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A web search for Easter will bring images of bunnies and colored eggs. But what will a Bible search of Easter reveal? Join Reverend Daniel this Easter Sunday and discover the hope and promise of resurrection that can be found in the true meaning of Easter.

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This morning's Gospel reading is taken from the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 1 to 23. Glory to Christ our Savior. John chapter 20, verse 1. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Madeline came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they had laid him. So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going towards the tomb. Both of them were running together. But the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but fold up in the place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead, then the disciples went back to their homes. Verse 11. And as she wept, she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to him, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have led him. Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Verse 15. Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away. Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned and said to him in Aramaic, Raboni, which means teacher. Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and said to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, my God and your God. Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and he had said these things to her. On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. Verse 20. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you behold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.

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Christ is risen. Let's try again once more. Christ is risen. Christ is risen.

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Today, what we want to do is to explore the implications of the Christ that rose from the dead and what it means for us this morning. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for the joy of Easter morning. And Lord, we pray more than just an expression of what we do on a normal Sunday, that you will do something deep within our hearts this morning. Lord, that the words that we uh pronounce and celebrate each Easter, Christ is risen, He's risen indeed. Lord, let it have a special meaning in our hearts this morning. That it will not be just words we mouth, but words that we truly believe and that we truly see the implications of your resurrection in our lives. That truly, because Jesus rose from the dead, there are implications for us to keep our faith in Him till He comes again. So strengthen us, we pray, as we look into your word, may you uh lift up, least lift us up to where Christ is and fill us with eternal joy. We praise you and give you thanks in the name of Jesus. Amen. John chapter 20, verse uh 1 to 9, the first nine verses marks the beginning of a new creation. Sometimes we say that Jesus rose from the dead. He died, and then he rose from the dead. Nothing great about that, right? To just die and rose from the dead. But Jesus did not merely rise from the dead. In the resurrection accounts recorded by all the gospel writers, something new was happening, something fresh, something that was never done before was happening at the resurrection. And together with that, it has implications for us even till the present day. John 20, verse 1 reads that on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. The phrase, the first day of the week, is repeated in all the other gospels, in Matthew 28, verse 1, in Mark 16, verse 2, and in Luke 24 verse 1. It's interesting to note that the evangelists or the gospel writers do not record it as the third day after the crucifixion, which uh Paul records that in 1 Corinthians 15, 3 to 4 as a statement of the faith of the early Christians. He died, and on the third day he rose again, and it forms a confession of our belief in the apostles' creed that he rose on the third day. But it seems to us that the evangelists, the gospel writers, is telling us that something new is happening. So we can also reference Mark chapter 8, verse 31, where Jesus spoke to the disciples and tell that and told them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. So it's interesting that the gospel writers record it as the first day of the week, and it indicates to us that something new is happening in the history of Christianity. We also read from John chapter 20, verse 5 to 7, in terms of the manner of the discovery of the empty tomb that Jesus wasn't there. John chapter 20, verse 5 to 7 states, and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloth lying there, but he did not go in. This refers to the beloved disciple, likely to be John. He didn't go in, but Simon Peter, usually the more enthusiastic guy and more gunkhoe, he's the one, right, less cautious and just willing to just throw himself forward. So he was the first to enter, but interestingly, it was John, the writer of the gospel, that perceived that Jesus had risen from the dead. So then Simon Peter came following John behind and then went to the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there and the face cloth which had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded up in a place by itself. It seems to indicate to us the first