The Most Important Story Ever Told

All around the world, different cultures tell different stories about God. Some people think about it like a mountain with many winding paths to God. Each culture has their own path of how they can work to make it to God.

Easter is a different kind of story. This story isn’t focused on how we can get to God, but on how God has come down to us. This may seem a little strange at first, but I want to invite you to come and see Jesus, to hear the Easter story and consider it for yourself.

The Easter story isn’t a story for any one particular kind of person. The Easter story starts with an announcement of hope for all people.

This is not just one culture’s story. It is about a God who came for people of every nation, language, and ethnicity.

NO ORDINARY MAN

Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth, and the life, saying no one could come to God except through him. He also claimed that all of the Jewish Scriptures pointed to him as the way to salvation.

And this would be a pretty arrogant thing to say, unless it was true. Jesus was born in the town the Messiah was supposed to come from, he never sinned, and he fulfilled hundreds of prophecies exactly as the Messiah was supposed to fulfill them.

People around him began to see that Jesus was no ordinary man. And he invited them to come and see who he was and to follow him.

As Jesus taught and did miracles, people began to give up everything they had to follow him. His followers were quite an interesting group. Some were rich, some were poor. Some left their families to follow Jesus. Others left their businesses to follow him. But, they all had something in common. They came to Jesus and saw who he was, and they believed. And when they believed, everything changed.

For the 33 years of Jesus’ life, things seemed to be going really well. He went from being an obscure carpenter to a well-known traveling teacher. People gave up everything that they had to follow him. When he touched the eyes of the blind, they opened and they could see for the first time. When he spoke to the dead, they rose. When he touched those with sores all over their body, they were healed. Jesus is no ordinary man. And as he invites people to come and see who he is, people’s lives change.

NO ORDINARY WEEK

But, then, one night, everything took a turn for the worse.

In a single week, Jesus went from being celebrated to being tortured and killed like a violent criminal. How could this happen? How could a man who healed the sick and raised the dead be treated so poorly? How could Jesus’ own people crucify the very man who had come to save them from their sins? The religious teachers at the time were furious because Jesus made an outrageous claim—the boldest in history. He claimed to be God. In this culture, anyone lying about that deserved death. So, was Jesus lying? Was he crazy? Or was he telling the truth?

One day, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, as the prophets had foretold. Crowds spread palm branches and shouted, “Hosanna!” meaning, “Save us!” They praised him as a great teacher.

The next day, Jesus entered the temple and saw people selling all sorts of animals and goods, turning a place of worship into a hub for profit. He rebuked them, enraging the religious leaders. They began plotting his death. They found a co-conspirator in one of Jesus’ closest friends—Judas. For 30 pieces of silver, Judas agreed to betray Jesus.

During a feast a few days later, Jesus took bread and wine, saying, “This is my body, broken for you. This is my blood, poured out for you.” He was using their meal to show that his death was part of God’s plan—to remove shame, defeat evil, and restore their relationship with God.

NO ORDINARY DEATH

That night in the garden, Judas arrived with soldiers. Jesus was arrested for claiming to be God. From late Thursday to Friday morning, he was put on trial, mocked, beaten, crowned with thorns, and led to a cross—the most brutal form of execution. Then, after several hours he died. Darkness fell. People realized they had killed an innocent man.

It was too late. Jesus was buried. His followers scattered in fear, locking their doors. For days, nothing happened. The man they had followed was gone. All hope seemed lost. After all, even a miracle worker can’t bring himself back to life. Right?

Everything seemed to be going wrong.

AN EXTRAORDINARY SUNDAY

But the story isn’t over.

On Sunday morning, after Jesus had been in the tomb for a few days, Mary, one of his closest friends, came to visit. When she arrived, she was shocked to find the stone rolled away. In a panic, she ran to tell two of her friends that Jesus’ body had been stolen.

Later, she returned to the graveyard, grieving in front of the empty tomb. But then, something unexpected happened. Jesus appeared to Mary: not in a dream, but in real life. He spoke to her, and in an instant, her sorrow turned to joy.

Jesus was alive. He truly was no ordinary man. He had conquered death and had risen to life.

When Jesus rose from the dead, everything changed.

When he appeared to Mary, he turned her sorrow to joy, he visited his closest friends whom he called disciples, he turned their fear to boldness, and when he spoke to one of his followers named Thomas, he turned his doubt to faith.

These characters are placed in this story for a reason and they point us to the resurrection and announce it for our hearing.

God used Mary, in a time when a woman’s testimony wasn’t trusted, to be a mighty spokesperson for the resurrection of Jesus. God used his disciples, who were hiding in a home, to share this message among the nations and to establish his church. God used Thomas, a man who doubted that Jesus rose from the dead, to clearly proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God and the Lord.

THE RESURRECTION CHANGES EVERYTHING

Christ’s resurrection led to such faith, confidence, and boldness, that his followers went to the ends of the earth to make his name known. Their work is still being continued to this day. The reality is that Jesus’ resurrection changes everything.

The Bible tells us explicitly that the purpose of the Easter story is that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name.

THE RESPONSE TO JESUS

The Easter story stacks up all the evidence and invites us to come and see Jesus.

Because Jesus didn’t just come to die to set a good example. He came to reconcile you from your sins. He came to declare his victory over evil. He came to set you free from your shame. He came to restore your relationship with God.

And this is a story for people of every language, nation, and ethnicity. Whether you speak Farsi or Tamil, Urdu or English, Spanish or Hindi, or any other language, this is a story that is for you.

This is the Easter story. Every one of us has sinned. And this sin has separated us from God. There is no way for us to restore our relationship with God without divine intervention.

But, God loved you so much that he sent his only son to die so that you could have eternal life in him. There’s nothing that you can do to earn this free gift of salvation, but to turn and give your life to him. Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, and the life.

There is no other way to God except through faith in Jesus Christ because he is no ordinary man.