April 5, 2026 homily on Matthew 28:1-10 by Pastor Galen for Easter Sunday
“Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” – Matthew 28:5-6
The Easter Egg Hunt
Growing up, I loved participating in Easter egg hunts. What could be more fun than the thrill of searching for hidden eggs, especially when they were filled with delicious candy?
Every year, my family would gather at my aunt and uncle’s house for Easter, and I have fond memories of them hiding eggs for us to find. So when I became an uncle, I wanted to do the same thing for my nieces and nephews.
There was just one problem. My brother’s seven children do not eat candy, and it’s not much fun to search for candy-filled eggs if you cannot eat the candy. So we’ve had to get creative.
One year, we filled the eggs with little prizes like stickers. That was fun, but it did not quite have the same excitement. So the following year, we decided to take it up a notch. We turned it into a treasure hunt.
Each Easter egg contained a piece of a puzzle. On the back of the completed puzzle was a treasure map. The kids had to work together to find every egg so they could assemble the puzzle. Then, once it was completed, they flipped it over to reveal the map that would lead them to the hidden treasure.
What made it so fun was that it extended the experience. Most egg hunts are over in just a few minutes, but this one kept the kids engaged for much longer. A side benefit was that we always knew how many eggs were still out there, because the puzzle could not be completed until every egg was found.
Searching for Jesus
In some ways, Matthew’s account of the Resurrection reads a little like an Easter egg hunt, or a search for hidden treasure. There is a lot of running around, a lot of wondering what is happening, and a lot of trying to piece things together.
The women went to the tomb expecting one thing: to find Jesus’ body. But instead, they are told they are looking in the wrong place.
The angel tells them, “He is not here; he has risen” (Matthew 28:6). The angel even invites them to see for themselves the empty place where Jesus had been laid.
Then he sends them on their way with a message: go and tell the disciples to go to Galilee. That is where they will see Jesus.
So the women run to tell the disciples, and Matthew tells us that they ran from the tomb “with fear and great joy” (Matthew 28:8 ESV).
Fear and Great Joy
“Fear and great joy” is such an interesting phrase. What or who were they afraid of? Perhaps they were afraid because they had just seen an angel. After all, the guards who had seen that same angel were so afraid that they trembled and then passed out. Matthew tells us that the angel’s appearance was like lightning, which could certainly be fear-inducing, so it is no wonder that the women were afraid.
But perhaps they were also afraid that no one would believe them. In the first-century Roman and Jewish world, a woman’s testimony was often dismissed or given little weight. Would the other disciples believe them when they shared this incredible news that Christ had risen?
And yet the women were also filled with great joy. Jesus, their teacher and friend, the one they had placed all their hope and trust in, was alive. When they watched him suffer and die just three days earlier, it must have felt like their world had come to an end. But now Jesus had risen. This was the best news imaginable.
So they hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell the disciples.
But before they even reached the other disciples, Jesus himself met them on the way. Even though the angel had said they would see him in Galilee, a journey of several days, Jesus appeared to them before they even reached the disciples.
It is almost as if Jesus couldn’t wait to see them. And that he didn’t want there to be any doubt that he was alive. Because the point was not for the truth to stay hidden, but goal was for the truth of his resurrection to be revealed.
The Truth Revealed
You see, Easter egg hunts are fun. As an adult, they are fun to plan and fun to watch. But they only work if the eggs are actually found.
If you are the one hiding the eggs, the goal is not to put them in a place where they will never be found. The whole point is for them to be discovered. And the same is true of the resurrection.
Even though Jesus was not in the tomb where the women expected him to be, it was not because he was trying to hide from them. He was not trying to make this difficult. He wanted to be found. He wanted them to know the truth, to have assurance, to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that death does not have the final word.
And so Jesus met them right where they were, while they were still on the way, while they were still in a state of fear and perhaps uncertainty. And he does not just meet them there, but meets us, wherever we are, as well.
Looking for Life in All the Wrong Places
The truth is that some of us might be in a place of doubt or uncertainty, worry or fear. And so often we look for life or hope or meaning or purpose in the wrong places. Empty tombs, places where we have experienced failure, or hurt, or grief. We replay the past over and over again in our minds, wondering what we could have done differently, wondering why things played out the way they did.
But life and hope cannot be found in empty tombs. Life and hope can only be found when we turn away from those places of death and go looking for the resurrected Christ.
A Cooperative Challenge
But notice how this happens in the story. The women did not go off on their own to Galilee to wait for Jesus. They were encouraged to move together as a community.
They were told by the angel to run and tell the disciples. Jesus even reiterates this when he appears to them. He wants them to share the good news the the rest of the disciples. He wants them to be the ones who guide the others, so that together they can encounter him.
These women became the first evangelists, the first preachers of the gospel. They became part of how others would come to see and believe. Even though they were still a bit afraid, and still had many questions about how all of this had happened, they were sent to proclaim the Good News.
And in the middle of all that movement, all that sharing, all that going together, Jesus meets them.
Which means that resurrection and new life are not something we are meant to figure out on our own. It is something we step into together.
It is something we remind each other of when one of us forgets.
It is something we hold onto for one another when someone is struggling to believe.
It is something we begin to see more clearly as we gather, as we tell the story, and as we keep showing up for one another.
Like my nephews and nieces’ Easter treasure hunt, no one had the whole picture by themselves. It required every piece of the puzzle. It took everyone working together. Only then could they see where the treasure really was.
The Invitation of Easter
And this is what Easter invites us into.
Not just to believe on our own, but to belong. To be part of a people who are running together with fear and great joy. A people who are still figuring it out, still piecing it together, and yet still moving forward in hope.
Because Jesus is not waiting for us at the end of the journey.
He is already on the way.
Already meeting us in our conversations.
Already present in our gathering.
Already alive in the ways we care for one another, encourage one another, and walk together.
And maybe that is the final surprise of Easter.
We set out thinking we are searching for something.
But in the end, we discover that we are the ones who have been found.
And so we no longer go looking for life or hope or meaning or purpose in empty tombs or in past regrets or failures. We move forward together with hope and courage, trusting that Christ is already ahead of us, and somehow also right beside us.
Even though we may still struggle with doubts or fears or uncertainties, we move forward together as a community that has been found. A community that, by our very nature, bears witness to the reality that Christ has risen.
We do this by showing up for one another, even when it would be easier to stay home. We do this by choosing hope, even in situations where we might expect disappointment. We do this by reminding one another, “You are not alone.”
Because the truth is, we are never alone. Christ has gone on ahead of us, and like the women, he also meets us on the way.
So let us move forward together in hope, proclaiming the truth of the resurrection:
Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed!
Amen!
Questions for Personal Reflection in Response to today’s message:
- Where in my life am I searching for hope in “empty tombs” instead of looking for the risen Christ?
- How have others helped me see or trust in God when I was struggling to believe?
- In what ways is God inviting me to move forward, even if I do not have everything figured out?
- Who might God be calling me to encourage this week with the reminder, “You are not alone”?
- What would it look like for me to live this week as someone who has been found by Christ?
Hampden United Methodist Church 