Easter power is clearly demonstrated in Peter’s message in the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. Peter declares:

“I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. We are witnesses to all that Jesus did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear—not to all the people, but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.”

This is a profound message—one that did not merely change the world, but turned it upside down. Its foundation lies in the events that unfolded on that first Easter morning. This year, we read Matthew’s account of the resurrection.

Matthew uniquely includes the presence of guards at the tomb in order to counter a false report that was circulating at the time. In Matthew 27:62–66 we read that the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’” Fearing deception, they requested that the tomb be secured. Pilate granted them a guard, and the tomb was sealed with Roman authority—maximum security by every human standard.

Yet even this could not contain Jesus in the tomb. When he rose, some of the guards went and reported everything that had happened to the chief priests. After meeting with the elders, the priests devised a plan: they bribed the soldiers and instructed them to say, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.”

Ironically, the presence of the guards and their report only heighten our awareness of the magnitude of the resurrection. A small group of ordinary followers encountered the risen Christ, while the religious and political authorities spread falsehoods to preserve their power.

This pattern did not end on Easter morning. Even today, truth is often contested by alternate narratives. Despite the transformation of countless lives by the risen Lord Jesus, those in power continue to act as the chief priests and Pharisees once did—suppressing truth when it threatens their control.

The “first deception” referred to by the priests concerned Jesus’ messianic claims. The “last” was the fabricated story denying the resurrection itself. Yet the truth was proclaimed by powerless, ordinary people—those who had truly met the risen Lord. Everything that stands against God will ultimately be overcome by God. That is Easter power, and it is this power by which we are called to live in hope.

The Empty Tomb and the Risen Lord

The women’s visit to the tomb is not an account of how Jesus rose from the dead, but of how his resurrection was discovered. The stone was not rolled away to let Jesus out, but to let the women in—to see the empty tomb. Each Gospel describes the discovery of the resurrection from a different perspective, yet none attempts to describe the moment itself.

Unlike the religious leaders, the women had faithfully rested on the Sabbath. Now they returned to the tomb, only to encounter an angel of the Lord. His purpose was clear: Jesus had already risen. To that end, the angel removed the stone and showed them the empty place where Jesus had been laid.

The women should not have been surprised, for this was exactly what Jesus had promised. Still, the angel reminded them of Jesus’ specific word: that he would meet his disciples again in Galilee. Their reaction—fear mixed with great joy—is entirely human. The presence of an angel was terrifying, and the absence of the body deeply unsettling. Yet even in their confusion, something new had taken root.

Where there had been despair, there was now hope. Where there had been loss, there was a promise of seeing Jesus again.

The disciples would have to wait to meet the risen Jesus—but not the women. Only Matthew records their direct encounter with him. Jesus greets them and repeats the angel’s message, adding a deeply tender phrase: “my brothers.”

In a society where women were second-class citizens, their central role in the resurrection story is striking. Jesus entrusts them with the first proclamation of Easter.

Living the Easter Power

Whether in Jesus’ time or our own, there is always an alternative version of the facts. Walter Brueggemann and K. C. Hanson write in Truth-Telling as Subversive Obedience that “idolatry consists in harnessing God for our purposes… so that God finally becomes useful to those in power.”

Against this backdrop, Jesus’ first command rings out clearly: “Do not be afraid.”
This, too, is Easter power.

Easter power is not merely something to be believed; it is something to be lived. What happens after worship? We do what Jesus tells us. We trust what has been entrusted to us. We go out with the Easter message and share the good news.

Peter’s words to Cornelius’ household still echo today:

“They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day… and allowed him to appear… to us who were chosen by God as witnesses.”

May we live—and witness—in that same Easter power.