our histories and brokenness and seeks to bring God’s renewal upon the whole broken ventures of humanity. Christ walks towards you because He wants you to walk with Him and all the crowd towards what Pérez Esquivel called “The Triumph of Life”. The Resurrection indeed is the triumph of life over death; from the dead tree, springs the Son of Man alive. From our deadly histories, a new chapter waits to be written. And it can only come to pass when all of us are walking together, together away from our patterns of death, into the newness of life, a new walking together.

So we know what truth is in the face of lies. Truth is the face of that unjustly crucified Jesus Christ risen, not only in Himself, but in every face of a human being that endures the crosses of this life. Truth is the hope for those who are cast down, truth is love that cannot be killed, a love that extends its arms over the oppressed of this world and lifts up their cause. The Church says across the world: The God of Love and Life has won, woe to the death dealers and warmongers. Their fate has been sealed; repent and believe. Woe to those who bring injustice upon the land, for divine judgement favors the crucified. Joy, joy eternal for the ones who have been brought low, joy for the weak and destitute, joy for the repentant sinner, joy for the humble, joy for those who are sick, joy for those joy for the merciful, joy for the peacemakers, joy for those who thirst and go hungry, for all who stretch out their hands will be filled.

The stone that was rolled away from the tomb has given us much to wonder indeed! Wonder at your new life in Christ,

Beloved! Wonder at what He is doing for you and in you! Wonder at His Forgiveness, Wonder at His Spirit renewing your mind in the fire of love and mercy! The Easter joy does not cease, it is endless possibility. He follows ahead into Galilee, our scripture says. Go and meet Him along the journey! Be witnesses to the Lord of All, who shows no partiality, but extends His love to every corner and every heart. Leave the tomb like Mary Magdalene, with great joy and proclaim the Gospel with your whole life! Let us pray: