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                Have you noticed a subtle change in the evening news on all our major television networks?  The reports are still primarily focused on trouble and tragedy.  But often the broadcast ends with a piece of good news.

                There is no denying the tragedy that prevails in this world.  But there is plenty of room for denying that this is the whole story.  Not all politicians are dishonest.  Not all businesspeople are greedy.  Not all labor leaders are affiliated with organized crime.  Not all athletes take drugs.  Not all movie stars are promiscuous.  Not all marriages end in divorce.  And not all teenagers are delinquent.  Amidst all of the bad, there is an abundance of good news.  And we need to hear more about it.

                Today we focus our attention on some of that good news, and it comes to us from an unusual source – not a TV screen but from a graveyard.  The story was first reported not by a newscaster, but by an angel, not to a national audience, but to a few women.

                Easter Sunday, with its celebration of the resurrection, has become a day of jubilee.  It is the one day of the year when sunrise is eagerly awaited by untold millions.  What is it that makes this day so profoundly significant in our lives and in the lives of so many people? 

                It is, first of all, a day of discovery – the discovery that Jesus is alive.  More than any other day in history, this day has stolen the power of death and softened the fear of the grave.

                Remember for a moment how those first disciples reacted to the death of Jesus.  For them, it not only broke their hearts, it scarred their souls.  It was like a final goodbye to everything worthwhile.

                But on Easter Sunday morning came the good news from a graveyard: “He has been raised.”  With that simple announcement and a few brief appearances, He walked back into their lives.  His love had not ended; His compassion had not changed; His forgiveness had not failed.  He was alive again and forever.  They were not alone, and neither are we.

                Jesus is not a memory; He is a presence.  As surely as He walked with those first disciples on the roads to ancient Palestine, so surely, He accompanies us on modern streets and highways.

                His resurrection is a divine demonstration that hate, greed and violence are not the greatest power on earth. It means truth is stronger than error.  It means value and principle are more enduring than expediency.  It means giving is more divine than getting, that sharing is more permanent than saving. 

                In this resurrection world, evil hasn’t a ghost of a chance.  Many things happening in this world today are clearly not God’s will.  But nothing happening in this world today can ever defeat God’s will.  The fate and fortune of this world are guided, not by blind chance, but by eternal purpose.

                The fundamental question which every worker for good must ask is this: “Is it worthwhile?”  Will anything ever come of it?  On Easter we hear the ageless assurance: There is no evil strong enough, no hatred bitter enough to finally defeat the things of God.  The moral venture we make, the costly loyalties we sustain, the holy dreams we dream will not be in vain.  This is indeed good news!  This is indeed great news!