Lee Strobel is a Christian author. In one of his books he wrote:

I hope I have more success in explaining Easter than my brother-in-law did a few years ago when he was trying to explain it to his 5-year-old son Sean. They were sitting in church on Easter, and just before the service began, my brother-in-law pointed to the cross and said, “See the cross? The people put Jesus on the cross. The people killed Jesus.” Sean looked around very nervously, then asked cautiously: “These people?”

Out of the mouths of babes come words that put it all in perspective. Easter is all about Jesus – crucified and risen again. But Easter is also all about you! You put Jesus on the cross. You put Him in the tomb. And it was for you that He rose again. That is what brings us together today to rejoice!

Jesus died. He was buried. They all thought it was over. That is why those women were making their way to the tomb – they knew He was dead and wanted to honor his memory by providing a proper burial. They didn’t expect to find Him alive. But that is exactly what they found.

We have a lot of possums on our property. They are an ugly creature, aren’t they? But I read an article a while back that maintains that possums are smart animals. You wouldn’t think so because you hardly ever see one except when it’s dead on the road. There’s a joke that goes, “why did the chicken cross the road? To prove to the possum that it could be done!” But possums, it turns out, are smart. They won’t enter a hole if there’s just one set of tracks going into it. Think about that. They won’t enter a hole if there is just one set of tracks going into it because they know there’s something in there. But if there are two sets of tracks, one going in and one coming out, the possum will enter and not be afraid.

Isn’t that a message for Easter? We can enter the grave without fear. We don’t have to fear death because there are tracks coming out of the tomb. Jesus went into the tomb but He came out again on the third day. Paul preached the proclamation of Easter: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” It is not there because our Lord rose in victory over death for our sake!

Bruce Larson was a well known Presbyterian minister. He once said, “The events of Easter cannot be reduced to a creed or philosophy. We are not asked to believe the doctrine of the resurrection. We are asked to meet this person raised from the dead. In faith, we move from belief in a doctrine to the knowledge of a person. Ultimate truth is a person. We met him. He is alive.”

This is the message that we all need to hear. You meet Jesus. He is alive. Jesus is risen!