Easter 2025

This morning. We come together to celebrate Easter. We believe in and celebrate the empty tomb – the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. However, His resurrection, this most wonderous of all miracles, and all these worship services would mean nothing for us without the reason of the resurrection. So, let’s take time to reflect on some of the events of His 3 to 3 ½ years of His public ministry.

We believe that Jesus was the eternal and divine Word the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity that became incarnate by a virgin and lived amongst us so we could experience the love of God.

We believe during His time on earth Jeus taught scripture with a wisdom and authority not heard before. He demonstrated great love and forgiveness for the people. He did many miraculous things; He healed the sick, made the lame walk, the deaf hear, and the blind see. He fed tens of thousands, walked on water, calmed the sea, and made wine from water. He even raised three people from the dead.

We believe that he was persecuted by the religious leaders of that time, and was taken into custody where he was beaten, whipped, and died by crucifixion.

With all this said one could argue even if true he might be deserving of great honor and even the center of some religion with customs, law, and ceremonies. One could argue these beliefs are nothing more than unexplained historical events and compare them to the lives of spiritual leaders like the prophets of the Old Testament, Buddha or Muhammad.

But there is that empty tomb, and the fact that not even the Romans, with all their cruel ways of making people talk, the body of Jesus was never found. This is the stumbling block for skeptics and well as for all other religions; no other Prophet in the Old Testament was resurrected from the dead. Neither were Budda or Mohammad, but even then, one might ask, why is it significant to followers almost 2000 years later?

We believe that He came as the perfect and unblemished “lamb of God”. He took our sins upon Himself and freely accepted death on the cross and on the 3rd day after the crucifixion the tomb was found empty. And then after 40 days on earth He ascended into heaven.

And by this act of love, He broke the power of death over us and opened the way to life eternal for all who believe and trust in Him. As written by the Apostle John, “But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name:”

The Easter season is the grand finale our way of celebrating the New Covenant, (a sacred agreement), which was proclaimed by the Son of God, Jesus, at the Last Supper. To better understand this New Covenant lets briefly discuss the Old Covenant.

The Old Covenant was established between God and Abraham and all the descendants of Abraham. God promised to always protect and provide for them as well as rescue them. The covenant included the Law and blood sacrifices of each male child in circumcision as well as the sacrifice of animals such as rams, bulls, lambs, and even pigeons or doves.

The New Covenant is without bloodshed. This is because Christ shed His Blood for us for atonement of sins so there is no need for us to shed any blood. And the New Covenant is a continuation of the sacred agreement of Old Covenant in which the Law was fulfilled by Christ and the promise to protect and provide and rescue until the end of time as proclaimed in the Gospel of Matthew, when Jeus tells us, “and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

I would now like to take time to speak a little about the Jewish celebration of Passover which was taking place when Jesus was crucified. Passover lasts seven days and commemorates the Hebrews’ liberation from enslavement in Egypt and the “passing over” of God’s forces of destruction, or the sparing of the death firstborn of the Israelites, on the eve of the Exodus.

The Passover originates in the book of Exodus, where God commands the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb without blemish and apply its blood to the doorposts of their homes. This act would spare them from the plague of death the firstborn, as the Lord passed over the houses marked by the blood (Exodus 12:1-13). The Passover lamb thus becomes a symbol of deliverance and redemption.

The centerpiece of Passover is the seder supper. I don’t know if you have ever attended a seder supper, but it includes eating of bitter herbs to remind all of their time in captivity, reading from scripture to tell and discuss the 10 plagues of Egypt, Boiled eggs are eaten to symbolize the cycle of life, ritual handwashing take place , three pieces of unleavened bread are placed on a special tray and blessed, and then broken and shared with all along with brisket of a lamb (which while the temple stood was a sacrificial lamb) , all also partake of blessed wine. Songs of praise are sung. A piece of blessed bread is hidden in a napkin and for children to find and the children can receive gifts for finding it. The supper closes with one final song and then a blessing.