Christ is Risen!

Today’s Readings

Old Testament

Epistle

Gospel

Psalm

Thought for the Day: The Victory Shout

Today, the silence of the tomb is broken. For forty days of Lent, we fasted from the "Alleluia." We watched the altar be stripped bare and heard the heavy sound of the stone closing the tomb. But this morning, the chancel is transformed. The bare stone is covered in white, the lilies fill the air, and we find our voices again.

When we say, "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!" we aren't just reciting a slogan or a polite greeting. We are making a legal claim. In the LCMS, we teach Objective Justification: that when Jesus walked out of that grave, God the Father signaled to the entire universe that the sacrifice for sin was accepted. Because He lives, your justification is a finished fact.

Death, which once had the final word, has been "swallowed up in victory." The grave is no longer a hole of despair, but a dressing room for eternity. Today, we don't just celebrate a historical event; we celebrate our own future. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead has claimed you in Holy Baptism. The victory is His, the gift is yours, and the joy is eternal.

"But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead." — 1 Corinthians 15:20–21