Sunday 5th April – Easter Sunday – The Servant Lives – Pastor Adrian Kitson

5-04-2026, Easter Sunday, Isaiah 26:12-13 & 19, Matthew 28:1-10, pastor adrian kitson, The Servant Lives

Isaiah 26:12-13, 19

¹² Lord, you establish peace for us;
all that we have accomplished you have done for us.
¹³Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but your name alone do we honour.

¹⁹“But your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy!
For your dew is like the dew of dawn,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.

I have never been in an earthquake – not one I could actually feel much. I see footage of earthquakes and can only imagine how disconcerting and powerful they must be.

At times for me, the world seems disconcerting and powerful. There seems to be torrents of rage at work in the world. Huge political forces at play that no single person could ever control, even if they say they can. The depth of hatred, the intent to destroy, the violence and corruption evident from your screen to your street … Disconcerting and powerful …

This moment for the Apostle Matthew is an earthquake. That is how he describes it.

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

²There was a violent earthquake …

Natural boundaries are being crossed this first Easter morn.

This had happened before. That same word for ‘earthquake (seismos) is the word Matthew used to describe what happened when the boat carrying Jesus and the Twelve across the seas began to be swamped (Matthew 8:24).

Matthew also uses it to describe the raucous event of Jesus entering the city on that donkey a week earlier (Matthew 21:10), and what happened in that moment when Jesus ‘gave up his spirit’ and the centurion yelled out “Surely he was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:54).

Whatever is going on, it is unstoppable. God is doing his thing like an earthquake just does its thing!

When earthquakes happen; when Jesus’ power and authority happen, what the two Mary’s feel is what those Twelve probably would have often let being around Jesus – ‘afraid yet filled with joy’ (v 8).

When was the last time you were a bit scared but also somehow knowing a quiet joy?

I always think of a young woman living in pregnancy – a little scared but joyful at what it will end in.

Probably the same kind of thing for families on the land. A little worries about the season and yet loving that satisfaction of the harvest the vintage.

There are spiritual boundaries being crossed here too. Like we did at Christmas, we hear of angels and blinding light. Something big is happening – big enough for God to pull back the curtain on his truth and light for everyone to glimpse it.

There is political authority here as well. That angel rolls the stone away from the tomb and that act does a lot more. The empire’s power that put that man there and that stone there is flicked off like a mozzy on your arm. Imperial power is exposed as lightweight.

Even more, the reason there is a tomb and a stone is because we die. OR at least, up until now, we did. Now death does not seem so fatal. Now we don’t have to. Death itself, the thing that overshadows our every waking moment is undone as we all look at the empty tomb.

And unlike the religious elites who plot a plan to put a spin on this event (paying big money to fabricate a story to counter the truth) the angels don’t need any plotting or fake news making.

Sounds like the story they paid to spin lasted for quite a while … until it doesn’t.

These messengers of God don’t seem to care about the repercussions for the empire. Most disturbing if you are the empire!

Reminds me of another messenger of God we have been hearing from these weeks. Isaiah has little interest in managing politics, checking opinion polls, curating media reports.

He was allowed to see all of this long before it happened and he spoke what he saw at great cost to himself.

In probably the clearest reference to actual bodily resurrection for a human being in the Old Testament, Isaiah tells us what The Servant would accomplish

⁷And on this mountain, he will swallow up
the burial shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations—
⁸he has swallowed up death forever!

(Isaiah 25:7-8a)

Friend, hear again this Easter day that dead bodies will rise and those in the dust will awake and shout for joy – those you have lost whom you loved and yours.

St Paul knows his Isaiah and he knows his Jesus.

⁵¹Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵²in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed …

⁵⁴When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

(1 Corinthians 15:51-54)

For a picture to affirm you more in faith, hear how Isaiah puts our resurrection:

¹⁹“But your dead will live; their bodies will rise.
Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy!
For your dew is like the dew of dawn,
and the earth will give birth to the dead. (Isaiah 26:19)

Picture that – As the morning dew gives water to the ground, the ground gives birth to those resting in it all this time.

But what is this resurrection for? Is it a guarantee of escaping this earthly veil for some cloudy sky paradise somewhere else?

That is often what I hear people seem to suggest – a ‘better place’, ‘heaven’, some place of floating eternal beings, oneness, nirvana, some planet with lots of rewards for the faithful…

Not here, friends. Resurrection ends up here.

¹⁷“See, I will create
    new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
    nor will they come to mind.
¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
    and its people a joy.                                           (Isaiah 65:17-18)

Like Isaiah, the Apostle John got to see God’s future before it happened for us. Fast forward 700+ years after Isaiah and maybe 30 years after this Resurrection Day and time is collapsed as the Apostle John sees the same truth.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21: 1-3)

Resurrection is for here. Our present future is resurrected bodies and recreated earth. And it will be a good earth for sure because the Servant:

… will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

(Revelation 21:1-4)

We have this future in our present. We have been baptised into it – both the death in that tomb and the resurrection life out of it.

… don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

(Romans 6:3-4)

So, this resurrection promise we have has its effect. Resurrection future enables us to keep living in the present no matter th fear or the world power at work or how unstable it all seems to be.

Here’s where St Paul takes the people of his day

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. ³For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ, who is your^[^a^] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

(Colossians 3:1-4)

What does resurrection do for you now?

⁵⁸…. my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Friend, whatever you are labouring through, whatever feels really hard because it is, however many set-backs you are enduring, however many barbs you might get for being a Jesus disciple, how often you know you fail to live up to his expectations or those of others, whatever challenges you currently face, whatever you think and feel about this rapidly moving world movement, hear where you are headed. It will help you stay the course of faith, get through the storm, keep your feet in the quake and keep labouring with Jesus.

Nothing in this life of faith in Jesus is a waste of our effort.

Everything said and done in his name is worthwhile.

Resurrection? I may be fearful, but always with joy.

Bible Study Reflection

Easter Day – “The Servant Lives”
Readings: Isaiah 26:12–13, 19; Matthew 28:1–10

Opening Reflection

Easter begins not with certainty, but with disruption. Matthew describes the resurrection with the language of earthquake—seismos—a violent shaking of what seemed fixed and final. Death, empire, fear, and even expectation are unsettled. God’s saving work does not arrive quietly; it breaks open graves, overturns assumptions, and calls frightened people into joy-filled obedience.

Shaken but Not Abandoned

Read Matthew 28:1–4

What images or feelings come to mind when you hear “there was a violent earthquake”?
Why do you think Matthew chooses earthquake language to describe this moment?
Where do you see “earthquake moments” in the world right now—or in your own life?

Reflection:
The resurrection is not merely a comforting event; it is deeply unsettling. God interrupts history, breaks natural boundaries, and exposes false securities. The guards—armed representatives of imperial power—are rendered powerless, while grieving women become the first witnesses.

Afraid Yet Filled with Joy

Read Matthew 28:5–8

What does the angel say first to the women? Why do you think this matters?
How can fear and joy exist together?
When have you experienced faith as both unsettling and hopeful?

Reflection:
Faith in the risen Jesus does not erase fear; it transforms it. “Afraid yet filled with joy” becomes a defining posture of discipleship. Resurrection does not make life predictable—but it makes it meaningful.

Resurrection Is Bodily and Real

Read Isaiah 26:19

“Your dead will live; their bodies will rise…”

What surprises you about Isaiah’s vision of resurrection?
How does this challenge ideas of resurrection as only “spiritual” or “symbolic”?
Why is bodily resurrection important for Christian hope?

Reflection:
Isaiah speaks with startling clarity: bodies rise, dust awakens, the earth gives birth. Resurrection is not escape from creation but renewal of creation. What God made good, God restores fully.

Death Is Not the Final Authority

Read Isaiah 25:7–8

What “veil” or “shroud” do you see covering people today?
How does resurrection reframe the way we face grief and loss?
How might this hope change how we care for others who mourn?

Reflection:
Death has shaped every human story—until Easter. In Christ, death is swallowed, not denied. Tears are noticed; grief is taken seriously. Resurrection hope allows us to face loss without surrendering to despair.

Resurrection Is for Here

Read Matthew 28:9–10

Why do you think Jesus meets the women on the way, not later?
What does it mean that they clasp his feet and worship him?
Where do you sense Jesus meeting you “on the way” in daily life?

Reflection:
Resurrection is not distant or theoretical. Jesus meets real people in real places, calls them brothers and sisters, and sends them back into the world. Glory and mission are inseparable.

Living the Resurrection Now

Read 1 Corinthians 15:58

How does resurrection hope shape persistence and faithfulness?
What “labour in the Lord” feels hardest for you right now?
How does Easter speak into fatigue, discouragement, or failure?

Reflection:
Because Christ is risen, nothing done in his name is wasted. Resurrection gives weight and worth to ordinary faithfulness—especially when it feels difficult or unseen.

Closing Prayer

Risen Lord Jesus,
You shake what we thought was unshakeable.
Meet us in our fear and fill us with your joy.
Root our hope in your bodily resurrection,
And help us live faithfully in the present,
Knowing our labour in you is never in vain.
Amen.