But Easter is not just the story of one, but of us all.
Easter offers its promise to us all.
On Easter, we are reminded that all are offered the hope of resurrection.
For some, this hope resides at the end of this human life. But what about all of the days between then and now, however many those may be? Immortality may get all the press, but for me, the real good news of Easter is about new life not in some other world, or some other time, but in this world, today.
When we are lost, afraid, bitter, despairing - Easter says, something new is still possible.
When we feel lost inside a dark and lonely tomb, the stone can still be rolled away, and we can walk into the light.
When we are overwhelmed by the world's brokenness - when we've had it up to here with cancer and mental illness and divorce and addiction, when the systemic realities of economic injustice, corporate personhood, racism, sexism, environmental disaster, when all of these and more, bring us to our knees, Easter makes the audacious claim that life - not its opposite - will be the end of the story. Life - abundant life! - wins.
Easter is a day of faith. There's not enough evidence - in Jesus' time - or today - to make such a claim without a leap of faith. It's too wild.
And as with all acts of faith, we must live as if this beautiful idea were true, and in living it, we make it so. We act as if such transformation is possible, that love will have the final word, and by acting in just this way, we create the world we need.
And so let us embrace Easter. Let us proclaim it, praise it, and give this day and all its possibility our deepest thanks. We are risen, and we are rising, again, and again. Together.