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Christian Network

 
 
   
 
What if the Grinch Stole Easter?
I Corinthians 15:12-20
 
 
Around Christmas time, one of the most popular Christmas stories for children 
centers around a fictional character called the Grinch. It seems that this 
grinch had a heart that was several sizes too small, and he hated all the 
happiness and festivity of Christmas. So he devised a scheme to steal Christmas. 
He crept into town dressed as Santa Clause, slipped into the houses, and took 
all the trimmings, the presents, and even the Christmas dinner. As he got back 
to the top of the mountain where he lived, he heard the Who’s singing. They were 
singing Christmas songs. The grinch found out that he could steal the things of 
Christmas, but never take away the spirit of Christmas.
But what if that same grinch has decided to steal Easter? We place as much 
emphasis on Easter as we do Christmas, and in many cases more of an emphasis. 
Easter is a wonderful time of year. It marks the beginning of Spring, and calls 
up within us an anticipation of new life. In our culture it is a time for 
families to pause in their hectic schedules and renew the bonds of love. It is a 
time for candy makers to go delirious with glassy eyed visions of profits. And 
for many people, it is the one time of year that they put on their new clothes 
and make the long pilgrimage to the corner church.
Of course, those of us in the church view Easter somewhat differently. Easter is 
more than just a new beginning, it is the symbol of our whole faith. The 
resurrection of Christ is the sole reason for the celebration. We worship 
because Christ is risen! Our worship on Sunday testifies to the world that we 
serve a risen Savior. It is important to us.
Which brings me back to my first question…..What if the grinch stole Easter? If 
Easter had never happened, how would it affect you? Would your life just roll 
merrily along without any changes, or would there be a void in your life that 
nothing else could fill? I think the reality is that our lives would be much 
different had Easter never taken place some 2,000 years ago. If Jesus Christ had 
not risen from the dead, we would have no hope for the future, or any chance for 
redemption. Let’s turn to God’s Word, and play a game of "What If."
A Successful Grinch
What if Christ had not been raised? What if, on that early Sunday morn, Mary and 
the other ladies arrived at the tomb of our Lord, rolled away the stone, and 
completed their mission to anoint him with burial spices? What if they had found 
our Lord lying in that tomb? 
Verse 14 in our text asks that very question. Paul plays a very disturbing game 
of what if. He paints for us a picture of what would be the outcome if that old 
grinch had been successful in stealing Easter. He shows us here what our lives 
would be like, and what would change. If the grinch had been successful, how 
would things change?
He Would Have Stolen Our Faith
The first reality of an "Easter-less" life is that we have no faith. Our faith 
would have been snatched away from us. Everything we believe, every tenet of our 
religion hinges upon the pivotal act of Christ’s ressurection. From Peter to 
Billy Graham, preachers have stood upon the bedrock of faith, and proclaimed 
that Jesus Christ is alive. According to Paul however, all of this would be in 
vain if Christ had not risen. Without the resurrection, the Christian faith has 
no foundation. 
He Would Have Made our Faith Useless
If the preaching of Men of God became useless, then those of us who believed 
what was taught to us would have believed a lie. If the Grinch stole Easter, 
then everything we hold to be true would be exposed as a lie. If Easter had not 
occurred, ti would matter little in whom we believe. The one thing that sets 
Christians apart from other religions is that our Savior is alive! We serve a 
risen Savior, He’s in this world today….if Easter was stolen from us, then that 
simple truth of our faith would be robbed as well.
He would have Stolen our Forgiveness.
Without the resurrection of Christ, our sins are not forgiven. If the Grinch 
were to steal Easter, then we would be living in our sins, and be condemned for 
eternity. All of the promises of the Bible would be false, all of the claims 
Christ made about Himself would be null and void. He promised he would rise 
again in three days, he promised that he would voluntarily give up His life that 
we might live. The magic of Easter lies in the fact that Jesus was revealed to 
be exactly who He said that He was. If Easter were taken away from us, then 
Jesus death would merit no more mention than the obituary page in the local 
