Easter Message 2026 - Reactions (Matthew 28:1-10)

 Sermon for Milledgeville and Centenary UMC...

Reactions (Matthew 28:1-10)

 

We live in an age of online personas. Through platforms like YouTube some folks enjoy a career as influencers. Sometimes they create reaction videos. [Slide] They’ll video themselves reacting to a box that they are opening to review a new product. Of course, their reactions are over the top making them seem almost cartoonish. They make reaction videos as they listen to a song for the first time. You can even watch entire movies or television episodes with your favorite YouTuber’s reactions.

 

[Slide] Wouldn’t it be cool if we had reaction videos for the resurrection? First, a reaction video by the guard at the tomb of Jesus.

 

Whoa! That rock is so heavy! We had to grab extra men from the population of Jerusalem to roll that massive stone in place to cover the tomb. Nobody’s going to get back in there. We’re watching the grave of some dude the Jews called their deliverer king. The temple priests say his followers might steal his body since he said that he would rise again, after 3 days! Can you believe that? What a bunch of nonsense!

 

Camera shakes! Oh My Jupiter! What is going on the whole ground is shaking! Wait! Are you seeing what I’m seeing. Sweet Diana! That’s a bright light! Whoa! The tomb is open! And uh. Who is that? His clothes are so bright white! He’s glowing, man! I’m so freaked I can’t even move!

 

Then the women give a reaction video.

 

We felt the earthquake and feared damage to Jesus’ tomb. My Lord! We saw the stone covering the tomb rolled away and this bright glowing angel sitting on top of it! We were terrified!

 

But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid. I know you seek Jesus, but he isn’t here. Look for yourself where He was laid in the tomb. He is risen and goes before you to Galilee. Go tell His disciples.” 

 

So we ran to tell the others. Just then, I can’t believe I’m saying this, we heard Jesus call out to us. We saw the Master, alive! I ran to Him and fell at his feet. I grabbed a tight hold on Him, as I wept tears of joy. I could not believe my eyes! He told us not to fear and go tell the others that they would see Him, too, when they return to Galilee. I’m so overwhelmed! Look at me, I’m shaking! I’m so excited! He is risen! He is risen!

 

[Slide] We tried to get a reaction from the chief priests, but they weren’t having it.

 

What would your reaction be? [Slide] We are gathered to celebrate the central event in history, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

 

In 1874, Robert Lowry, a Baptist minister in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, wrote the hymn Up From the Grave He Arose on his little pump organ in the parlor of his home.

 

Death could not keep its prey!

He tore the bars away!

Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o’er his foes.

He arose a victor of the dark domain

and He lives forever with his saints to reign!

He arose! He arose! Hallelujah Christ arose!

 

Yes, some of us react to the resurrection with worship and praise!

 

[Slide] That was the reaction of the women that first Easter. They worshipped at Jesus’ feet. They held on to him in a powerful hug, pouring out their joy and wonder as they worshipped the God who gives life to the dead.

 

 

[Slide] The guards, however, were scared stiff. They didn’t dare move in the presence of God’s heavenly messenger. They were stone cold frozen in fear. The angel didn’t even bother speaking to them! They were just frozen in place like the stone upon which the angel sat!

 

I love that detail! The angel sat on the stone that had sealed the tomb. He sat in victory over death. His job was to bring good news. Christ is risen!

 

The angel sent the women to spread the good news about Jesus. They became divine messengers themselves, the very first to share the good news! Jesus is alive forevermore!

 

Besides fear and worship, there were other reactions to the resurrection. The guards told the chief priests what happened. The priests colluded with the guards to spread fake news. [Slide]

 

Fake news is a tool used to sway public opinion. You’ll encounter fake news on social platforms. Fake news sometimes comes through respected news sources, until they are called on it. Retractions and apologies follow, but the damage is already done.

 

The temple priest paid the guards to spread fake news that Jesus’ body was stolen by His disciples while the guards slept.

