Resurrection Transformation - Easter Sunday
Author: Pastor Scott Schul
April 05, 2026
Christ is risen! He is
risen indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! For most of us here in State
College, Easter Sunday is a festive time filled with special treats like chocolate
bunnies, jellybeans, and family gatherings. But in other parts of the world, Easter Sunday isn’t the same happy occasion. Much of our world is mired in conflict and
held captive by fear.
One such
place is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. That sprawling building encompasses the place
where Jesus was crucified, where his lifeless body was anointed, and the tomb
where he was buried and then, three days later, rose in resurrection
victory. Local authorities have
prohibited public Easter Sunday worship there this year because of safety and
security concerns arising from the Iran war. Instead, Easter worship at that most holy site will be conducted by a
select few and only broadcast online. It’s the saddest of ironies that the land the Prince of Peace called
home remains our world’s epicenter of war and conflict.
I’ve
been blessed to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher three times. Its importance extends far beyond what
happened on that first Good Friday and first Easter Sunday nearly 2,000 years
ago. Those “firsts” were undoubtedly of monumental
importance. After all, Jesus is our
heavenly salvation. But don’t think of
him as just an insurance policy for when we die. Jesus is our ongoing source of hope,
assurance, and purpose, because the risen Christ has the power to erupt into
our daily lives to heal our fractured hearts and transform both us and our broken world.
It was
at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that I had an experience just like that. It was April 25, 2022, and the church was
packed with pilgrims from around the world. A small shrine within the church encompasses Jesus’s tomb. It’s only large enough for three or four
people to enter at any one time, so if you want to see the very place where
Jesus’s lifeless body was placed, and where he miraculously rose from the dead,
you have to stand in line… a really long line… Now, you know what happens when
people get in lines. They get fidgety
and bored. So they play with their
phones or prattle on-and-on. Eventually,
grumpiness sets in. Complaints build. Tempers flare. It happens in every painfully long line, even when
that line extends around one of the holiness places on earth.
As I
stood there in that line at Jesus’s tomb, I started to get irritable. Part of it was my own impatience, and part of
it was my weariness at hearing the complaints and all the noise. I couldn’t think, let alone pray. What really set me on edge was a group of
pilgrims ahead of me who I thought were excessively loud and inappropriately
boisterous for such a sacred spot. But after
a few minutes my irritation with them led to curiosity. Who were they? Why were they here? What was their story? So I decided I couldn’t make things any worse
by just asking them.
I
learned they were a group of friends who’d grown up together in Serbia. They lived now in different places around the
world, but they’d all come together for a little reunion, a little pilgrimage,
there at Jesus’s tomb. I expected them
to quicky brush me off, but to my surprise and delight, they were thrilled to
make a new friend. They enthusiastically
told me about Serbia. They proudly went
on at considerable length about a few Serbian basketball players who’d made a
big splash in the NBA. And then they
told me a bit about their own stories and the suffering they and their nation
had experienced. In light of all that,
how excited they were that, at long last, they could pray at the very place
where Jesus conquered death.
As we
inched closer to the tomb’s entrance, I felt my heart shifting. Those noisy Serbs who minutes ago I’d viewed
with irritation had become my siblings in Christ. We grew up in different cultures, spoke
different languages, and had different heroes. And yet here, as we prepared to kneel at the place which once contained Jesus’s earthly body,
Jesus was knitting us together in his spiritual body. The silence we shared within the tomb itself
was truly golden. I didn’t want that
moment to end, not because of where I was, but because of who was
with me. I marveled that centuries
later, Jesus was still transforming hearts and uniting his people.
You see
friends, Easter Sunday, Jesus’s resurrection, and his victory over sin and
death is not some one-and-done event with no continuing relevance. That moment changed all of creation and all
of history. It changed us too, because
Jesus didn’t win that victory for his sake. He won it for ours. Every day, but especially today,
we give thanks for a treasure chest of Easter blessings Jesus has bestowed on
us, not because we’ve earned them or deserve them, but purely as gifts of grace
and love.
In Jesus
we’ve been granted forgiveness for our sins. He has promised that one day after we die, we too will be resurrected,
just like him. And he offers us the
greatest gift of all, eternal life in heaven. Jesus promised those gifts to us personally at our baptism, where we
joined him in our own Holy Week experience. In ordinary water mixed with God’s powerful Word, our old sinful selves
were crucified, and we rose again as new people, clothed in Christ’s
righteousness and afloat with Christ’s hope.
But if
you only take one thing away from Easter worship today, let it be this: Jesus’s
wonderful gifts aren’t things we only open and enjoy when we die. Jesus’s gifts are also for now. This life. Today. He won his Easter victory so he could heal our souls, transform our
hearts, and unite us... right here, right now. We see that story play out throughout
the New Testament. Jesus’s followers,
who so spectacularly failed him during his life, became new people in the light
of his resurrection. And in their transformation, they became partners with Jesus in transforming the world around
them.
It’s the
same miracle of transformation I experienced as I stood in line at Jesus’s tomb
four years ago. I’ve seen it in other
lines too, like the line for our bi-monthly food distributions, where Jesus
transforms and unites the hearts of our volunteers and our recipients. And I see it in the lines of people who come
forward to this table to be fed on Christ’s body and blood in Holy Communion. Deep down, we’re all starving for
Christ. We’re all hungry for
transformation. Only Jesus can fill that
empty space inside us. And that is his
heart’s desire: to fill us, transform us, and unite us.
So where
do we begin? Start with the words both
the angel and Jesus stated at the empty tomb: “Do not be afraid.” Look, I know it’s a scary time. Wars, political polarization, rising prices,
parents stretched to the breaking point by work, youth under intense pressure
to achieve, and elders living in isolation with ever-present health
anxieties. Too often we think if we just
try harder, we can power through on our own and fix what’s wrong. Instead, we end up worn out, burned out, and
ready to quit.
So this
Easter, do not be afraid. Be freed from
the illusion that you must be your own savior here in this world or the world
to come. As you stand in line for communion,
imagine you’re at his empty tomb, and the risen Jesus stands before you. Give him all your fears, anxieties, and
worries. Notice how he’s calling you,
drawing you, to be one with him, and with everyone
around you, because we need him, and we need each other. Surrender to his love. Let him transform your heart. And then watch how he uses you and all his
transformed beloveds to help transform the world.
That’s an Easter worth celebrating! Thanks be to God: Christ is
risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
© 2026 Rev. Scott E. Schul, all rights reserved
Gospel
Text: Matthew 28:1-10
1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week
was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for
an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone
and sat on it. 3 His appearance
was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like
dead men. 5 But the angel
said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus
who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place
where he lay. 7 Then go quickly
and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is
going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for
you.” 8 So they left the
tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!”
And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go
and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
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