sign of a new creation that Jesus' resurrection body is not uh like how he looked like when he was crucified, but apparently it kind of passed through his grave clothes, spices and all, which, if you think about it in terms of the physicality that's is uh hugely embalmed, and the amount of spices used to anoint the body, how did Jesus even get out of that and how did he uh fold the head cloth and put it nicely? So uh apparently, and I believe so, that Jesus was transformed, the beginning of the transformation of his body. Uh so he his body passed through his grave clothes, spices, and all to show that he's entering into a different form of existence. We see this again in the miraculous appearance of Jesus to his followers through locked doors uh in John 20, verse 19, and again John 20, verse 26. In John 20, verse 19, on the evening of that of that day, the first day of the week, the doors were being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. And Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. So how did Jesus come in? You know, did anyone see him knock on the door and uh excuse me, may I come in? Or came in from the back door? No, he just appeared. He transcended matter and space, he just came in and stood among them through locked doors. So something uh is happening. And twice it tell the John tells us Jesus came and stood uh among them, although the doors were locked. Twice is being repeated to tell the reader something supernatural is happening here, something unusual, because these are the signs of the resurrected Christ. So we'll follow on the narrative and uh the story. We see that after the discovery, after Mary had discovered uh that the tomb was empty, uh, when they saw that the tomb, the stone had been taken away, she ran and to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and she said, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb. We do not know where they have laid them, laid him. So, as I said earlier, Peter and the other disciple then ran towards the tomb. Uh, both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. So um so he came and he took a peep into the tomb and he saw the linen cloth lying there, but did not go in. And Simon Peter came and he went into the tomb, and of course, both of them saw the evidence of the resurrection of Christ, that his body transformed physicality, and he was not to be found. So it's noteworthy that John, the gospel writer of uh the gospel of John, uh came to faith before he saw Jesus in his resurrected form. Right? Uh the the text tells us that um John saw and believed, right? He saw that Jesus' body wasn't there and the cloth was folded nicely, and the head cloth was folded nicely, so he perceived, he by intuition perhaps, not a total clear understanding, but the fact that he believed means something was happening within his heart. Perhaps with intuition, John perceived that the Jesus who had been crucified and who had recently assigned him, his mother to his care and who had been buried in the tomb had risen from the dead. But the narrator just tells us that the disciples then went back to their homes. So, in contrast to the disciples who went back to their homes for whatever reason, after encountering the empty tomb, Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. John 20, verse 11 to 18 reads, But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she stood, stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had laid, had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. She saw the angels, and and and the angels said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. Having said this, she then turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she couldn't recognize who Jesus was. And Jesus said to her, addressing her, Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. And this this comes the turn of the narrative where Jesus addressed her. Jesus said to her, Mary, she turned around and said to him in Aramaic, Raboni, which means teacher. And he he gave some instructions to her, saying, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God. So Mary Magdalene then went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, and that he has said these things to her. Mary Magdalene's unique encounter with Jesus, we see was a growing perception. She saw Jesus standing in John 20, verse 14, but did not know it was Jesus. When Jesus addressed her directly, she thought that he was a gardener. Then finally, the third time, when Jesus addressed her personally, right, instead of saying woman, in the third person sounds quite distant, he said Mary. And responding to the familiar voice of Jesus, at once she realized, Raboni, you are my teacher, you are the one who have uh who has risen from the dead. So responding to the familiar voice of Jesus, we calls the sheep shepherd imagery that is so precious in the Gospel of John. In John chapter 10, verse 3 to 4, Jesus is the good shepherd, and talking about uh sheep and shepherd, he says the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name, Mary, and then leads them out. When he had has brought out all of them, all of his own, he goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. It's remarkable here that though a woman's evidence was not formally admissible in court during the time of Jesus. Uh so if she were to go to the courts and say, I have seen Jesus being uh raised from the dead, uh somehow in the