My brothers and sisters, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

On this joyful Easter morning, I join Father Jerabek and the staff of the Cathedral of St. Paul and the Diocese of Birmingham to wish all of you a Blessed and Holy Easter Sunday! Welcome to all who are visiting with us today. We’re glad you’ve joined us for Easter!

This morning, we are swept into a moment that changed the world forever. In the Gospel of Luke, we find ourselves standing with the women at the empty tomb, breathless, stunned, confused, amazed. That word captures it: amazed. The stone is rolled away. The body is gone. Two men in dazzling clothes appear, and they ask: "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He has been raised."

There’s no trumpet blast, no fanfare, no sunrise symphony. There is just absence - a silence as if creation already knows - and a message: He lives.

We can’t help but imagine the mixture of emotions racing through the hearts of those women—grief turning to shock, (almost too much to process in our brains), fear blooming into awe. Something new is beginning, and they are the first to know. It’s not a neat story. It's wild, even chaotic. Everything is happening so fast. That’s what real resurrection feels like, not polished and perfect but earth-shaking, heart-racing, mind-bending amazement.

They run to tell the Apostles. They arrive breathless. Luke tells us, “These words seemed to them an idle tale.” It can’t be so! We saw with our own eyes. He was put into the tomb. It was the end. Isn’t that so human? How often do we hold back our faith, afraid others will call it foolish? How often do we hear the message of hope and say, “No, that can’t be real”?

But then, there is Peter. Yes, Peter, who had denied Jesus. Peter, who had wept bitterly. Peter ran to the tomb. The same man who once shrank back now rushes forward. He peers in. He sees the linen cloths, and Luke says he went home “amazed at what had happened.”

Later, in the reading from Acts, Peter is no longer silent, no longer confused, no longer denying. He’s had time to process everything. He stands up and declares, “We are witnesses of all that He did … God raised Him on the third day… and commanded us to preach … and testify that He is the One.”

This is the heart of Easter - to stand not just amazed but also as witnesses, to say with our lives:  “Yes, the tomb is empty. He is risen. And we have seen what love looks like, what mercy looks like, what forgiveness does, what grace can build for us.” 

“We testify that He is the One appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.” This is why we celebrate today not only because Jesus is alive but because His Resurrection changes us.

In our second reading, the letter to the Corinthian Christian community, St. Paul says: “Let us celebrate the feast… not with the old yeast… but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” 

In other words, Easter isn’t just a day on the calendar. It’s a new way of being. Leave behind the old yeast—the old fears, the old bitterness, the old resentment, the old despair—and step into this bright morning with hearts made new. Live as people of the resurrection. Let your life preach this new gift that Christ is risen.

Yes, we still live in a world where tombs exist. We still carry grief. We still see darkness, but because of Easter, we can say that “death does not have the final word.” Because of Easter, the tomb is not the end. “Because of Easter, we are witnesses of something greater than death. We are witnesses of life—eternal life—breaking into the world.” And a movement is underway that has brought this glorious message to us today.

And so, we cry out with the Psalmist: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His mercy endures forever.” We give thanks because the stone has been rolled away. We give thanks because even when we are afraid and doubtful, He comes to find us. We give thanks because Christ is not among the dead. He is alive among us.

So today, we stand in the amazement of the empty tomb. We take our place among the throngs of witnesses in all of history – saints, martyrs, virgins, doctors, men, women and children – and we go from here to testify by word, by action, by love that He is the One.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia.