20 April 2025

HE HAS RISEN!

Speaker: Fred Sigle

EASTER SUNDAY LESSON
April 20, 2025
 
HE HAS RISEN!
Mark 15:42-16:8
 
Last month in a Ministry Team Leader’s Meeting we were discussing the Easter worship service when I was asked what I would be doing.  I was working on another sermon series at the time, so I hadn’t even thought about it.  I answered, “I’m not sure, but it will be something about the resurrection.”  Another chimed in, “You preached on that last year.”
Yes, every Easter my lesson will be something about Jesus’ resurrection.  This begs the questions: Does the story of the resurrection of Jesus year after year, get old?  Does it become mundane?  Does it become just a story, or is it truly a life-altering event?
This Sunday we will follow the women disciples of Christ as they “go to” and “return from” the tomb of Jesus.  We will delve into the emotions Mary Magdalene and the others must have experienced that first Easter morning as they were determined to properly anoint the mangled body of Jesus with oil and spices as was their Jewish custom.  We will witness their fearful reaction as they find the tomb of Jesus empty thinking that someone had stolen the body of Christ, and then see their exuberant jubilation when they hear the words of the angel: “HE HAS RISEN!”  
MARK 15:42-16:8

42 It was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath). So as evening approached, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

Jesus Has Risen

16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.[a]