Kids, Happy Easter!

It’s great to see you all here. So, something BIG just happened! I mean, really BIG. Did you hear it in the Gospel story we just read? In that story, something BIG happens and people are running because of it. First we have Mary Magdala, a close friend of Jesus, going to the tomb where Jesus is buried, and she finds that the huge stone that covers the entrance to the tomb has been rolled away. And inside the tomb – Jesus is not there! So, she runs.

Mary runs to find Peter just as fast as she can to tell him that there is something wrong with the tomb. And what does Peter do? He and John run as fast as they can to the tomb to see for themselves. In fact, Peter and John race to the tomb. And do you know who won? It says John “ran faster than Peter” and got there first. 

But all that running is not the BIG thing that happened in the Gospel. No, the something BIG is why they ran. You run somewhere when you need to get there fast because something BIG just happened. And that’s what we need to understand. 

You know, for three years, the Disciples traveled with Jesus, they heard Him preach and teach people about God, and they prayed with Him. And at the end of those three years, Jesus was captured by some bad people, and killed. Everyone thought that was the end of it, that Jesus would never be able to preach again, He would never be able to cure people’s sickness, and He would never be able to tell people how to please God. But they were wrong!

Jesus knew all along that all this would happen… and He knew something that everyone else didn’t. Jesus knew that God would raise Him and bring Him back to life! While the disciples had heard Jesus talk about that before His death, they didn’t really understand. Until now.

When Mary Magdala told them that the tomb was empty and they saw it with their own eyes, they began to believe and understand. And as they began to understand, they saw why this really is something BIG!

So, that is what happened on Easter 2,000 years ago. Jesus was raised and is alive forever, and He wants us to be with Him forever too. That’s why He was always teaching the Disciples, and us, how to live like God wants us to live, how we should treat others and how to say sorry to God when we do something wrong. That’s pretty BIG… isn’t it kids?

Parents, this is BIG for us too. I think sometimes we fall into a trap of familiarity. This resurrection story is one we are familiar with, we hear it every Easter and we maybe let our minds wander to the big Easter meal this afternoon. But we need to pause and think about this story because it is BIG.

When we really think about what He did for us, what He endured for us, what He accomplished for us, it is mind blowing. The Resurrection is the pinnacle of our faith, the most important day of our own salvation stories. A light has appeared! Joy has returned to earth! A covenant everlasting is established by Sacred Blood! He has won… for all of us. And His first words, post resurrection, are a comforting, “Do not be afraid.”  Do not be afraid because we are now worthy, we now have a path to forgiveness, we can now obtain our salvation.

This is why we fasted during Lent, this is why we repented, this is why we prayed. To understand and appreciate what He has done, to love and praise Him, to worship and thank our Savior. 

This is why Mary Magdala ran.

This is why Peter and John ran.

And if we totally understand what He has done, we too should run!