This is the feast of victory for our God!
Alleluia, alleluia!

Mary Magdalene first reaction was panic.
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where the put him.”

She wasn’t sure what to make of an empty tomb
that had once contained the body of her dear friend.

Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved
ran to the tomb.
They not only saw that the body was gone,
but that the burial cloths were left behind.
They saw, and we are told, they believed.

This is the feast of victory for our God!
Alleluia, alleluia!

Later, that same morning,
as she wept near the empty tomb,
two angels appeared,
and then Jesus suddenly appears,
but she can’t believe her eyes
and assumes he’s the gardener,
until he calls her by name.

This is the feast of victory for our God!
Alleluia, alleluia!

Later, that same day,
as the disciples huddled together
behind locked doors,
still afraid and uncertain about what to make
of what Peter and the other disciple had seen
at the empty tomb,
he stood in their midst,
alive,
and proclaiming, “Peace be with you.”

This is the feast of victory for our God!
Alleluia, alleluia!

Fifty days later,
filled with the Holy Spirit,
no longer afraid and bewildered,
Peter would proclaim,

“This man God raised on the third day
and granted that he be visible,
not to all the people, but to us,
the witnesses chosen by God in advance.”

This is the feast of victory for our God!
Alleluia, alleluia!

In a few minutes,
we will renew our baptismal promises,
proclaiming that we believe “in Jesus Christ…
who… suffered death and was buried,
rose again from the dead
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”

The grace of baptism will be renewed in us,
so that, like Peter and the other disciples,
we may be “witnesses chosen by God,”
chosen to proclaim that we, too, have seen the Lord.

This is the feast of victory for our God!
Alleluia, alleluia!

We may not have seen him in the same way
that Mary Magdalene, Peter and the other disciples did,
but we have seen the Lord.
We have encountered the Risen One.

We’ve heard him in Good News proclaimed.

We’ve seen him in bread broken and wine poured out.

We encountered him in people
who have offered us friendship, kindness and mercy,
for no particular reason at all.

We’ve seen him in people who’ve suffered
and moved our hearts to compassion.

We’ve seen him when a stranger reached out to us
in our hour of need.

We’ve seen the Risen Lord
in people whose words and deeds have inspired us
and opened our hearts in new ways.

This is the feast of victory for our God!
Alleluia, alleluia!

And we come here,
week after week,
year after year,
not just to remember what happened on that first Easter Day.
Like Mary Magdalene, Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved,
we come here searching for the one who died.

But unlike Mary Magdalene, Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved,
we come here because we know he is risen.
We know why the tomb is empty.
We know that, though he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
he still walks among us,
still heals broken hearts,
and still promises us resurrection, too.

We come here
because we believe in the one who once said,
"I am the resurrection and the life,
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will never die."

This is the feast of victory for our God!
Alleluia, alleluia!