The Day the World Changed
“But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel; and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise.” And they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.
The Jewish people were under Roman rule. It is estimated that five million people were slaves. Infant mortality was very high and few lived to the age of six. Plagues took many lives. Rome taxed the people to the maximum. On that first Easter Sunday we find that the women wept as they prepared spices and perfumes for the body of Jesus.
We find two men who were sorrowful on the road to Emmaus Eleven disciples were very confused and disillusioned. We find a rather bleak picture the first Easter morning. We look at our world today and we find a world that is still very troubled. A large part of our world still has little freedom. We look at this planet and find hunger and poverty prevalent in many places. Crime is on the increase and we are loosing ground in our fight against drugs and alcohol abuse. Many persons are depressed and worried over bad relationships with people and many suffer from low self-esteem. Easter April 9, 2023 dawns on a troubled world.
The women who came to the tomb were sad but hurried back excited after they found out that Christ had rose from the grave. This is seen in Matthew 28:8, “And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.” That first Easter morning quickly turned sorrow into joy. Remember that Christ told them He would rise from the dead but they did not figure it out while Jesus was with them. We see this in the fact that their major concern was to get to the grave to anoint the body.
But once they reached the tomb, they were no longer sad. In fact their lives and the lives of the disciples would forever be changed. The greatest change of all was that they now believed all that Jesus had told them. The Resurrection validated the message of Jesus Christ. All that He had told them had now come to pass. That day the world did change and the message was quite clear, Jesus was now the living Savior who had risen from the dead. The disciples were now ready to proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to the world.
Pastor Ralph