 

[Slide] After the disciples heard the good news from Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joses, they went to Galilee where it all started.  It’s possible they gathered atop Mt. Tabor, where Jesus was transfigured.

 

What do you suppose was the reaction of the disciples?

 

[Slide] When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. (Matthew 28:17)

 

Doubt was the reaction of some disciples. Perhaps they could not believe their own eyes. They did not trust their senses. I know what that’s like!  On April Fools’ Day, I misplaced my smartphone. Michele and I went hunting for it. It was in my back pocket. I fooled myself! I can’t trust my own senses!

 

Honestly, I’m glad the scriptures reveal that some disciples had a hard time believing Jesus had risen. Seeing a man raised from the dead is not believable to human reasoning.

 

When Matthew says that some of the disciples doubted, he used a Greek word that means double-minded. They saw Jesus with their own eyes. They heard Jesus speak to them. The women touched Jesus, holding onto Him. They were struggling with God’s new reality in front of them and their former reality where the dead stay dead. But is it so hard to believe in the possibility of resurrection?

 

The apostle Paul wrote about the faith of Abraham who trusted God to make him the father of a great nation. Even though Abraham was near 100 years old and his wife Sarah was 90 and had never bore a child, he trusted God’s promise.

 

[Slide] Abraham is our father in the presence of God whom he believed—the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. Against hope Abraham believed in hope… (Romans 4:17-18)

 

Two things I want to bring to your attention. [Slide] One: God is the creator of all things. This vast universe and this beautiful earth filled with life is not here by chance as some believe. Rationally speaking, the odds are against it. The Bible says God created everything in the universe. God is the one who summons life into being. God established every category of existence, whether it be a planet spinning in space, or a butterfly floating on the breeze, or a flower in the field. God summons life into being.

As creator, God calls new forms of existence, like resurrection.

 

[Slide] The second point: If you believe God created the universe, then it’s not that big of a leap to believe God has the power to raise the dead. God, the power behind all life, has the authority to give life to the dead. Resurrection is not unlike the beginning of creation. When there was no life, only darkness, God commanded, “Let There be light,” and there was light! That first Easter, God commanded, “Arise my Son,” and Jesus rose from the grave with a new resurrection body.

 

Is resurrection that hard to believe? Well, it was for some that first Easter. They doubted. Perhaps some of you find talk of resurrection unbelievable.

 

Resurrection may seem impossible. It might seem unbelievable, but that is simply your present reality struggling with God’s new creation reality.

 

Resurrection isn’t something that happened a long time ago. Resurrection is happening right now, in this room, as God speaks to your heart. God is drawing close to you just as He drew close to the tomb of Jesus. And by drawing closer to God, you will come alive!

 

[Slide] Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me… has crossed over from death to life. (John 5:24)

 

And the apostle Paul taught,

 

[Slide] If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; what is old has passed away—the new has come! (2^nd Corinthians 5:17)

 

 

[Slide] I invite you to worship next Sunday at Centenary.

For the next 6 Sundays, we are going to explore The Resurrected Life.

 

[Slide]

 

1)   Grace (What is it and how can I live by it?)

2)   The Way of Salvation (Salvation is about transformation from the Bench to Home Plate)

3)   Love in Action (God is Love and Love moves us to mission)

4)   Abundant Life (Jesus came to us so that we could have abundance)

5)   Victorious Living (God shares Christ's conquering victory over death with us to overcome trials)

6)   Glorification (Our destined union with Christ)

 

[Slide] Resurrection invites our reaction. Some of us will choose to live in the new reality in Christ and find themselves made new. Some of us will struggle with a double-minded doubt, not yet able to leave behind a former reality that has been surpassed. And some will choose defiant resistance, just like the temple priests, fabricating lies to throw shade on what God is doing through His Church.

 

This is the Day of resurrection, of new life and new beginnings.

You decide how you will react.

 

Happy Easter!