Easter for the Others

The Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Sunday

April 20, 2025

Luke 24:1-12

 “Easter for the Others”

 On this Easter Sunday morning, let’s begin with some fun facts about this day:

Approximately 180 million eggs are purchased each year for Easter. They’re used for dyeing, hunts and Easter recipes.[With the price of eggs this year, will people do something different?]

• Surprisingly, 81% of parents steal candy from their kids’ Easter baskets.
• Cadbury makes 500 million Creme Eggs every year—more than 1.5 million per day, every single day.
• Chocolate bunnies are the most popular item to put in an Easter basket, and more than 78% of people say they eat the ears first.
• An impressive 60% of parents say they still send their adult kids an Easter basket, even after they’ve moved out.
• The largest chocolate egg ever created weighed 15,873 pounds—about the size of an elephant! The largest chocolate bunny was 9,360 pounds.
• There are more than 50 official flavors of Jelly Belly jelly beans, an Easter favorite, but the company is always trying out new flavors and releasing limited editions. This year, consider trying Birthday Cake Remix and the Snapple Mix (though maybe not at the same time).
• Easter Sunday is the most popular day to attend church in America (What Is Easter? The History of the Holiday and Celebrating In 2025).

Beyond all the eggs, chocolate and jelly beans, you are here today because of something that goes much deeper. At the heart of Easter, at the heart of the Christian faith itself, is the resurrection of Jesus. That is what we celebrate today. The message for today rises up out of the Gospel lesson, Luke’s account of Jesus’ resurrection, and is entitled “Easter for the Others.”

Who are the “they” in that opening verse from Luke 24? Looking back at the end of Luke 23, we find out it’s the women who followed Jesus from up north in Galilee, who watched while he suffered and died on the cross, who witnessed his burial in the tomb. They are the “they” who went to Jesus’ tomb early on that first Easter morning, and what a surprise they found! The heavy circular stone that sealed the tomb – think millstone – had been rolled away, and two men in dazzling clothes – think angels – asked them that big question: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5b). That’s really why the women had come to the tomb: they came to finish the hurried burial of Jesus. They came to anoint his dead body. The women surely must have been completely freaked out by this, just as we would’ve been. And then more amazing news from the angel messengers: “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise” (Luke 24:6-7). The angels reminded the women that Jesus had accomplished what he came into the world to do. He fulfilled his mission to suffer and die for our sins and trespasses, and he was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25), just as he had said (Luke 9:21-22). That mission of Jesus was and is for you and me; for everyone everywhere.

We know where the women were on that first Easter morning. But where were the men, Jesus’ own disciples? Why weren’t they at the tomb with the women? Good question! Scripture doesn’t tell us this. Maybe it’s because they were distraught over everything that had happened. Maybe they were paralyzed by grief and fear. But surely the women experienced and felt these same things? Whatever the reason, it’s the women, not the men, who are the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. Here’s where we get Easter for the others: the women returned “from the tomb [and] they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest” (Luke 24:9). We know who the eleven were – the twelve disciples minus Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. But who are “all the rest?” And then in the next verse: “Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles” (Luke 24:10). Who are “the other women?” Bottom line: we are not told. Scripture doesn’t reveal who “all the rest” and “the other women” were. We don’t know their names or identities. But Jesus suffered and died on the cross for them also. Jesus had risen from the dead for “all the rest” and for “the other women.” And so Easter is for the others.

Peter, Andrew, James and John – we know the names of these and the rest of Jesus’ disciples, the twelve. But there were others. We know the names of Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother James who are listed as going to the tomb on that first Easter morning. But there were others. By the grace of God, we are among the “others.” We were not there on that first Easter morning. We were not eye witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. But led by the Holy Spirit, we do believe the account of those eye witnesses who were there on that first Easter morning. As Jesus said to Thomas who refused to believe unless he could touch the wounds of Jesus: “Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29). We walk by faith, not by sight. And so every morning is Easter morning from now on. It is as the Word of God assures us: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).

If you’re among “all the rest,” if you’re one of “the others,” then you’re in good company. You might not get the name recognition of Peter or James, Mary or Joanna. The world might not know your name, but the important thing is that the risen Christ knows your name. He knows who you are and everything about you. He loves you more than you know. He gave his life for you and rose again from the dead for you.  He came that you might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). Easter is for the others, thanks be to God.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.