On December 10, 2003, a new movie was released. It was called Big Fish. The main character in the film was a man named Edward Bloom. Edward Bloom loved to charm people with his “larger-than-life stories” (some would call them “tall tales” about his youthful and extraordinary adventures with circus performers, with giants and werewolves and one amazing encounter with a so-called witch.

In the witch story (which was his son’s favorite bed-time story), Edward Bloom describes in vivid detail how when he was ten years old… he and some of his young friends ventured into a swamp to check out a bizarre report they have heard. According to the story, there was a woman reputed to be a witch who lived in this swamp… and if you could find her and look into her glass eye, you could see how you’re going to die.

With the bravado of ten-year old boys, they decide to give it a try. When they find her house in the swamp, the boys dare Edward to go and tell the woman that they want to see her eye. Edward goes and brings back the old woman. She has scraggly hair and a patch over her left eye. Only two boys are still there. The others have run off, terrified. She lifts her eye-patch and one of the boys sees himself as an old, old man falling off a ladder. It scares the dickens out of him… and he and his brother run home in fear.

Now, only Edward remains. What should he do? Does he really want to look into her eye? Does he really want to know? On the one hand, knowing how you are going to die could “spook you out”… but on the other hand, you would know that you are going to survive everything else.

Edward decides to go for it. The movie does not reveal what Edward Bloom sees. Rather, the camera zooms in on his face as he smiles and says: “So, that’s how I go.”

This scene in the movie concludes with the grown-up Edward tucking his son into bed and saying: “From that moment on, I no longer feared death.”

Every now and then Easter comes along to remind us that as Christians, we don’t have to fear death. Easter shows us dramatically and powerfully that we don’t have to look into some woman’s glass eye to see how we are going to die. Rather (and so much better), we can now look into the eyes of the Resurrected Christ and see how (through faith in Him) we can conquer death… how He has the power to deliver us from death. That’s what Mary learned early on that first Easter Sunday morning.

Remember the story with me. On the Thursday night before Easter, Jesus was arrested on trumped-up charges. He was brutally beaten, rushed through a fixed trial which was held strangely in the middle of the night… and was declared guilty. The next day, Good Friday, Jesus was crucified. And, He was buried in a borrowed grave. And then on Easter Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb… to do what had to be done… to care for His dead body.

But, when she arrived she discovered that the stone which had been covering the opening to the grave had been rolled away. She looked inside.

- She was startled to see that His body was gone.
- She thought someone had broken into the grave and stolen the body.
- She was crushed, heart-broken, devastated.

They crucified Him… and now they have taken His body away. “How could they be so cruel?” she cried. But then she heard a noise behind her. She turned and saw the silhouette of a man. She thought it was the gardener… until He called her name. “Mary,” He said tenderly. She recognized that voice… and at that moment she ran headlong into Easter. She realized the truth. It was Christ.

His body had not been stolen. He had risen! He had conquered death! He had defeated evil! He had come back to life! He had resurrected!

She had come to the tomb that Easter morning looking for a dead body and found instead a Risen Lord. And with that discovery, Mary was resurrected, too! No more weeping and wailing. No more heavy sighing. No more tears of sorrow. He sent her running and shouting the good news: “I have seen the Lord! He is alive! I have seen the Lord! He is risen!”

On that Easter Sunday morning long ago, the key moment came when the Risen Lord called Mary by name… and she turned and looked into His eyes.

Now, on this Easter Sunday morning, (right now) the Risen Lord is still speaking… and if you will listen real closely you can hear Him. Listen to that… He is calling your name and mine. Can you hear Him? He is calling us by name… and telling us that He has conquered death… and that He wants to share with each one of us personally…

- The Good News of Easter
- The Good New of His great victory
- The Good News that goodness wins, that love wins, that God wins.

On that hill called Golgotha, evil had its best chance to defeat God and could not do it. God wins!... and He wants to share that victory with you and me. That is the good news, the amazing news that can change our lives forever. Let me show you what I mean with three thoughts.

I. FIRST OF ALL, BECAUSE OF EASTER WE CAN BE PEOPLE OF HOPE.

Do you remember the final scene from the Broadway musical Camelot? King Arthur sits alone in the forest. He is resting and brooding. He is totally disappointed and disillusioned. His whole world has come apart.

His dream for Camelot has been shattered because he has been betrayed and is now at war with his former best friend – most trusted knight, Sir Lancelot. King Arthur’s heart is broken.

But then suddenly, a young boy (about 12 years of age) finds him and tells King Arthur that he has come to join Camelot. He wants to help build this kingdom where honor and trust and respect and love and goodness and nobleness prevail. He wants to be a Knight of the Round Table.

Suddenly, King Arthur realizes that his dream has not died. The vision of yet a court of justice and equality, a land of right and truth, a people of nobility and goodness and integrity… the vision… the dream… it’s still alive.

“Quick boy, kneel,” the King orders him. Taking his mighty sword, Excaliber… he places the flat blade on each of the boy’s shoulders and then King Arthur says to him in a loud and proud voice: “I dub thee, Sir John, Knight of the Round Table!”