newspaper.
The Easter event is at the very heart of our gospel. It is the event which 
secured our salvation, and paid the debt for our sins. Only God has this 
ability. If Easter were stolen away by our fictitious ol’ grinch, then Jesus 
would not have had the ability to forgive us of our sins. Without forgiveness, 
we would have no future, no hope. We would have nothing to look forward to. One 
of the wonderful things about being a Christian is the promise that when we die, 
our loved ones are waiting on the other side. If Easter were to be stolen, 
Grandma wouldn’t be there. Mom wouldn’t be there, dad wouldn’t be there, your 
brother, your sister, your aunt, your uncle….none of them will be there. If 
Easter is stolen away from us, then all of our hope goes right along with it.
Who is that Old Grinch?
You might be thinking about now that the story of the Grinch is fiction, and has 
no bearing on our reality. We the truth is, we do have a grinch in our life. In 
fact we have several. The biggest grinch is the old deceiver himself. Satan is 
the grinchiest of the grinches. He does all that he can to steal Eater from us. 
And he uses the smaller grinches to help get it done. You see, Satan knows the 
story of Christ’s resurretion is true, but he wants us to disbelieve it. So he 
uses his cousin grinch, whom we will call doubt. Now the doubt grinch manifests 
himself in many ways. He appeals to our intellect and convinces us that once 
someone is dead, they cannot come back to life. He tries to cause us to 
rationalize our beliefs.
If that doesn’t work, he uses the grinch called time. This grinch convinces us 
that Sunday is the only day we have off, why should we spend it in God’s house. 
Or he might use the compromise grinch, or the grinch called indifference, or 
even the grinch called religion. Religion is the most subtle of all the 
grinches. This grinch convinces us that if we go to church, and drop some bills 
in the plate, maybe sing a hymn or two, then all will be alright.
The grinch is doing his best to steal Easter, but he seems to have forgotten 
that we know the ending to the story. Just as in Dr. Suess’s story, the Grinch 
was unsuccessful. 
The End of the Story
We find in verse 20 or our text that "Christ has indeed been raised from the 
dead." If the grinch were successful in stealing Easter ,then all we have talked 
about would indeed be true. But the plain facts are that Christ is alive! On 
that first Easter morning, as the early rays of dawn began to break over a 
borrowed tomb, God stretched forth His mighty hand and broght his Son back to 
life. All of the grinches, large and small were petrified at the sight of Jesus 
coming forth from the bonds of death. The Love of God was victorious over the 
plans to steal Easter. Hallelujah, He is risen!
Because Easter has been saved, all the negatives become positives. We can have 
true faith, true forgiveness, and a true hope for the future. Our faith is 
vindicated, and the preaching we have heard is not in vain. Because Easter took 
place, we are not worshipping a myth, but a real person. The Lord Jesus Christ 
is risen! He appeared to Mary, He appeared to His disiples, He appeared to over 
500 at one time in broad daylight. Jesus has come forth from the grave, and is 
now alive.
Because Easter took place, we are not still in our sins. We have received the 
forgiveness that only a true sacrifice could bring about. We are cleansed and 
made whole by the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. We are born again to live a 
new life in His righteousness.
We can believe in the hope we have been given. Heaven awaits, eternal life is 
ours Jesus Christ is alive! What could have been utter despair has been turned 
into hope. Our investment in Christ will one day pay dividends.
Because Christ is alive, our future is changed…..our present can be different. 
We are truly able to live because Christ is alive. The despair of daily living 
becomes hope and peace, and joy. Let us rejoice together because Christ has 
risen from the dead! 
The Grinch has been thwarted. He was not able then, nor is he able to now, steal 
Easter. This doesn’t mean he won’t continue to try, and try, and try….it just 
means that we know the ending to the story. Christ lives today to bring peace to 
your heart,. To bring purpose and meaning to your life. He is alive! Now allow 
Him to live in and through us. He is alive! Praise God….Jesus Christ is alive 
today!

copyright © 1998 Rev. Charles S. Mims
This message based in part on a message by Rev. J. David Hoke entitled "What If 
Easter Never Happened". This notice is placed here in an effort to maintain 
integrity.