We celebrate the resurrection because it is the triumphant result of the death and the burial.

The resurrection is so climactic because the cross was so brutal and the burial so lonely.

Ultimately, when we carry a cross, it should be empty because he is not there anymore.

And when we look into the tomb, the angel said, he is not here, he is risen.

I don't want to be where Jesus used to be.

I don't want to worship who he used to be or how he used to be.

I want to worship a resurrected Savior because as he is, so are we in this world, not as he was as he is.

He is resurrected and according to the book of Ephesians, when he got up, we got up in him.

And we should live a resurrected life.

A resurrected life is the culmination of somebody who is willing to go to the cross for him.

Somebody who is willing to be buried and obscured and forgotten and rejected like him.

If you are that somebody, you will also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

That's what baptism is all about. That's what this season is all about.

That's what the resurrection is all about.

And we celebrate that he may have died on Friday, but he rose on Sunday morning.

Let that be a template for your life, focus on the resurrection,

not the crucifixion.

This too shall pass.

God is offering you something this morning,

but if you just think it's another Sunday morning, just another Easter Sunday,

you could miss it.

The thing that stands out to me is that they brought Jesus before the courts, before Pilate.

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