Sermon for Easter Sunday
April 5, 2026
Matthew 28:1-10
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
With the weather we’ve been having you might be a bit confused whether it’s Easter, or Christmas! Winter is cold, but you expect winter to be cold. And then spring rolls around. We get that first warm, sunny day and all feels right with the world. The willow trees begin to blossom pale yellow on their long, slender branches. Robins tweet their songs, bunnies hop through the backyard. Until it snows again! It’s cold and windy, so I keep wearing the hat and gloves, the sweater and coat. Then one day, I bundle up to go outside and—it’s hot, all of a sudden! Where did all that warmth come from? It’s a surprise, and just as suddenly as it appeared, it disappears, and the cold settles in once again. How should we live—or at least dress—when we don’t quite know what to expect?
The women went to the tomb knowing exactly what to expect. Mary Magdelene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph had been looking on from a distance on Good Friday, standing as witnesses to the crucifixion until Jesus took his last breath and died. They sat and watched as Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus’ body down from the cross, and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb nearby. They sat opposite the tomb, watching as Joseph rolled a big stone across the entrance. It would soon be evening and the Sabbath would begin, so it was finally time to leave. And when they left, they knew exactly what to expect when they would return. They returned Sunday morning because it was only natural, in their grief, that they would want to go to his burial place, and remember him, and talk about the kind of person he was. This is the way to begin working through grief.
But it was no surprise what happened to him. Jesus was not the first person to be crucified by the Roman Empire for being deemed a threat, nor was he the first to be laid to rest in a tomb, nor the first to have a great rock rolled in front it. As much as they didn’t like what had been done to Jesus, how the religious leaders had plotted to eliminate him, how even the common people among whom he’d done most of his ministry had been stirred up against him—as much as the injustice of it stung, at least it was no surprise. This is the way the powers of the world work—which is no comfort, but at least you know what you’ll have to deal with. And there was one more thing to deal with that they hadn’t counted on—Pontius Pilate had ordered a guard of soldiers to seal the tomb, so that no one could come a roll it open and do anything to Jesus’ dead body inside.
As they walked to the tomb, the women carried their grief. Grief can make you feel unsteady, like you can’t stand on your own two feet—like a sucker punch to the gut that knocks you off balance. And that feeling, which of course they expected, as it lodged in their bodies and souls, quickly and quite unexpectedly manifested in the ground itself as the earth quaked! Their grief now mixed with fear—now what? Without a word an angel of the Lord appeared from heaven, rolled back the stone, and sat on it! Just sat on it. The powers of the world, with their love of violence and intimidation, can by pushed aside by God’s gifts of love and light. As the angel appeared, heaven and earth rubbed up against each other like two tectonic plates. This was no “mere” earthquake, but the overlap of God’s reality with our own. The women didn’t know it yet, but before they knew it, they felt it—creation itself was being made new by God through the power of the resurrection.
In the Bible, the common reaction when someone comes face to face with the power and presence of God is fear. This time was no different. The guards at the tomb felt it, too, and rather than fight or flee, they froze in fear, demonstrating how Pontius Pilate’s word in commanding the tomb to be sealed—or for that matter, the word and command of any earthly ruler—it less than a whisper next to the Word of God that calls new creation into being.
Mary and Mary are afraid, too, which is why the angel reassures them right away: “Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.” The angel is trying to sooth their fears, but immediately continues with the real scary part: “He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said.” Scary, because this news means everything the women knew about life—everything humanity knows about life—has been changed!
Like many faithful Jews of their time, the women had already been hoping for a bodily resurrection of the righteous at the end of time, when God would renew the whole world; when death, disease, suffering, and injustice would be no more. The thing was, they believed the resurrection would be for all the righteous together, and then not until the age to come. There was never a thought that only one righteous person would be raised before anyone else. Throughout his ministry Jesus taught the disciples about his resurrection. They never really understood what he meant; the normal order of life, then death, was impossible for them to shake from their minds. And so the meaning of the angel’s message is completely unexpected: Jesus has been raised already; the firstborn of God’s new creation. Which quickly leads to a questions: How then should we live if the age to come, God’s new creation, has already begun? If God’s new creation has already started taking place with Jesus’ resurrection, this has important implications for how we live our lives in the present. We can join Jesus in the things he’s doing!
In raising Jesus from the tomb, God says “YES” to Jesus and his way of life, and “NO” to the powers of the world that killed and silenced him. Jesus’ way is vindicated by God! His eating with outcasts and sinners; his care and elevation of the poor and lowly; his forgiveness of sinners, and putting aside of his ego to serve others; his love for all, even his enemies, and his renunciation of violence as a way to solve problems; his critique of hypocrisy, and his refusal to put up obstacles for people who want to get closer to God; his healing of the sick, compassion for outsiders, his prayers for God’s guidance. All of this together makes for a way of life that the powers of this world would say are foolish and a waste of time.
Because Jesus is risen, God is saying loud and clear: The way of Jesus—which is also the way Jesus asks his followers to make our own—while it may look like a foolish waste of time, is actually the wisest, most fulfilling, most life-giving way to live. It also happens to be the way things will be for eternity, when God’s new creation comes in its fullness.
The angel had more to say: “Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. As they went the women became the first people to get started in this new understanding of life and reality, and that’s when “Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’”
Jesus met the women, like he meets us, when we take that first step of faith—before we’ve accomplished anything or got it all figured out. Jesus meets them while they are afraid and full of joy. Both together. They’re a bundle of contradictions, like we all are, and that’s good enough for Jesus! Later on, when the disciples get to Galilee and meet the risen Jesus there, they worship him and they doubt. At the same time. More bundles of contradictions. And that’s good enough for Jesus. Whether you are here today with fear or joy, anxiety or hope, for worshiping or with doubt, that’s good enough for Jesus, too. He’s looking for just the right time to surprise you with his greetings, as God’s new creation comes into view. Alleluia!