Easter - 4/5/26

Year A – Easter Sunday – April 5, 2026

Pastor Megan Floyd

Acts 10:34-43

Colossians 3:1-4

Matthew 28:1-10

Grace and peace to you from God and the Holy Spirit, and from Jesus Christ, our Savior. Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

***

This past Holy Week has been… really something special.

Last week, on Palm Sunday, many of us here participated in the Palm Sunday March in Lansing. We were surrounded by a crowd of about 800 people from various denominations, who came together to march with palms in hand, bound by our shared commitment to the foundational teachings of Jesus.

We marched to share our commitment to love our neighbors… to feed the hungry, clothe the naked… to care for the sick, and the poor… and those who are outcast… and to welcome the stranger.

And our group here in Michigan was part of a larger movement across at least sixteen other states… thousands and thousands of Christians showed up… disciples of Jesus… marching to proclaim the saving words and promise of Christ.

Jesus Christ is not dead and gone… he is alive!

And then on Thursday, I had the profound honor to care for you by washing and anointing your feet… and by allowing my own feet to be washed and anointed.

We do this because Christ did this for his disciples… and told us to continue the practice, and so trusting in the words of our teacher, we wash…

There’s a closeness there, in that simple and ancient practice, that just cannot be replicated any other way… and when sharing this practice, Jesus is profoundly close.

And then we shared our meal of Holy Communion together… and yes, we do that every week in remembrance of Christ… but on Maundy Thursday, we recall why we celebrate this meal… and we recall together the grace, love, and inclusion that Jesus demonstrated for all, even those who would later betray and deny him.

And so, we share our meal with all who are gathered… more than just trusting and hoping that Christ will show up… we expect our Christ to show up.

Jesus Christ is not dead and gone… he is alive!

And then on Friday… on Good Friday… we gathered with our siblings from All Saints Lutheran and St Paul Lutheran, and with our bishop… we gathered together as one community… to remember and honor Christ’s death on the cross.

Even as we acknowledge that Christ is with us, always, we know that we cannot get to the Resurrection without going through death and the cross…

and so we gathered …as one body… and honored the presence of Christ that was there with us… and in each of us… it was, so very holy… and special.

And still we proclaim… Jesus Christ is not dead and gone… he is alive!

Jesus Christ is risen today! Alleluia!! Alleluia!!

I came here today… knowing that I would meet Christ… I expect him to show up because Christ promised to show up… and I know Christ lives in you… and in me… and so wherever we gather… Christ is there… alive… and with us.

That expectation of meeting Jesus everywhere we go… that’s what it means to follow Jesus… to follow our God who became human… who defeated death and the grave…

That’s what it means to follow a crucified and risen Lord… it means that we show up in the world expecting to meet Christ there.

We expect to meet Jesus… because we trust the Word of our God… we trust… and we dare to hope.

Just like Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, who showed up at the tomb on the third day… I believe they showed up expecting to meet Jesus! …or at least, daring to hope they would.

Now, I know that in the gospels of Mark and Luke, they write that the women showed up at the tomb with spices to anoint his body.

But not in Matthew… The Marys have been disciples of Jesus all along, following him and hearing his teaching… hearing him proclaim that he must die, but would rise again on the third day.

And all four gospels record that Jesus was anointed for his burial before he was crucified.

The women did not desert him or betray him… they stayed near… and watched. They felt the earth shake at the moment he died and heard the Roman Centurion proclaim that, truly, this man was the Son of God.

The Marys stayed… and on the third day… they came to the tomb… not carrying spices for anointing… but coming with fear… and outrageous hope… that death did not win.

They came… at the dawning of that new day… expecting to meet their risen Lord!

And the earth shook for the second time in three days as the stone was thunderously rolled aside… and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven to meet them.

The Roman guards fainted with terror, but the women stood strong, and they witnessed with awe and wonder that the tomb was empty. They stood strong because they expected something wonderful…

Jesus Christ is not dead and gone… he is alive!

The angel sent them on to meet Jesus, and they go with great fear and joy… but Jesus doesn’t wait… he finds them and greets them with love… and they worship him… and bless his resurrected body.

And then, full of grace and forgiveness, Jesus instructs the women to gather those who deserted him… gather together those who fled… so he can be reunited with them… to remind them of his love… and to mercifully commission them to witness to his resurrection.

For the dawn from on high has broken upon us, and a new day has begun. Alleluia!! Alleluia!!

But Easter morning… is only the beginning.

Just as those first disciples had to decide, we, too, must decide who we are now… and who we must become… in the light of the risen Christ?

But do not be afraid… Easter faith does not mean perfect faith… not for the first disciples, and not for us …our faith is almost always a mixture of trust and doubt… of belief and unbelief.

Jesus knows… this is what we have… an imperfect faith… and yet, he still calls us to be with him… and to celebrate with him… on this new day.

And if we dare to hope in the promise of the resurrection… then we can show up, expecting Christ to meet us… trusting that God’s grace precedes us wherever we go.

We can rest in the promise that Christ not only lives in you and me… but Christ also lives in the stranger whom we welcome… in the sick whom we minister to… in the hungry whom we feed… in the naked whom we clothe.

We expect Christ to meet us… and we rejoice in his presence.

If we dare to hope in the promise of the resurrection, then we can draw on the strength of Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, and resist the powers of this world that would pull us toward greed and violence… toward bigotry and corruption.

If we dare to hope in the promise of the resurrection, then we expect Christ to be here, and we can shape our lives around Christ’s way of enduring love… and grace… and mercy.

Because Easter is not an event that we remember and celebrate only once a year.

Easter is a way of living… it’s a way of loving… a way of shaping our communities in such a way that don’t bend to the wills of the powerful… to the wills of greed and Empire…

But instead… Easter is a way of living that glorifies God through loving the least among us, as Christ loved us… and knowing that there is nothing in the world stronger than God’s love.

Yes, we are Easter people.

We are children of God who dare to hope in the promise of the resurrection, and we expect to meet our living Christ wherever we go, and in all whom we meet.

For Jesus Christ is not dead and gone… he is alive! Alleluia!! Alleluia!!