Easter Sunday, also known as Resurrection Day, is celebrated in Christian churches all over the world on Sunday, April 16, 2017. This particular day comes at the end of Holy Week that probably had been full of church services. These services started last Sunday with a Palm Sunday service. During the week, some churches celebrated a Tenebrae service on Wednesday, the drama "The Living Last Supper" on Thursday and either the "Seven Last Words of Jesus" or "The 14 Stations of the Cross" on Friday. The Easter Sunday service is the culmination of the week of services.
Sacred days
While every day of the year is important, there are two days that most Christians think are the most important. In fact, these are the only two Sundays when some people make a special effort to attend a church service. The first one is Christmas Day when Jesus is believed to have been born. Christmas Day doesn't usually fall on a Sunday. Therefore, the sermon is preached on the Sunday before Christmas Day.
The other sacred day is Easter that always falls on the Sunday after Palm Sunday. While preaching is done all over the world, not all preachers use the same text. Most preachers do use texts from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. While the texts may differ, there are some common themes that ministers use if they want to be true to the meaning of Easter Sunday.
Themes of Easter Sunday sermons
Pastors fail if they preach about quantum physics or some other subject unrelated to what Easter is all about. Expect to hear a sermon about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Any other subject might be good for another Sunday, but people go to church to hear a sermon about Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.
Preachers usually preach about how Jesus was falsely accused, sentenced to death, nailed to the cross, mocked, suffered, and died. Parishioners are expected to hear through the preached word what happened to Jesus while hanging on the cross.
The person preaching usually tells how Jesus died and was pierced in the side by a soldier who discovered that Jesus was who he said he was.
After his death, the body of Jesus was taken down and placed in a borrowed tomb. On the third day, he was raised from the dead.
The third day
Some people are confused about how there could be three days from Friday to Sunday. They should know that in that case, part of a day was considered a whole day. For instance, Friday was considered one day. Saturday was considered the second day, and Sunday was the third day.
