Easter Sunday 2026 – Love Wins
Bible Reading: John 20:1-20 Preacher: Rev Phil Swain
Celebrate Easter with lively singing with the Easter worship band, great joy and creative teaching as we celebrate that Jesus is alive. Our youth worker Gibbo will have a kids talk that will retell the Easter story with folding and surprises! And while the kids are making their Easter Egg Hunt bags, our minister Phil will be sharing how despite the world throwing a lot of bad news our way, Easter reminds us of the good news that LOVE WINS!
Sermon Text
I want to spend a little time while the kids are outside making the Easter egg bags to talk about the good news that love wins. I might need to talk loudly because of the excitement drifting in from outside — but that’s ok. Easter should be full of noise and excitement.
Speaking of good news … have you received some good news lately? We need good news, don’t we? Because if we are honest, there seems to be a lot more bad news than good news around at the moment.
Even here at church, we have had some beautiful good news recently. Two of our young adults welcomed their first child into the world — little Florence. That is good news.
But the best news of all is the good news of this morning: Love Wins! Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed!]
And I think we need that focus on that good news right now. Because when we look around the world, it can feel like things are falling apart.
[Pull out Jenga tower and place it on the pulpit. Remove two or three blocks.]
Do you ever feel like this is what life is like? Like you are watching the world being dismantled block by block? Things that once felt solid suddenly feel shaky. Hatred and division seem to be everywhere. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer. Wars continue. Families struggle. Relationships break.
And for some of you, the last few weeks have felt like this too. Grief. Loss. Hurt. Disappointment. Fear. It can feel like if just one more thing is removed and suddenly everything might come crashing down.
We are supposed to be talking about how love wins … but sometimes it does not feel like love is winning.
Sometimes grief feels like it is winning.
Sometimes shame feels overwhelming.
Sometimes hate feels unstoppable.
Sometimes death feels like it is winning.
But Easter says there is more to the story.
That is the thing about both good news and bad news — there is often more to the story. And today’s reading from John 20 is like that. Because when we arrive at the empty tomb on Easter morning, two people are named: Peter and Mary Magdalene. And both of them have been living through their own Friday and Saturday story.
Take Peter.
Good Friday had not been good for Peter at all. He denied that he even knew Jesus. Then he ran away in fear. He was not there at the cross.
By the end of Friday, Peter was a mess. Full of regret. Full of shame. Peter felt like a failure. His whole tower was wobbling under the weight of shame.
For Peter, it did not feel like love was winning. It felt like shame and failure were winning.
And then there was Mary.
Mary’s Friday had been devastating. Jesus, her friend and teacher, had been killed. She was there when the stone was rolled across the entrance to the tomb and it felt like it was all over.
And Saturday was even worse. Because now Mary had time to sit with what she had lost. Jesus had transformed her life. He had shown her grace and forgiveness. He had helped her see herself differently. He had given her hope. And now he was gone.
Mary’s whole tower was wobbling under the weight of grief. For Mary, it did not feel like love was winning. It felt like grief and loss had won.
For Peter and Mary, Friday and Saturday felt a bit like this Jenga tower.
Friday was saying to Peter, “It’s all over.”
Saturday was saying to Mary, “There is nothing that can be done.”
Maybe you know what that feels like?
Maybe you have had moments where your own tower has felt shaky. When darkness surrounds. When fear builds.
When grief consumes. When shame weighs heavy.
When it feels like all is over
and there is nothing that can be done.
I read a story about a Christian minister named Gary who, in the weeks leading up to Easter, he and his wife had received devastating news. His wife Debbie had been unexpectedly diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer and was dying.
Gary sat down at his computer to write an Easter Sunday sermon … but he could not work out where resurrection fit into his pain. For Gary, death felt like it was winning. His tower was wobbling. Everything felt like it was being dismantled block by block.
For Peter. For Mary. For Gary.
Friday was saying, “It is over.”
Saturday was saying, “There is nothing that can be done.”
But Sunday was coming.
And Sunday had a different message.
This is where John chapter 20 begins. Mary gets up early while it is still dark and walks to the tomb. She is still grieving. Still overwhelmed. Still carrying all the weight of what has happened. But when she arrives, something is different.
The stone has been rolled away.
The tomb is empty.
The story has not ended.
Death did not get the final word.
Darkness did not get the final word.
Hate did not get the final word.
Love was still moving. Love was still speaking.
Love was still at work.
Everything has changed because Jesus is alive.
Mind you, Mary’s tower was still wobbling. She is so overwhelmed by grief that she barely reacts when the angels ask her why she is crying. “They have taken my Lord away,” she says, “and I do not know where they have put him.”
Then Jesus appears, but Mary does not recognise him. Grief can do that. Grief can make it hard to see hope standing right in front of you.
But then Jesus speaks her name.
“Mary.”
[Pause]
And in that moment, everything changes.
Grief does not win.
Love wins.
Mary clings to Jesus.
But Jesus tells her to go and tell the others. Go and tell Peter. Go and tell John. Go and tell them that I am alive.
So Mary runs to tell Peter. And Peter runs to the tomb. But you can imagine that as Peter approaches, he slows down. Because if Jesus really is alive, then Peter will have to face the one he denied.
And Peter is probably expecting anger. Judgment. Disappointment.
But when we keep reading into John 21,
Peter discovers something very different.
Jesus does not condemn him.
Jesus does not shame him.
Jesus gives him breakfast.
And love. And a second chance.
Peter thought he would meet judgment.
Instead, he found grace.
Shame did not win. Failure did not win.
Love wins.
Friday said, “It is over.”
Saturday said, “There is nothing that can be done.”
But Sunday said, “The story has not ended.”
But what about Gary?
Gary sat there trying to write his sermon, wondering what good news Easter could possibly bring when his wife was dying.
And as he sat there, he sensed God asking him one question:
“Did I raise my Son from the dead?”
Gary answered, “Of course you did. But why is Debbie dying?”
Again God asked: “Did I raise my Son from the dead?”
“Yes Lord … but why is Debbie dying?”
And once more: “Did I raise my Son from the dead?”
Gary never got an easy answer for why Debbie was suffering. But he realised something deeper. If God raised Jesus from the dead, then death is not the end of the story.
If God raised Jesus from the dead, then Debbie could be trusted in God’s hands.
If God raised Jesus from the dead, then hope is still possible.
Death will not win. Love will win.
The apostle Paul explains this difference that Jesus when writing the letter of Colossians chapter 1 verse 17. He explains that Jesus – the risen Jesus – is in all things, before all things, around all things … AND IN JESUS ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER.
Yes, life might throw a lot at us that makes our own tower feel fragile … But in Jesus … all things hold together
(Hold up Jenga tower to reveal it is all glued together)
It looked fragile.
It looked like one more knock and everything would fall apart.
but in Jesus … all things hold together. It is the love of the risen Jesus that is still holding everything together.
And that is the good news of Easter.
Life might throw a lot at us.
The world might throw a lot at us.
The world threw a lot at Jesus too.
- Betrayal.
- Mocking.
- The cross.
- The tomb.
Friday said: “It is over.”
Saturday said: “There is nothing that can be done.”
But Sunday said:
The stone has been rolled away.
The tomb is empty.
Jesus is alive.
Hate does not win.
Sin does not win.
Death does not win.
Love wins.
When grief says it is winning, what do we say? Love wins.
When shame says it is winning, what do we say? Love wins.
When fear says it is winning, what do we say? Love wins.
When hate says it is winning, what do we say? Love wins.
When death says it is winning, what do we say? Love wins.
The stone has been rolled away.
The tomb is empty.
Jesus is alive.
Love wins.
Amen.