Easter Sunday Worship | April 5, 2026
You know the Easter story. Jesus rides into Jerusalem. The crowd cheers. Then, days later, that same crowd turns on Him.
But this morning Donny is pulling us into a moment in that story that deserves more than a quick read-through — the moment Pilate puts it to the crowd: Jesus or Barabbas?
Think about that choice for a second. On one side, Jesus — the one who gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk, raised the dead. On the other, Barabbas — a murderer, an insurrectionist, a man the text calls “notorious.” And the crowd picks Barabbas.
Pilate washes his hands. “I am innocent of this man’s blood.” The crowd shouts back something chilling: “Let his blood be on us and on our children.”
Here’s the part of this sermon that’s going to stick with you. Barabbas — his name literally means “son of the father.” He’s the guilty man who walks out free because an innocent man dies in his place. Donny draws a line from Barabbas straight to us, and it lands hard. We’re Barabbas. We’re the ones who should be standing there. We’re the ones casting lots for His clothes. We’re the ones mocking Him on the cross.
But the story doesn’t end at the cross.
The women go to the tomb. The stone is rolled away. And two men in gleaming clothes ask the only question that matters: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here — He has risen.”
From there, Donny takes us all the way to Revelation 21 — a new heaven, a new earth, no more tears, no more death. God making everything new. And one of the most beautiful promises in all of Scripture: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.”
The sermon starts with “I am innocent” — Pilate’s words, washing his hands. It ends with “You are innocent” — because of what happened on that cross and at that empty tomb.
Happy Easter.
Scripture References: Matthew 27:11-26 · Matthew 27:35-42 · Luke 24:1-7 · Revelation 21:1-6