law of the day of the time, she would not be a uh she'll be an unsuitable witness of the resurrection of Jesus because during that time uh a woman's testimony does not hold much weight. Yet uh we see a reversal in the gospel. Uh the one that had an intimate first-hand uh experience of seeing Jesus is Mary Magdalene, a close disciple of Jesus. She was at the cross when Jesus was being crucified. So she went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord. The first witness of Jesus, the first conversation Jesus had was with a woman. So blessed are you, women, right? To see the Lord, you know, the Lord, you are highly esteemed in God's eyes, right? So uh so Peter and John, for whatever reason, they kind of returned home. We do not know why, but you know, they should be excited maybe to find out more, but somehow they just, you know, they just went back, right? So it was Mary that lingered, it was Mary that was full of sorrow, was weeping, uh uh, and he was uh in uh sorrow that uh Jesus had his body had been taken away, only to be interrupted by the very personal word of Jesus addressing her. Mary. The last part, John 20, verse 19 to 23, then records the appearance of Jesus to the disciples. Again, verse 19 reads, on the evening of that day, on the first day of the week. Again, first day of the week speaks of uh the new creation. God is doing something new on that day. The doors were being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you. When he has said this, he showed them his hands and his sight. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. So as the disciples gathered on the first day of the week, probably in the evening of the day, the doors were locked in fear of the Jews. Perhaps they were still living in fear, right? It was only the first day uh where recently Jesus had been crucified. So they were living in fear that uh perhaps they will be arrested by the Jews, they'll be charged as being the followers of Jesus. We do not know, but we know that fear gripped their hearts. The doors were locked, they were locked because they were inside, they were inside the room and they did not know what to do, and Jesus appeared to them twice, in fact, three times in the gospel. Uh Jesus spoke peace twice in John 20, verse 19, and John 20, verse 21, over the disciples' fears. He then sent them out to be the messengers of the beginning of a new creation, charging them to proclaim the gospel and the resurrection of Jesus to the world. So, what is the significance of John 20 verse 1 to 23 on the resurrection of Jesus for us today, for Easter today, I like to frame it in terms of what Easter truly is about. And sad to say that when I just do a Google search on the word Easter Day, all I see was bunnies. Right? In my search, I see all pictures of bunnies and Easter eggs. I thought, oh, I can't use this as a PowerPoint backdrop, right? Otherwise, otherwise, all of us will think that Jesus is all about Easter bunnies or bunny eggs, you know. Yeah, so definitely Easter is is not about Easter bunnies or about bunnies for that matter. So at Easter, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. And the resurrection of Jesus is all about this the beginning of a new creation, a new order of being ushered through his death and resurrection. We see glimpses of it, as I shared earlier in the passage in John 20, in terms of the nature, the manner of Jesus' appearance to Simon Peter, to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and then to Mary and to the disciples. In the discovery of the empty tomb, Jesus' resurrection body apparently passed through his grave clothes, spices, and all. That is the first sign, the first fruits of a sign of a new creation. Jesus' body has transcended pain and suffering and physicality. In his appearance to the disciples, again we have a glimpse that as he passed through locked doors and appeared among them, he is already, his body has taken a transform, uh a form where his body has taken a form in which it is transformed. Beyond physicality. In his appearance to Mary, the shepherd sheep, uh sheep shepherd imagery of John 10 is invoked, reminding Mary and all of us here that in Jesus' resurrected form, he is still the shepherd that we must all hear. There's a continuity, even though his physicality has changed, he has resurrected, but the relationship that we need to have with Jesus is still the same. We need to relate to him like how a sheep will always hear the voice of the shepherd. He is still the shepherd whose voice we can and must hear. So Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 35 to 41 goes into details on the form of what the resurrection body will look like. I just want to read a couple of verses from 1 Corinthians 15, verse 35 to 41. Paul says, but someone will ask, how are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? You foolish people, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies. There must be a death. Jesus has died, but he has not stated that he's transformed out of physicality. So Paul goes on to say, what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, as perhaps of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same. But there's one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, another for fish. There are heavenly bodies, earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There's one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars, for