The Lord is Risen! The Lord is Risen indeed! Words that are very familiar to us because we are an Easter people. These words proclaim the miracle of the empty tomb. We can only imagine what that moment was like for Mary Magdalene and the women with her. In an instant the grief and loss they were feeling was replaced with joy and awe. And those words now echo through the centuries. “Jesus is not here. He is risen.” (Matthew 28:6, Mark 16: 6, Luke 24: 6)
During Kids Time of the Easter service I attended, the pastor asked the children what was so special about this particular Sunday. She asked them to share the miraculous news of the empty tomb with someone in the congregation. Excitedly, the children walked around the Sanctuary, telling people that the Lord is risen. They continued to spread the Good News of this great morning.
I began thinking about how the world changed on that Holy Sunday morning. If there was one word I would use to describe Easter, it would be new. At the dawn of a new day, the darkness of Good Friday, and the sorrowful Sabbath the disciples endured, was dispelled by God’s great light. Jesus’ life began anew, when the Lord raised Him from the dead. The disciples’ received the Great Commission from our resurrected Lord. They were called to a new mission for the transformation of the world.
The empty tomb was and is a symbol of new hope for Jesus’ followers. For our Lord, all things are possible. Death is not the end. We all have the promise of new life because of what the Lord has done for us. While Jesus walked among us, He gave us a new Commandment to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
And on the night in which our Savior gave Himself up for us, so that you and I might live, He established a new covenant for the disciples and the world. Each time we partake of the bread and the cup, we remember God’s commitment to us and our devotion to our creator.
Our journey of salvation and redemption continues with each new day. We are able to transform lives, bring hope, live out the Great Commandment and share in the finest bread and sweetest juice as we remember and renew the covenant that the Lord brought to all. Let us celebrate what the Lord has done for us. For the Lord is risen, the Lord is risen indeed. And Amen.