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John 20:1-18 | Matthew 28:1-10

Resurrection Is A Team Event

April 9, 2023

Easter

Lectionary Year A

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ASK (a.k.a The On-Ramp)

Good morning!
Have you ever tried to play a board game by yourself?
What about playing catch -- have you ever played catch by yourself?
What about football? Have you ever tried to run in a touchdown, but then tackled yourself just before the goal line?
So, it IS possible to do these things by yourself, right?
But it's a lot better when you do these things with other people, don’t you think?

TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway)

In today's scripture story, we hear about Jesus' resurrection.
Resurrection is this fancy word that we use to describe God giving life to Jesus again after Jesus died.
One thing we might think about resurrection is that Jesus is the only person who experiences resurrection. We might even think, "Why does Jesus get to be resurrected but other people don't get resurrected?"
And that's a good question!
One answer to that good question is that while resurrection only happens for Jesus, resurrection is very important and helpful to his disciples – which is what we see in today's story.
At the start of today's story, the disciples are very afraid and very sad but by the end of today’s story, while they are still very afraid, they are definitely not sad anymore.
Even more importantly -- they are energized, they are talking to each other (or getting ready to), they are gathering together again (or getting ready to) -- and all the things that Jesus taught them are starting to make even more sense to them.
While resurrection happened to Jesus, the effects of it were also experienced by the disciples.
So, just like board games or football are better with more than one person -- so too is resurrection better with more than one person.

Resurrection was (and still is) best experienced with others!

SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination)

And guess what!? Jesus' resurrection continues to be best experienced with others!
Being together today in spirit (and maybe in person) to remember and celebrate Jesus' resurrection is definitely a good start in experiencing Jesus’ resurrection.
But we can continue to experience Jesus' resurrection just like the disciples did by talking with each other about the Jesus stories and learning about Jesus and what he taught.
When we do that, we will learn the same things the disciples learned – including the same things that helped them to better see and experience Jesus' resurrection in today’s story!

And that is the Good News for today. Let’s pray.

CLOSING Prayer

This is a repeat-after-me prayer.

Dear God,
Dear God,

Thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for Jesus.

Help us to learn like his disciples did…

…so that we can experience…

…resurrection together.

Thank you and Amen.

Originally posted April 11, 2014
Updated on March 11, 2023
Written and edited by Nathanael Vissia

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Related message(s): Jesus Is Among The Living and Recognizing Resurrected Jesus