Introduction

Good morning, Church! I am so thankful you have chosen to worship with us this Easter. Today we are filled with a renewed hope because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is risen! (He is risen indeed.)

Have you ever thought about the fact that before Easter was a celebration of life, it was a time of mourning for Jesus’ death? It would have been only a few days before when the disciples would’ve watched their friend, the one they believed to be the long-awaited Messiah, be crucified on a Roman cross.

They had placed all their hopes and dreams in the coming Kingdom that Jesus was going to bring into the world. But on that Friday, they were crushed as Jesus was brought down from the cross and laid inside of a tomb.

It was the finality of Jesus’ death that would have been the knockout blow to any hope the disciples had for a world where God would finally rule and reign. Where He would free them from the sin that had corrupted everything.

They had placed all their hopes and dreams in the coming Kingdom that Jesus was going to bring into the world.

Main Teaching

If we are honest this morning, some of us came here today in need of renewed hope as well. Life has not been easy, and some of us have faced great challenges. Perhaps you have experienced a devastating loss this year. Maybe your closest relationships have suffered recently. Some of us have had to come to terms with a diagnosis that makes our future uncertain. And all of this with the backdrop of a pandemic that continues to threaten many parts of our lives. These things and more can be so heavy that it may make us question if God still cares about us and is still working in the world.

But the Gospels tell us that right in the middle of the disciples’ darkest hour comes the light of hope.

HOPE APPEARS WHEN WE LEAST EXPECT IT

Early in the morning on the third day after Jesus’ death, a woman named Mary Magdalene made her way to the tomb. Other places in the scriptures tell us that she has come to anoint his body for burial. When she arrives, she finds the tomb is empty. What must have been adding insult to injury, Mary concludes that someone must have come and taken Him away. She is devastated.

READ John 20:11-14

As Mary looks into the tomb where Jesus had been laid, all she can see is what is missing, and she fails to see what IS there ... View this full sermon with PRO Premium