Easter Messages 2026

Here is a summary of my messages over the Easter weekend as we continue to listen for God’s grace in his Word…

Maundy Thursday: ‘Meals of Grace’ (Exodus 12:1-4,11-14; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

The Easter long weekend is a time when a lot of people spend time with family. For some, it might mean a camping trip away. For others, family can gather at an event or a park. For many families, the Easter weekend will be an opportunity to get together and share a meal.

The Old Testament reading for Maundy Thursday, Exodus 12:1-4,11-14, tells the origin of one of the oldest family meals in history: the Jewish Passover. This meal was held on the evening of the final and worst of the Ten Plagues God sent to the Egyptians. God wanted the Pharaoh to release his people from slavery so they could enter into the freedom and blessing of the Promised Land. This meal of roasted lamb and unleavened bread was eaten in family groups with the lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their homes. It was a meal of grace as God gave his people three things. God gave them protection from the angel of death who was taking the lives of the firstborn sons of Egypt. God gave them identity as his chosen people, distinct from the Egyptians who surrounded them. God gave them fuel for the journey ahead as they ate the bread which was made quickly, without yeast, and dressed ready to leave slavery in Egypt behind.

Fourteen hundred years later, while celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus began a new family meal for God’s New Testament people. We can call this meal the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion or the Eucharist, and usually think of it as meal that gives us the forgiveness of sins. When we look at it in the context of the Passover meal which Jesus celebrated with his disciples, we can also see it as a meal in which God gives us grace in other ways. Like the Old Testament Israelites, the Lord’s Supper also gives us protection from death as the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, delivers us from the power of death so we can live forever. God gives us the grace of identity as his chosen and dearly loved children by making us one with himself and with each other as the Body of Christ. God also gives us strength for life in this world as he feeds us and strengthens us with the body and blood of Jesus for our earthly journeys towards the Promised Land of our eternal home.

The meal of the Lord’s Supper is God’s gift of grace to us, giving us life, identity and strength, so we can live as his redeemed and rescued people, sharing his grace with others.

Good Friday: ‘Jesus Gives His Life For Us’ (Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12)

Over the season of Lent, we have been listening to God’s Word for his grace to us in Jesus. The whole story of God’s grace to his people from the Old Testament times to our own, culminates in the events of Good Friday: the suffering, crucifixion and death of Jesus.

People can understand the death of Jesus and why his sacrifice is good news for us in various ways. For example, we can see Jesus’ death as God’s ultimate act of grace for us. There is no greater gift one person can give to another than the gift of oneself. We can give others physical gifts which can be meaningful and sincere expressions of grace to each other. We can give our time to each other, acts of service, words of kindness or affirmation, as well as other ways of showing our care for the people around us. Anything we give to others can be seen as an act of grace. However, these expressions of grace can be limited, or we can hold something back for ourselves.

In Jesus’ death, he gives everything for us. By choosing the way of the cross, Jesus puts us ahead of himself in every way. It is the ultimate expression of God’s grace to us because Jesus held nothing back but sacrificed everything for us so we can know the fullness of God’s grace in him. Isaiah expressed God’s grace when he wrote that Jesus “took up our pain” and carried our suffering, “he was pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities” so that we can find peace and healing through the grace he offers us (53:4,5 NLT). This peace and healing came at an enormous cost – the life of God’s Son. When we find his grace which cost him everything, we also find the fullness of God’s grace to us.

In our relationships with each other, we can find it impossible to give everything for each other. We can look for something in it for ourselves, or we can hold something back. When that happens, we don’t need to feel bad about it. Instead, when we compare our failure to give everything to the people around us with the way Jesus gave everything for us on the cross, God’s grace for us in Jesus just keeps getting bigger and better…

Easter Sunday: ‘Jesus Gives His Life To Us’ (Colossians 3:1-4)

On Easter Sunday morning, the Easter Bunny visits people to give them chocolate eggs and other gifts. Unlike Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny doesn’t keep a list or check it twice to know who’s been naughty or nice. The Easter Bunny visits people everywhere to leave chocolate eggs, bunnies, bilbies or other treats whether we’ve been good or bad.

This makes the Easter Bunny a great example of grace. He doesn’t ask if we deserve the chocolate or if we’ve been good enough to earn it. The Easter Bunny gives his treats to us indiscriminately, sharing his chocolatey goodness with everyone as a gift, an act of grace.

Thinking about the good gifts the Easter Bunny gives us can point us to God’s grace for us in Jesus. On Good Friday we talked about the gift Jesus gave of his whole life FOR us on the cross without holding anything back. As we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, we give thanks for the gift of his life TO us. In Colossians 3:1 the Apostle Paul writes, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ…” (NIV). He doesn’t talk about our resurrection with Jesus as just a future event, but something that’s already happened. We have been raised with Jesus through baptism and faith in him. We are God’s dearly loved children who have already been raised to new life with Jesus now!

As we talked about a couple of weeks ago when we listened for God’s grace in the story of Jesus raising Lazarus (John 11:1-45), this is a life that God gives to us through Jesus and we can grow into our entire lives in this world. The life of Christ that he gives to us through his grace is a life that is stronger than sin and death. It is a life full to overflowing with hope, peace, joy and all the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in us. It is a life that is better and stronger than anything this broken world can throw at us. Jesus went through a lot of physical, emotional and spiritual pain on Good Friday. However, Jesus’ resurrection shows us that his life is stronger than all the bad things of this world. When we go through hardships, difficulties, pain or sorrow, we can trust that the resurrection life of Jesus which he gives to us and which grows in us will outlast all of it. As surely as Jesus is risen from the grave, the grace-filled gift of his resurrection life which is in us will overcome and outlast everything that’s wrong, bad or broken we might face.

As we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, God keep us in his grace so we can live every day in the light of his grace and continue to grow as his grace-filled people.