The Easter Message, April 5, 2026: "Jesus Is Resin!" Matthew 28:1-10

Author: Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
April 07, 2026

 

“Jesus is Resin!”
An Easter Message by Rev. Scott W. Cousineau
Matthew 28:1-10

            Some of you might have looked at the worship bulletin this morning, elbowed the person next to you and pointed at the sermon title. You might also have said, “What a doofus! He spelled ‘RISEN’ wrong!”

            And you would be correct … if the title for my message this morning was intended to be “Jesus is Risen.” But it was not. R-E-S-I-N is the proper spelling of “Resin,” and the actual and correct title of this message is indeed, “Jesus is Resin!”

            Let me explain. (I will let you decide if it makes any sense.)

            I do not play many games on my cell phone, but I do play a couple. Being of a certain age, I try to play games that will stimulate different parts of my brain. I do play solitaire. I do play Woodoku … a spacial-relations, block fitting game. And I play a word game. In that game, each level consists of the player being given seven or eight letters and then the player … ME … has to form as many words as possible from the given letters. Of course, it is made a little harder by the fact that the words are configured in a crossword puzzle format. I have been playing the game for quite a while. I am approaching level 57,000! (I am not sure if that is a brag … or just sad.)

            It just so happened that one day last week, five of the letters of the level I was playing were … yes … R … E … S … I … and … N.
So, I played Rise and Risen,
Sire, Sir and Siren,
Sine and Sin.
Ire and … Resin.

            And now I will pull back the curtain and give a glimpse of the operation of a pastor’s brain. We are constantly scanning the world around us for sermon illustrations. Anything and everything gets filed away in the “cabinets” of our brains so that they may possibly be used at a later date. I even have a tee shirt that offers a cautionary word to the world: “CAUTION … anything you say may be used in a sermon someday!”

            So, with Easter approaching … RESIN … I can use that! Thus, “Jesus is Resin!” was born!

            In addition to closets and storage bins full of costumes and wigs, I have quite a collection of props that I often use for my Messages with the Children. Or my Message for the Adults.

[Reader’s Note: For the Children’s Message I invited members of the congregation to don costumes that displayed a variety of characteristics of how God’s love is made manifest in the world.]

            For example … I have this Action Figure Jesus. Action Figure Jesus is made out of plastic.
            I also have this cool light-up Jesus. (You probably cannot see that not only does Jesus light up, but he also changes colors.) And light-up Jesus is made out of … plastic.
            Neither of them are actually resin, but I think that you can see where I am going with this.
            Action figure Jesus has wheels on the bottom so that he can roll around when pushed, and movable arms. But action figure Jesus mostly stays still, sitting on a shelf in my office.
            Light-up Jesus has a place on that same shelf. They mostly just stand there waiting for moments such as these. Years ago, I did purchase a second light-up Jesus, and I hid it in the pulpit at the church where a friend and colleague of mine was serving. Light-up Jesus makes a great “gag” gift.

            Also among my collection of doo-dads, I also have this tiny Jesus figure that you can place in water, and he will grow 600 percent! (Supposedly. That is what the package said, but in reality, he really only doubled in size.)

            Jesus is resin. Jesus is plastic. Jesus is a novelty toy. Hallelujah???

            I do not recall reading anywhere in the Gospels where Jesus said to the disciples that he must go to Jerusalem where he will be handed over, beaten, tried and executed, and then rise again in three days so that I can be made into toys and trinkets. They will even put me on tee shirts! (Yes, I have one of those too! I was wearing the tee shirt under my robe. It was a picture of Jesus wearing sunglasses and the caption beneath him said, “I’ll Be Back!”)

            The message of Easter, the message of the empty tomb is that Jesus is RISEN! Jesus is alive!

            When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to the tomb, that was not the news they were expecting. They had gone to the tomb with the spices necessary to anoint a body. They did NOT expect an earthquake. They did NOT expect to see an angel sitting upon the rolling stone. They did NOT expect to hear that Jesus had been raised … even though that was precisely what Jesus had been telling them. They did NOT expect to hear that Jesus would meet them in Galilee. Dead bodies do not send messages or travel nearly one hundred miles for a post-Easter gathering.

            The Marys had a tempest of emotions swirling within them. They were shocked, frightened, but also filled with joy. It was true! Jesus did rise again! He is not dead and lifeless. He is not resin. He is Risen! They were excited! They had to tell the others!

            But wait. There is more.

            What if there was still a kernel of doubt in their minds? What if there was some sort of trickery? What if the message of the “angel” was not true?

            Suddenly, Jesus appeared to them. Any ‘what ifs’ were swept away. Jesus IS NOT resin! Jesus is risen! Jesus IS alive! He was standing right in front of them. They touched him. They touched his feet! He spoke to them. The living, breathing Jesus spoke to them as if it was last week. “Greetings!” Not, “Ta da!” or “Surprise!”

            “Greetings! Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers and my sisters. Go and tell everyone the news. I will go and meet them in Galilee and then they will see me too.”

            Big news! Great news! Earth-shaking earth-changing news! Jesus is risen! Jesus is NOT dead … He is alive!! Everything that he said is true!!

            Everything that he said about loving God with all of our heart, and soul and strength … true.
Everything that he said about loving our neighbors … true.
Everything that he said about being humble, and gentle, and kind, and compassionate … true.
Everything that he said about taking care of the least among us … true.
Everything that he said about building God’s beautiful community here on earth … true.
Everything that he did … embracing and blessing the children, embracing the marginalized, standing for righteousness no matter the cost or the consequences … true.

            Jesus is not dead. He is risen. He lives in everything that he taught. He lives in everything that he did. He lives in everything that he showed us.

            We do not gather on Easter Sunday morning to be an audience. We do not gather to applaud Jesus for everything that he is, and everything that he does.

            Rather, we gather to remember that he lives … in us.
            He is risen … in us.
            The stone was rolled away so that we too would fall at his feet and worship him.
            The stone was rolled away that we too would encounter Jesus and be filled by his Spirit.
            We gather so that we too would believe.

            How do you think that Jesus would feel about my little toy collection? Would he kick in the door of my office, and overturn the shelves, or flip over my desk?

            I think that he would like them. I think that he would sit down at the table with me and play with them. I think he might even tell me stories … “This reminds me of the time that the disciples and I were walking down the road … and we did this.”

            The message of Easter is that Jesus IS an action figure.
            Jesus IS light … THE Light of the world.
            He IS risen! He IS alive in you and in me.
            Hallelujah! Amen.

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