Anglican Bishop Tom (N.T) Wright in the Guardian:

And whatever Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were doing in writing the final sections of their books, they were not telling the story of Jesus’s resurrection as a happy ending. They were telling it as a startling new beginning. Easter morning isn’t a slow, gentle waking up after the difficult operation. It’s the electric shock that brings someone back to life in a whole new way.

That’s why the Easter stories tumble out in bits and pieces, with breathless chasings to and fro and garbled reports – and then, stories like nothing else before or since. As the great New Testament scholar EP Sanders put it, the writers were trying to describe an experience that does not fit a known category. They knew all about ghosts and visions, and they knew it wasn’t anything like that.

Equally, they knew the risen Jesus wasn’t just a resuscitated corpse, still less someone who had almost died but managed to stagger on after all. They had the puzzled air of people saying, "I know this sounds wacky, but this is truly how it was." They were stumblingly describing the birth of new creation, starting with Jesus but intended for the whole world.

It sometimes seems that the church can hardly cope with this any more than the world can. Perhaps that’s why, after 40 days of Lent, many churches celebrate Easter for a few hours and then return to normality. But nothing can be "normal" after Easter. New creation has begun, and we are summoned to get on board. We should at least have an eight-day party, or even a 40-day one.

And if Easter is all about the surprise of new creation, there is every reason to suppose that it will ripple out into the world in ways we would never imagine. Gangsters and drug-dealers get radically converted and set on fire with God’s love, while pale churchmen drone their disbelief and warn against extremism.

Extremism? What can be more extreme than God raising Jesus from the dead after the world has done its worst to him? Supposing the power of that event were to be released into the world, into local communities, into ordinary lives, here and now? What might that look like?

Patriarch Bartholomew:

“Christ is risen! – writes the Patriarch – let the Chitins message of good news sound throughout our society of well-being, for the most part Christian.  This society no longer questions itself about the nature of death and instead lives as if death were inexistent and the resurrection useless. And yet there is nothing as tremendous as the mystery of death as Church records and daily reality shows.  Fear of death is pervasive, particularly for those who are ill or elderly, despite our efforts to defeat it with various methods; it consumes our peace and fills our souls with an unjustifiable anguish, constant uncertainty making it intolerable”.

“Our Lord’s resurrection – continues the Easter message – put an end to our uncertainties.  Death no longer dominates life.  It is no longer the inevitable end of our existence.  The tomb stone no longer covers our existence in eternal silent.  The massive rock that covered the entrance to Our Lord’s tomb was removed and Christ emerged triumphant, victorious over death.  Fear of death disappeared for those who followed in his footsteps and they were filled with joy and hope”.