stars differ from stars in glory. So Paul is talking about there are different forms, different bodies. So Jesus' body has transformed out of physicality to take a heavenly form. So the first implication like to share with us this morning in light of the resurrection of Jesus is this. The resurrection of Jesus reminds us of the hope we have of a future transformed body. This is the hope of a new creation by God. That is why for a Christian, death is not a defeat, but it is a victory. Because when a Christian dies and goes to be with Jesus, his or her body is laid to rest, but his spirit is being uh united with Jesus. And it takes on a different form of existence. Though we do not know what form it is, but certainly it's beyond a physical form, a spiritual form. And that transcends the physical form that we are used to. So the hope we have on Easter is actually a very vital hope for us as Christians because uh Paul tells us if Christ did not uh rise from the dead, then we are still in our sins, and our faith in God is worthless, is useless. But because Christ has been raised from the dead as the first fruit of uh of the resurrection, it brings us the hope that we have that goes beyond death. So the dead in Christ, in their resurrected form, is different from what we are currently. All of us here today know that our physical body will be subject to death and decay. No matter how we try to preserve our physical body, the end goal or the end destination is all of us will die. Because all of all of us, our bodies will break down, and we do experience that, you know, as we cross different milestones of our lives, that uh we we struggle with uh our our knees breaking down, we struggle with uh certain bodily weakness and lack of strength, you know, uh, and and after you reach a certain age, you put on weight faster and so on. So we struggle with all these limitations in our physical body because we know that eventually all of us will have to face death because our physical body would eventually wear down and decay, no matter how we try to preserve or prolong it. However, the hope we have is seen in the manner of Jesus' appearance to uh Simon Peter, to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, to Mary, and to all the disciples, because his appearance attests to a transformed body, very much unlike how his body looked like in crucifixion. So we can all look forward to a transformed body like Jesus, a body which we will no longer suffer physical degeneration, decay, and death. So this is the hope that we should inspire us to press on forward, regardless of what predicament uh that we are going through, because the world tells us that life is all it is. You've got to strive, you've got to work hard, you got to achieve this and that, but after that, when you reach a certain age, then your body breaks down, and whatever you gain is just left for your descendants or the person to come. So life without the resurrection lacks a meaning or purpose. So, in a way, is living the future forward when we are able to keep the resurrection of Jesus in front of us. And 1 Corinthians 15, verse 42 to 44 reminds us, and this is the hope that we have as Christians on Resurrection Sunday, the hope we have that eventually our body will be transformed. Our bodies will be transformed, we will no longer suffer from pain and aches, but we will reach a place where uh we will enter into immortality, and that was God's purpose all along, right at the beginning of creation. Man was created to live forever, but because of the sin of Adam and Eve, in in which uh they disobeyed God and they add from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, um, there was a flaming sword guarding uh the tree of life, the tree of uh the Garden of Eden, uh promising that man shall not eat from the tree of life and live forever because of the sin that we all inherited from Adam. Jesus came and he reversed it all, he brings immortality to life. So, 1 Corinthians 15, verse 42 to 44 reminds us so it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, right? You look at those who die sometimes, our loved ones, they die in pain because they are stricken by certain diseases. Or look at the mud body of Jesus. It's sown in dishonor, it's raised in glory. That's why Easter is a celebration of victory. That's why it's the highest point in the Christian calendar because it's a celebration of what our faith is all about. It's about imperial faith being imperishable and it's about glory, it's about final glory. It is sown in weakness. Jesus died as a man uh and he bore on himself the sin. He died because he couldn't breathe, uh his body couldn't take the weight of the suffering. So it's very natural to die uh uh out of human weakness. So, but it is raised in power, it is sown a natural body that breaks down eventually, but it's raised a spiritual body. So Paul says if there's a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So today, this is the hope we have as Christians that will impel us towards the future. So I wonder whether we wake up each day to consider, to think about eternity. I mean, I I admit that I seldom do that because of the the um reality of life in Singapore and how we are always on the fast track, like being on a hamster, hamster's wheel. You know, we are always uh just moving fast from one thing to another. But one of the um the early traditions uh of the early church, they what they do