Hello, friends, welcome to Verity Podcast's Holy Week series. Welcome to Resurrection Day.

Today is the day that Jesus rose from the dead and secured our eternal hope.

We're going to be reading in Matthew 28, verse 1 through 10.

Now, after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the tomb,

and behold, a severe earthquake had occurred for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. His appearance

was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook from fear of him and became

like dead men. And the angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking

for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here for he has risen just, just as he said. Come, see the place where he was

lying. And go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold,

he's going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, behold, I have told you. And they left

the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to report to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them

and said, rejoice. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. And Jesus said to

them, do not be afraid. Go, bring word to my brothers to leave for Galilee, and there they will see me.

This is the day we've been waiting for. In the quiet of Holy Saturday, in the grief

of Good Friday, in the waiting of Mondi Thursday, in the pain of Spy Wednesday, we've been

working towards this beautiful hope. And as we read this text, we see the hope of the women, the first witnesses to Jesus' resurrection

were the women. My ministry is called every woman a theologian. And it's beautiful how God

revealed himself first to the women who then were witnesses to everyone else.

As we celebrate this day, there are a few interesting pieces of church history that I think make

it even more impactful. One is at the beginning of Lent, they do something called burying the alleluia, sometimes writing an actual alleluia on a piece of paper and burying it in a garden or behind the church.

But on Resurrection Day, everyone can say alleluia again because they're celebrating Christ is risen.

A question many of you might have is, where did Easter baskets come from? Like how come we see this Easter basket tradition and

...