Easter Morning Wake Up Call

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, April 5, 2026
Matthew 28:1-10

    According to a recent New York Times article, spring is people’s least favorite season.  Spring is in need of a rebranding.  Apparently, by a landslide, people love fall/autumn as their favorite season of the year.  If you think about it, there’s pumpkin spice, apple cider, Halloween and other seasonal flavors/items for fall, but what does spring have?  Mud, allergies, wind, rain, bugs emerging but the need to have a winter coat one day and short sleeves the next?  Too many people focus on the negatives of spring, this article argues.  To top it off, this year in particular, we’ve had a long, snowy, cold winter, and March didn’t provide much relief.  Forget spring, we might think – let’s just get right to summer! We are more than ready!
    It seems appropriate then that this year, Easter occurs close to the beginning of spring.  it’s time to embrace spring and look beyond the mud to the green grass, the daffodils blooming, and yes, warmer weather that IS coming soon to celebrate this unique season that is all about new life coming out of the dead of winter.  Spring is nature’s wake-up call and God’s reminder that life wins – new life comes after death.  We have this Easter opportunity to turn over a new leaf and start anew with the resurrected Christ living in us!  This is a perfect time for renewal!  We are God’s Easter people, so let’s live like it!
    The event of that first Easter is told in all four gospels, and Matthew’s Easter account is by far the most dramatic.  When Jesus dies, there is an earthquake, and people who have already died come out of their tombs.  When Jesus is raised, there is another earthquake.  An angel of the Lord descends from heaven and rolls away the stone from Jesus’ tomb.  The guards keeping watch over the tomb are paralyzed by fear.  We usually do not think of earthquakes as signs of something good, but here, the earthquake shakes us out of complacency, out of our winter hibernation and sluggishness to pay attention to what God is doing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is not every day that someone who is dead is alive again!  It is not every day that we discover Jesus has done what he promised, which is to rescue us from sin, death and the devil so we might know eternal life with him forever!  Christ is risen, he is risen indeed, Alleluia!  Easter is God’s great wake up call to us to embrace life as a miraculous gift from God and live life to the fullest!  God wants to shake us into paying attention to Christ’s resurrection and what it means for us.  If we truly believe that new life is possible because of Christ’s death and resurrection, if we truly believe that Easter matters, then let’s live like it.  Because he lives, so do we.
    A few years ago, I was invited to teach a week-long class at Pinecrest Lutheran Leadership camp for high school and college young adults called “Little-Known Stories of the Bible.”   I really enjoyed pulling out more obscure stories from books like 1 Kings and Judges for us to familiarize ourselves with throughout the week.  But our first day, we actually read the Easter story, from all four gospel accounts.  I called that day “Stories We Think We Know.”  We think we know the Easter story well, but do we?  For example, who is the first person to encounter the risen Christ?  In all four gospels, it is Mary Madgalene –not Peter or one of the other male disciples, as we might think.  Did you remember the earthquake when Jesus was raised?  What other details did you miss or forget about until we just heard it again this morning?  Christ’s resurrection is the most important story of the Christian faith – it is why we are Christians.  Christians began gathering for worship on Sunday to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection – Easter is what makes us unique among world religions.  Today is an opportunity not only refresh our memories about what happened the first Easter, but also live trusting in the good news of the story that Jesus lives in us and through us every single day.  Easter is our insistence that life wins and is our eternal destiny.  Today is only the beginning!
    With earthquakes and an angel shining like lightning, we can understand how the guards and the women are afraid that first Easter.  It’s a far cry from a quiet morning sunrise amongst lilies and pastel colors.  It’s significant to note that while the guards are paralyzed by their fear, becoming “like dead men,” the women are still afraid, but their fear doesn’t stop them.  Instead, they are mobilized to go and tell others the good news that Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  They leave the tomb quickly –they are still afraid!  But, Matthew adds, they run with fear AND great joy.  Yes, there is still mud, allergies, and bursts of cold weather ahead for us this spring.  We may be facing personal challenges – health struggles, family conflicts, difficult decisions, or things that are happening around the world that cause us to be afraid.  The Easter good news is that because Jesus lives, we can face our fears also with great joy.  We are not paralyzed but rather catalyzed to go out living the life that really is life, sharing the good news of resurrection life with others.  So, let’s reclaim the gift of spring and this amazing celebration of life. It doesn’t have to be your favorite season.  But thanks be to God, Easter is not just a day or a season, but every Sunday.  It is the core of who we are as resurrection people.  Wake up, go out with courage and great joy, for Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed, Alleluia!  Amen.