And then King Arthur lifts the young boy up and says to him: “Go back home, my son. Tell everyone that Camelot is possible. Run. Sir John, Run! Tell the world… it’s still possible. Run, Sir John, run! Tell everyone that hope is still alive!

What a moment! And that is what is happening here in this Easter story in John 20. Jesus is sending Mary out to the world with this message of Good News.

“Run, Mary, Run!
Go find the others!
Run Mary, Run!
Tell them the news!
Run, Mary, Run!
Tell everyone that I am still here!
Run Mary, Run!
Tell the world that hope is still alive! That love is still alive! That goodness is still alive! That God is still alive! Run, Mary, Run!

That’s what Easter teaches us… that God is still in charge, that God will win, that God is always with us, that God loves us, that when we are down and out, God comes looking for us (and like He did with Mary on that first Easter Sunday morning)… He calls us by name.

He has the power to resurrect and He has the power to resurrect us. He has the power to turn trudging to running; to turn sorrow to joy; to turn tears of grief to tears of gratitude; to turn death to life.

The hymn-writer Helen Lemmell, put it like this:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”

That’s number one: Because of Easter, we can be people of hope.

II. SECOND, BECAUSE OF EASTER WE CAN BE PEOPLE OF LOVE.

Love wins out over hate. Love endures. Love is the most powerful thing in the world… that is the message of Easter.

Vic Pentz tells about receiving a phone call from a minister friend in Edmond, Oklahoma. Joel Baker called Vic and said: “Vic, I want to tell you a story about my grandmother and you’re going to love this story.” He was right. Vic did love the story and so do I.

Joel said that some years ago when his grandmother was a young teenage girl in Austro-Serbia she found herself in a most difficult situation. She was being beaten by her abusive father. Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore, so one day she ran away from home and caught a boat to America.

But, when she arrived at Ellis Island she had no papers, no family and no sponsor. So as she stood in the long line, the authorities (realizing that she had no credentials)… put a white X in chalk on her arm. This meant that when she arrived at the official desk of entry… she would be deported immediately.

As the official moved away to interview others, a young man next to her in line reached over and wiped out the X on her arm… and when they arrived at the desk and the authorities asked for her papers, the young man put his arm around her shoulder and said: “She’s with me.”

Together, they were welcomed to America and a few weeks later they were married! And, today, their grandson is the pastor of The First Presbyterian Church in Edmund, Oklahoma. (Thanks to Vic Pentz, Protestant Hour, August 18, 2002)

That young man’s love saved her and granted her admission into a new life in a new land. That is precisely what Jesus Christ does for us. With sacrificial love, He reaches over and wipes away the X on our sleeve and says: “She’s with Me. He’s with Me. This one’s with Me.”

Because of Him, we are not deported or cast out or pushed aside. Because of Him, we are saved. Because of Him and His love, we get to enter into a new life in a new land.

Now, there’s another side to that coin. Christ is loving… and He wants us (His disciples) to be loving like Him. He wants us to live daily in that Christ-like spirit of love and caring and compassion. He wants us to receive His sacrificial love and then to pass it on to others. He wants us to emulate His love in all of our relationships.

The point is clear: Because of Easter we can be first people of hope and second, people of love.

III. THIRD AND FINALLY, BECAUSE OF EASTER WE CAN BE PEOPLE OF VICTORY.

A year ago yesterday (March 26, 2004), one of our doctors discovered that my wife, June, needed to have major surgery as soon as possible. The surgery was performed… and went well, but more treatment was needed.

So, in the last year, we have made over 60 trips to the Medical Center and the treatments have gone very well… and June is doing great and has been an inspiration to all of us with her spirit, her faith and her courage.

Last Wednesday, we went to see her doctor to get the results of her most recent tests. That is an intense experience. You sit in the small examining room and wait for the doctor… and the results. Finally, he comes in. He speaks, asks about the children and grandchildren and you visit a bit… and then he says, “May I have a moment?”

He sits down at his computer and pulls up the test results. He stares at the screen and studies it intently. Then, he pulls up another report and studies that with keen interest… then to a hard copy and then back to the screen… and you watch him.

You watch his face, his expression, his body language. You watch for any sign and you listen for any sound that will give you an advance signal for what is coming… because you know at any moment he will turn to you and say words that will impact your life incredibly.

Then, he turns and says: “Your Cat Scan looks good and stable and the other test results are excellent. You are doing very well” …. And when he says that you want to sing the Doxology and hug the doctor in that order!!!

Now, let me hurry to say what we all know. Sometimes the news is not good… (for all of us at some point in our life, the news will not be good)… but even then… even then… because of Easter, because of Jesus, because of God’s Promise to always be with us in this life and in the world to come… we can still be people of victory because NOTHING!!... NOTHING, not even death can separate us from God’s love. In this life or in the next… God will give us the victory.

That is the message of Easter, the promise of Easter, the good news of Easter. “O death, where is thy victory? O grave, where is thy sting?... But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Because of Easter, we can be people of hope, people of love and people of victory!