Sean C. Capparuccia

Easter Sunday – 5 April 2026

Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 16; I Cor. 15:20-26; Easter in the Gospels

Happy Easter!  It seems as though we just celebrated Christmas not too long ago and welcomed the Christ-Child into our world.  What a joyous time is Easter. And like Christmas, it is a time for family to be together, everyone to be out of school, and, for too many people, it’s the other day to go to church. Where the Catholic church makes every Sunday a day of obligation, we Protestants only have two – Christmas and Easter. I hope there are no bi-Sabbatarians in here (Chreasters, as they are sometimes called) but if you are, you picked an awesome day to come. Lots of good music and praise going on today. And next week will be awesome, too.  

Our season of Lent has come to an end. We have journeyed through the struggle of temptation; the importance of confessing our sin; how the doubting of truth and reality impact us; the Joy of being found by God and the joy in waiting to see Him face to face; we talked about the burden of making decisions that please our Lord; and the looming weight of death that hangs over us all. All these “weights” that we discussed are all part of the Christian life from beginning to end. And today, as we celebrate the Resurrection of the crucified Lord, the weight is lifted.

Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Rom. 8:39 says, There is nothing “in all creation, [that] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And I Cor. 1:30 says, “And because of [God, the Father] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification and redemption, from God…”

So you can see the benefits of being “in Christ Jesus.” And furthermore, we acknowledge that all of this is God’s own doing, “so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord’” (I Cor. 1:31).

The weight is lifted!! (You ought to be shouting “Amen!” right here.)

Today, obviously, is Easter, a time when we think how all the “weight” is lifted from us and put on Jesus, the weight of ‘death,’ in particular. It is a time when we especially think of the truly blessed hope that we have in Jesus Christ – the hope of resurrection. There are two things that were promised to God’s people throughout all the ages: One was the promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The other is the hope of resurrection. 

As we talked about last week, because of the resurrection, death is no longer the last word to humanity. Because of Christ, dead things come alive. In our passage from Ezekiel, we see a spectacular vision of a valley full of bones; a place where a large number of people, soldiers perhaps, had been slain. And God asks, “Son of man, can these bones live?”  And again, the Lord tells Ezekiel, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord’” (Ez. 37:4). 

O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!

O dead bones, listen to the word of the Lord!

O lifeless and unresponsive bones, give ear to the word of the Lord!

Is it no wonder why we take special care to read from God’s Word every Sunday and hear from His book? And not just a few verses as if to get our toes wet. Hear the word of the Lord. Are we not told that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17)?  And this is why we say after the reading, “The Word of the Lord” and “Thanks be to God.” It is a confirmation that these words are truly God’s words and we thank Him for giving them to us. Do I need to remind you what a vital ministry it is to both read and to listen to the word of the Lord? The words of the Lord give life.

            God told Ezekiel, “Therefore prophesy, [Ezekiel,] and say to these dry and lifeless bones, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people…. Then you will know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves… And I will put My Sprit within you, and you will come to life” (Ez. 37:12-14). Right there – both promises – indwelling Spirit and resurrection!

You know the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Both of them died and the rich man went to Hades, while Lazarus went to Paradise. Remember last week I told you that prior to Christ’s resurrection, the dead went to Sheol – either Paradise or Hades. No one went to heaven as we know it.  But, as Jesus describes it, it wasn’t a neutral “holding tank” or purgatory. Those who died outside of the faith went to torment and agony – “I am in agony in this flame,” the deceased rich man complained (Lk 16:24). From dust we were created and to dust we return. Period. The soul lived in the agony of Hades or waited in the comfort of Paradise. In our Psalm today David said, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (16:9-10).  David was expressing his trust in the Lord that he would not be abandoned to the pit forever. Even here he was looking forward to the Christ who would destroy death.

In Hosea, God speaks through the prophet saying, “I shall ransom [My people] from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from my eyes” (Hos. 13:14).  There is a power ascribed to death; death was indeed something to be feared. Again, keep in mind, prior to our Lord’s resurrection in 32 A.D., death was the end of the body. The spirit lived on but with no concept of embodiment. The spirit simply existed. Don’t ask me how – this is getting in to major metaphysics. But also keep in mind that nowhere do the Scriptures teach annihilationism which says that when you die, you are completely annihilated – nothing exists, ever again; you’re just gone. Some fringe Christian groups teach that while believers go to heaven, unbelievers are annihilated. [It amazes what people will believe just because they can’t understand or don’t like the idea of hell. I think most of the time it comes down to the fact that someone has a family member whom they know is probably going to hell but they just don’t want to believe that that can happen.] So no, we are not annihilated.

But Christ beat death. That is the amazing point (!) of Easter. It is also one of the indisputable truths of the Christian faith. The church in Corinth had some teachers who were denying the resurrection. We read vss. 20-26 this morning but the verses prior to this are Paul explaining why the resurrection of Christ is an incontrovertible doctrine.

