O blessed Word of God!  The Holy Christian Church throughout all the earth sounds forth her unanimous confession of faith and joyful praise: “Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!”

And we would not know this blessed truth unless God revealed it to us by His Holy Word.  Thanks be to God for His Word of revelation and truth to us!  How blessed are we to be hearers of this Word and then recipients of His gifts and blessings through Jesus Christ our crucified and risen Savior and Lord!

The world mocks us.  The world laughs at us.  The world shrugs off anything about Christ as Easter is celebrated.  The world closes its ears and screams as loud as it can to silence what they do not want to hear.  The world seeks to turn Easter (like Christmas) into just another secular holiday.  To the world, Easter is just another time for holiday shopping, for parties and fun, for big family dinners (for ham!), for candy (those darling little sweet “peeps”!), and then, when all the festivities are over, it is back to the ho-hum Monday morning and grind of life’s “normalcy.”

For Christians, the Word of God is above all our earthly things that we do and like to do.  The parties and gatherings and special meals and fun and games are all fine, but chief for Christians is the Word of God.  The Word of God and its revelation of Jesus Christ crucified for our sins and raised to life for our justification is the message that fills us with faith and joy at Easter and all through the year.  Christians are Easter people–rejoicing in the reality and the blessing of Jesus’ resurrection to life.  As Jesus Himself declared: “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19).  What could be a better word for anyone to hear?  In Him (through faith in Him), we have eternal life.

When I was shopping this past Saturday (getting my own supply of items to celebrate Easter with our own ham dinner), I noticed other people’s carts in the checkout line, and they were massively stuffed with specialty food items that suggested a massive party and dinner were soon to be held.  But if that is all that Easter is to people…how tragic!  How sad!

Easter is about Jesus Christ, who by His mighty power rose up from death; He conquered death for us and secured life and salvation for us.  Is this not a wonderful truth of God’s Word to celebrate?  And even to celebrate in grand fashion?  Christians all over the world did celebrate and continue to celebrate.  That’s what the body of Christ–His Church–does.  We celebrate what Jesus Christ has done and what He has gained for us poor sinners: forgiveness of sins, eternal life, rescue from death and the devil.  These are not just some old-fashioned cliches expressed here; these are not man-made ideas and myths; but this is God’s Word of truth to the nations!  This is God’s Word of truth to you!

O blessed Word of God!  The Holy Christian Church throughout all the earth sounds forth her unanimous confession of faith and joyful praise: “Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!”

By the Word of God and His Holy Spirit, may the joy of Christ’s resurrection fill your heart and permeate your daily life.

In the name of Jesus Christ who lives!  Amen.