He is Risen. "He is Risen, indeed," we respond. We sound the trumpet. We decorate the altar in gold. We sound the bells. We sing out the alleluia's in the loudest crescendo we can. We turn out in larger numbers than any other time of the church year to celebrate this Queen of Feasts. And well we should. No matter how large the observance and how great the celebration we cannot make it grand enough to capture the fullness of its meaning for us. We are always going to have trouble with Easter because, no matter how hard we try, the full import and the full impact of what God does for us at Easter eludes us.

However, if we think we have trouble with Easter, think of the poor dear people in the city of Jerusalem that first Easter. The townspeople must have been troubled by the rumors that wer…