is they contemplate eternity. You know, but we don't have time for that because we are too busy. Have we ever thought and meditated on 1 Corinthians 15, 42 to 44? What would our bodies be like? What would it be like to have a body that does not perish, that is not subject to weakness? What does an imperitial body look like? What does a spiritual body look like? Because if we have time to contemplate on eternity, uh as uh John Calvin reminds us, if we have time to gaze upon eternity from the perspective of God through eternity, then we are able to have a sense of how God desires us to live. So I hope today I can challenge our thinking a bit more. You know, we are living not as Christians just for the end of the day, for tomorrow, for our next retirement plan or the next career shift. But as important as it is, do you take time to contemplate uh what when you're when you die, you know, what form your body will take, you know, how how glorious that will be. You know, so so that's why death is always a celebration for those who believe in Jesus. We may grieve, we may be sad, but they are rejoicing. And like I always say uh when I uh conduct funerals, I always tell the family, the baby family, that if so and so, if heaven and earth is a permeable space, so and so is looking down from heaven and cheering us on. I believe that is true, right? And we have it in in our Anglican liturgy, whenever we celebrate Holy Communion, we say uh with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven. So we invoke that word, those words. We are reminding us that actually those our loved ones who have gone before us, they are there with us. So together with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we proclaim his great and glorious name. So this is what we do, right? So do take time on this Easter day to contemplate uh resurrection because we will rise again, we will rise again because of Jesus. Secondly, the resurrection of Jesus reminds us that in the new creation by God, we still need to know him personally. This is akin to how Mary recognized the voice of Jesus calling her. We need to attune ourselves to hear the shepherd's voice, to hear him calling us, and to respond to him as our good shepherd. Knowing Jesus as our good shepherd in the new creation by God enables us to overcome fear. It's significant that Jesus on the first day of the week, he came through locked doors and fearful hearts to bring peace. And peace is a familiar word in John's gospel. In John 14, verse 27, Jesus reminds his disciples, he says, Peace I live with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. So again, in his resurrection appearance, he brings peace again. The first word to the disciples is peace in the midst of fears. And there are a lot of things in life that can uh uh that we can fall under in terms of we can uh lose ourselves in. Uh and and I know um we are living in an age where there's so much uncertainty in terms of the global uh scene uh and the trade wars and and so on. So life seems to be uncertain, right? And unpredictable, you know, the financial markets and what what you have not, you know, so many things. Our health, you know, we do not know. Uh it's unpredictable, right? So each time when we reach a certain age, we go for medical checkups, we thank God that we have a clean bill of health. But we do not know because uh we are still, our bodies are still subject to pain, decay, and degeneration. But God's ultimate intent is not to save us from death, God's ultimate intent is to resurrect us, and that is the end goal, right? So I'd like to encourage us in the second point in the new creation by God, inaugurated by the resurrection of Jesus, we still need to know him personally. Because those who know God, those who hear his voice as a good shepherd, you know, calling his sheep, will have peace in their lives. But if we live very frantic lives without talking to God, having a relationship with him as our shepherd, then we will not know the peace of God. We will not experience the wholeness that comes from the mouth of the resurrected Jesus. Peace be with you. My peace I give to you. So may the Lord help us this Easter morning in these two ways. Firstly, to remind us of the hope we have of a future transformed body. So take time today. Take time when you do your quiet time with Jesus to contemplate eternity, right? Uh especially when you have body aches and pains or when you are suffering certain impediments that doesn't seem to go away. Take time because the end goal is immortality, the end goal is resurrection. So contemplate what resurrection is like. Search the scriptures, meditate on them, fill your heart with hope instead of anxiety. Secondly, the resurrection of Jesus reminds us that uh in the new creation of God, He is our shepherd still. We need to know Him personally. So take time to know Him, to hear His voice, to calm, allow Him to calm your heart and take away all your fears. Because in the new creation order, fear is replaced by peace. Jesus says twice, peace I live with you. Peace be with you. And as good Anglicans or those who have worshiping with us for so long, uh, we know that we always share the peace, right? Uh and we'll do that in a while's time. So peace be with you, and God's peace be also with you.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about Eastern Christian Church, please visit our website at yccanglican.com. Have a blessed day.