Christians call Easter Sunday “Resurrection Sunday” and celebrate Easter as the day when the resurrection of Jesus took place, after He lay three days in the tomb. Christians are the only people in the world who visit the grave of the founder of their faith, knowing full well that He isn’t there. On Easter Sunday, even amid the chaos and uncertainty in the world, Christians come to church and say to one another, “He is risen!” And others respond, “He is risen indeed!” What a strange thing to say. It’s a safe hope to hope for the coming of spring every year. We expect springtime to come every year just after Easter. But to hope for resurrection is a little more risky. We don’t expect resurrection to follow death. So this morning, let’s take a look at that first Easter account and what it means for the human condition. Because the one word you will hear a lot around Easter is “hope.” Today we celebrate the day that everything we thought we knew changed. And Christians don’t just say “He is risen!” on Easter hoping that if they say it enough it will come true; the Bible claims that this really happened. In fact, all but one of the original followers of Jesus were killed for telling others about what they saw that first Easter and for sticking to their story, claiming that death doesn’t have to be the end. And they beg us to listen to what they saw.
