Well, everyone, it's Easter… so here's a one-shot about the holiday!
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The story starts at the first Christmas, when Christ the Son was born in a manger, bringing joy to the world.
As he grew up he became a teacher, and told us of our Heavenly Father's love, and how we should follow His word.
But not everyone listened to what Jesus had to say, angered priests wanting to arrest him with any chance they got.
They didn't believe that he was the Son of God.
Judas was a disciple, but didn't believe he was being rewarded, and betrayed Jesus by helping the priests.
Christ knew what was going to happen, and gathered all his disciples, saying how one of them was a traitor, but did not say who, as they sat down for one final feast.
He went and prayed on the Mount of Olives, and guards awaited him at the bottom, led by Judas, and his disciples Peter, James, and John tried to defend him.
"Put your sword away," Jesus had ordered instead, and went with the guards quietly, despite the situation looked grim.
He was put on trial, witnesses saying things that were not true, trying to make Jesus look like a bad man.
When the priest questioning him asked if he was the son of God, Jesus replied, "I am."
His sentence was death and was sent to the governor, Pontius Pilate, who questioned him but saw no reason for him to die.
Though the priests thought otherwise and the governor didn't want them to start a riot, so he ordered, instead, for Jesus to be crucified.
Beaten, with a crown of thorns on his head, Jesus was taken to the hill, Golgotha, where criminals faced the worse treatment of hanging on a cross, where they were nailed high.
As he hung there, bleeding and suffering, Jesus turned his gaze up to the sky.
"Forgive them," he prayed to God. His disciples gathered, and he said his farewell, and the day then became dark as night.
Hanging his head low for one more prayer, Jesus said, "Father, into Your hands I give my spirit," and those were his last words when he died.
His disciples took him down and took him to a tomb, covering it with a large stone, and then walked away, their hearts filled with despair.
Three days later after the Sabbath day, one of Jesus' followers, Mary, went to the tomb, saw the stone had been moved, and found that his body was no longer there.
Gathering John and Peter to show them the tomb, they at first thought that someone had taken Christ's body, and Mary began to sob.
"Mary," a calm voice said to her, and when she turned she couldn't believe who she saw.
Jesus, alive and well, stood before her. "Run and tell my friends I am going to join my Father in Heaven," he told her, and she went off with great excitement.
Some disciples didn't believe her story, but soon they saw Jesus for themselves, and their hearts felt great enlightenment.
All Christ's followers gathered, realizing that Jesus had returned from the dead. He told them that soon he would be joining God in Heaven, and had to depart.
They were assured that his spirit would remain with them. Suddenly he was gone from their sight, but they knew he was in their hearts.
This was a day worth celebrating, and we celebrate it again and again every year.
For Easter is more than a holiday, but a day where Jesus had showed us the way to Heaven, and brought our hearts hope and cheer.
Amen.