  “But now,” Paul picks up in verse 20, “Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Cor. 15:20). Obviously, “those who have fallen asleep” are the brothers and sisters who have died. In Leviticus 23, we see the feasts connected to the Passover.

At Passover, the lamb is slain; this does not necessarily happen on a Sabbath day but on the 14th day of the first month, the month of Nisan. This corresponds to our March-April time frame.

The following day begins the feast of Unleavened Bread which lasts seven days. In the Old Testament this was a feast where they could not eat any leavened bread. Leaven, or yeast, was symbolic of evil. They also did not work during this week; it was a week off from all regular laboring. This signifies for us the fact that in Christ we are forgiven of the evil which we have done. His blood, which was shed on the cross, as the spotless Passover lamb, cleanses us from all unrighteousness, and not just once, but it continues to cleanse us as we confess our sins to Him. This feast, then, signifies our fellowship with Christ because of His shed blood for us.

Then on the first day of the week after Passover, is the feast of Firstfruits when a sheaf of the new grain is harvested and brought to the Lord as an offering. You see, all of the Old Testament festivals – as well as the Law – pointed to Christ. He, being raised on the first day of the week, is the firstfruits of the Resurrection. His resurrection was the guarantee that all of His people will also be resurrected. Now, no one has been resurrected yet, at least not in the way we see time, but all who are in Christ will be. And so, as vs. 23 tells us, this will happen at Christ’s second coming. At that time, all those who have died in Christ, or with faith in Christ, will be given new bodies, glorified bodies, and will live eternally, not as disembodied spirits, or ghosts, but as people. Just like we are now, with flesh, only a new flesh that does not get old or corrupted. Scripture tells us that we will have full consciousness of who we are and of others whom we know. And we will have eternity to get to know the rest of the body of Christ.

I don’t think one can overestimate the gloriousness of what is to come.

 A pastor once told his congregation, “When I die, I want you to put a fork in my hand in the casket.”
 They were confused; why would he need to be buried with a fork?
 So he explained, “At every church potluck, when someone said ‘keep your fork,’ it meant dessert was coming. I want everyone to know—the best is yet to come!”

Christ’s resurrection points to one thing: our own resurrection.

Exactly seven weeks after the beginning of the season of firstfruits, in Leviticus, is Pentecost. At this feast, leavened bread is eaten – not the unleavened bread just after Passover. Why leaven at this feast? You know that this is the birthday of the Church, the body of Christ. This is when the promise of the Holy Spirit was fulfilled. God in you, not just God with you. But if leaven signifies evil, then why is there leaven at Pentecost? Because God knew that there would be evil in the Church. There would be many who claimed to be Christians who were not. There would be many who will say, “Lord, Lord,” when they see Jesus, and He will say, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” And some of these people in the Church are just benign. They don’t necessarily cause problems; but they don’t truly know Jesus, either. And there are some who do cause problems by bringing into the Church false teachings, and false ideologies, and things contrary to Scripture. And this is why there is so much teaching on confronting these people and either setting them straight or getting them out of the Church.

            Paul was addressing some of these people in I Corinthians and refuting their bad theology. But with belief in Christ comes the indwelling Holy Spirit. And with the Holy Spirit comes the conviction of sin and of truth.

            But here’s one final thought before I wrap this up. Sherrie singing “In the Garden” reminded me of this. The first Garden, Eden, was God’s first “Temple.” It was where He first met with His creation, Adam and Eve. Then, of course, they sinned and the Temple here was lost. God did not dwell with man again until the time of Moses and the building of the Tabernacle and the Ark. God “dwelled” in the Ark of the Covenant in the Tabernacle until they built the first true Temple in Jerusalem. In this Temple, God dwelt with man, being ministered unto by the priests who made the sacrifices. But the promise had always been given to mankind – I will dwell within you. This was the promise and the hope that kept the faithful people looking for the Messiah. They weren’t really looking for a king who would beat the enemies of the state, but for the One who would send the Holy Spirit. And now, because of what Christ has done, and being “in Christ,” the Holy Spirit of God lives in all those who truly believe. So, while Easter is a guarantee that our bodies will ultimately not see decay but will be made new and live forever; it is also a guarantee that the bodies we have now will be a Temple of God in the life we are now living.

            In a way, then, not only are we “in the garden,” but each one of us is the Garden. As we prepare our hearts to partake of the Eucharist, let us all be reminded of how precious we are to our Lord Jesus Christ; not just that He would die for us 2000 years ago, but that He would live in and through us now, despite our sometimes wretchedness and perversity. His blood can make the foulest clean, and He will keep doing it over and over and over again for all those whom He loves and calls.

            “For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people’” (II Cor. 6:16). He has redeemed our dry and brittle and lifeless souls and made them alive in Christ for His own dwelling. That, Beloved, is what is so amazing about Easter.

            So have a happy and blessed Easter!