Reflection for Sunday 20th April 2025Easter DayIsaiah 65: 17-end, Acts 10:34-43 and Luke 24.1-12The Dawn That Changed EverythingEarly in the morning, while it was still dark, the women came to the tomb. They came not expecting resurrection, but to honour the dead. Their spices were meant for mourning, not celebration. But instead of death, they met an empty tomb and a message that would change the world: “He is not here, but has risen.”This moment in Luke’s Gospel is quietly astonishing. There are no earthquakes, no dazzling appearances—just the simple, disorienting discovery that Jesus is no longer where they left him. And then the question that still echoes today: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”It's a question that cuts through our habits of despair. So often, we live as though the darkness has the final word—as if hope is naïve and the grave is the end. But Easter morning declares something radical: that God has broken the power of death, and nothing will ever be the same.Isaiah glimpsed this reality centuries before, envisioning a new heaven and a new earth, where weeping and distress would be no more. That vision takes flesh in the risen Jesus. In him, God's future has broken into our present. It’s not just a promise for one day, but a power for this day.Peter, preaching in Acts, declares that this risen Christ is now Lord of all—and we are witnesses. That’s our calling too. Like the women at the tomb, we’re sent to tell what we’ve seen, even if others dismiss it at first. Resurrection hope doesn’t always make sense to the world. It didn’t to the apostles either. But it is the truth—and it's alive in us.St. John Chrysostom once preached: “Let no one fear death, for the Saviour’s death has set us free. Christ is risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead.” That’s the heartbeat of Easter: a love stronger than death, a joy that no grave can hold.So on Easter Day, as we greet the risen Christ, let’s be people of the dawn. Let’s carry this good news into our communities, our struggles, our quiet doubts. Let’s live like the new creation has already begun—because in him, it truly has. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia. Blessings and prayers, Emma
