Easter 2026

Micah Bartig

Easter 2026 • Sermon • Submitted a month ago • Presented a month ago

Matthew 28:1–10

Resurrection

0 ratings

· 6 views

Notes

Transcript

Bible Passage: Matthew 28:1-10

INTRO

“Soma Church exists to love the body of Christ and equip them to do the work of ministry here, near and far, all for the glory of God.”

Growing up in a ministry home and now having been in ministry for the past 8 years, the conversation that comes up every year around this time is how do we make Easter fresh.

Is there a way to present this ancient story in a new way to captivate the attention of those listening.

And as we have had that conversation here at Soma this is where we have landed…

There is nothing that I will say today or that we will do today that will make Easter anymore extraordinary, supernatural and life changing than it already is.

The tomb is empty and the throne is occupied. What more is there to say?!

Today, we are celebrating the greatest moment in human history

Jesus is alive, Jesus is King and Jesus is coming back.

But for whatever reason, it seems like every year, easter sneaks up on us and we have to remind ourselves to get excited.

So what I would like to do today is take a few moments in Matthew’s gospel to look at how I think we can keep the resurrection in front of us and exciting on a day in and day out basis.

BODY

Matthew 28:1–5 ESV

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.

We see here at the end of Matthew’s account of Jesus life and ministry two of His most dear friends going to visit His body.

Mark tells us in Mark 16 that they were going to anoint his body with spices and oils for a proper burial since there was very little time to do it on Good Friday and was not permitted on the Sabbath.

And when they arrive what they see is most certainly not what they were expecting.

A stone that was rolled away and the presence of something other worldly. So overwhelming was the presence of this angel that the guards at Jesus’ tomb fell over dead.

And he says to these ladies, “Do not be afraid.”

I always find it funny when angels appear to people in the scripture and they lead off with “Do not be afraid”

I’m just saying, if I walk up on something that looks like how an angel is described I am probably gonna have to at least change my drawers.

The angel say to the Marys “I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.”

I wanna make sure that you know that if you are here today looking for the answers to life and you think that Jesus may be it, you are right.

Even if you are only here at church once per year yet your heart is looking for God, I believe today you can find Him.

Jeremiah 29:13 ESV

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

Jesus wants to be found by you today. So seek Him.

Matthew 28:5–6 ESV

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

And here is where we see the first way we keep the resurrection fresh in our life…

Go In and Look

I find myself so drawn in by the words of this angel to go in and look where Jesus was.

This serves as a command for us as well to walk into the preverbal tomb of Christ and examine for ourselves its vacancy.

But how often are we doing this? Taking time to reflect upon the empty tomb. To celebrate in our hearts and with those we love the new life we have in Jesus because of the empty tomb?

Are we searching our Bibles to find the riches that we have access to in light of that empty tomb?

Something that beautiful is meant to be looked at more than once.

We display art and snap photographs to remind ourselves of something worth remembering.

How about we start taking more strolls through Jesus’ empty tomb.

For the skeptic or the seeker here with us today, God invites you to examine the empty tomb for yourself.

Jesus is not the God who hides truth from you or makes himself hard to find. He invites you to bring Him your doubts and questions so He can answer them.

So I encourage you this morning to walk on in and see for yourself!

And after you go in here’s what you do next…

Go Out and Tell

Matthew 28:6–8 ESV

He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

Once you walk in the tomb and witness the miracle for yourself, the only next right step is to leave in haste and tell others.

Tell your mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, cousin, neighbor, co-worker, barber and anyone else who will listen.

Go and tell them that Jesus is not dead but He is alive and because He is, you can be too!

Christian, has the resurrection become a once per year kinda thing for you?

Go tell some people and watch them have their lives transformed and I bet that will change for you!

Skeptic and seeker I wanna tell you today that Jesus has changed my life. I was person full of pride fear and anxiety and by faith in the death and the resurrection of Jesus, I have victory over those things and I daily experience the love of God in my life.

Christian who do you need to tell?

Skeptic and seeker, God wants to give you purpose in your life.

He wants to save you from your sin and then send you out to do something that is eternally valuable. You just have to say yes!