Note: This is more of a sermon outline. Sorry. Easter got kind of busy.
Did you go Easter egg hunting this morning? I did! See? I found one egg! See? It is a biggie, isn’t it?
The funny thing is, all it has for decoration is a big A. I figured, since I gave up chocolate for Lent, that A could stand for only one thing: Grade A Chocolate! I got so excited, I could hardly wait to open it, but I figured I’d save it to open it with you – you’d think an egg this big ought to have enough for us all, right? Let’s open. [opens]
It’s…empty.
You know. Not even a hint about what that A means. I come here expecting this thing to be full – and it’s empty. Have you ever heard of such a thing?
Oh. You have. And now that you mention it, so have I. Women, 2,000 years ago, came looking for something a lot bigger than an egg. And when they got there, they found it was empty, too.
But they weren’t disappointed. At first, they were terrified.
And I suppose you would be too if you were expecting to find a body and found it empty. Even more so if you then found a couple of angels (or at least guys in blazing white robes) standing before you.
Now, what did it mean that they found the tomb empty?
It means that Jesus is risen!
And that means several things:
a. Death did not defeat him
b. He is the Son of God
c. Everything he taught during his time on earth is true
d. His death shows God’s love for us as his resurrection shows its eternal quality
These are so big, so important, so wonderful that we greet them with a word that means …Praise the Lord! We haven’t said since Lent started – it begins with – A.
Wait a minute, this egg has an A – could it be? Maybe if we help it along, it’ll give us the rest of that word. Read? (open) Alleluia!
