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The Sabbath had ended. No more last day of the Jewish week but only the first day of the rest of the lives for Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, Salome, and Mary. The rest had ended. The Active sweaty, physical, mental, emotional labor of the Nazarene had taken 33 long years; but it was over; He had done it! He worked hard and kept all the commandments which you think so little about. The Passive, sweaty, bloody, raw, spit-drenched, asphyxiating, gurgling, rupturing, piercing labor on the cross of the Nazarene had taken 6 long hours; 6 hours of hell; but it was over; He had done it! The atonement had been made. All of your trespasses which you think so little about had been made.

The work for you was over. The Lord's lifeless clay had rested in the cool of Joseph's mountainside tomb. The Lord had carried the tablets of the Law with Him, in His Body into the side of the hill; from off Sinai, from off your back and neck and wrists, and into death. But what did they find when they arrived in the garden. They discovered that it was a garden and no longer merely a graveyard. The grave was empty. The grave was empty. The grave was empty. That is what it is all about dear saints. That is why you are here today. Life had defeated death. Eternity at banquet had bested eternity in sulfur and brimstone. The huge stone which had been rolled by sinful men to block the entrance of the cave sepulcher had been tossed aside by heavenly hands; or maybe blown away by the flutter of seraph wings come to celebrate His quickening. There was no stench of death emanating from the chamber, no hardened, rigor-mortis limbs awaiting to be perfumed and re-wrapped. The grave was empty! Empty save for a young man clothed in a white robe. This angel perfectly foreshadows the glory of the women at the cave as well as the glory which waits for all of you. Why even now you gathered here this Easter morning wear robes of white. You have been clothed in baptismal Christening gowns at the font of your death; and the font of your New Life in Christ.

You are not here this morning because your spouse is here with you. Even if your husband or wife were pagan, dead, or in a far away place, you would still be here celebrating Christ's victory. You are not gathered around His table this Sunday to Eat His Body and drink His Blood because your parents were parishioners of a congregation and you are simply following in some membership tradition. You are not here for the sake of friends, status, business contacts, social fellowship or any other reason. You are here because Jesus is here. The Savior isn't just a Savior; He is a Risen Savior!

The angel did not tell the women that Jesus was still dead; because He wasn't! "You seek Jesus of Nazareth Who was [ emphasis on past tense; a no longer current description with any accuracy whatsoever ] was crucified. He is risen!" Those three little words (He is risen) form a perfect balancing couplet with the perfect three little words which were spoken by the Angel of the Lord Himself on Friday at three: "It is finished." That my friends in Christ, is why you are here right now. You haven't earned your way into this family of light and life. You haven't merited your highly esteemed place at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You haven't decided to come to church today. The Lord Jesus has saved you. He has saved you by His bitter passion and death. But He is dead no longer. He is risen. It is the good news of His Friday victory and His Sunday proclamation of said victory that brings you here this morning; and nothing else. "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel...and kept me in the true faith." [SC Pt. 2, sec 3]

What a mystery! What an incredible revelation! What a loving Father that has adopted you out of the sewer leading to hell and placed you here in His house to be loved by His Son, your brother, Jesus; Jesus, the God/Man Who is risen! You are here because the Holy Spirit has converted your heart, given you faith to believe the Good News. The Good News? The Good News is that Jesus died on the tree for you; "It is finished." The Good News is that the grave is empty; "He is risen."

But even better than Jesus' Resurrection, is His presence with you and for you. The angel who said "He is not here," did not say He is far away in some distant ethereal "heaven," but rather that the Risen Redeemer was no longer laying prone and breathless in the dark of a tomb. Remember, soon thereafter the Lord revealed Himself to the Magdalene. The glorified and risen Jesus was "in, with, and under" the guise of a gardener. Without His word Mary could not see Him. You have that word. You see Him with the eyes of faith in His Holy Scriptures and at His dining table. He is not dead; He is not lying in the ground, He is not in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, or Nazareth of Galilee. He is here! The Risen One is here for you today. The ever-living One, the firstfruits of all those who believe in Him is with you now! That's why you are here. That's why you smile in your spirit. That's why you now have inner peace and strength even when you don't feel it or see it. That's the Gospel.

If you are sick, even sick unto chronic debilitation; if you are in pain so fierce it seems you can't go on; if you've lost loved ones or are in the process of losing someone needed and special; if you still mourn people, places, times and things past; if you fear your own old age and demise; if your daily trek is just too hard and your burdens of sin just too heavy: Hear the Gospel: the grave is empty, "He is risen."

The Lord didn't just rise for Himself. He rose for you. He came to life so that you would believe you have His life now and in eternity. He comes to you in His words and in His Body and Blood as a pledge that you are not alone or defenseless, or hopeless; not now, not ever.

Be at peace you are forgiven all your wrongs. Be at joy and join Him for the real Easter Breakfast. "He is risen" And so are you and all your Christian brothers and sisters.

In the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost