NATCHEZ — The Easter story is as fresh today as it was 2,000 years ago, area ministers say.

The resurrection story — sacrifice, death and life — needs no modification to be relevant to the current era, they say.

“The truth does not change,” said Bo Swilley, pastor of Community Chapel Church of God in Natchez. “But every time we read it, there is something new. How we frame it, how we present it — that can change.”

Each pastor chooses his or her way to present the message.

For five pastors in the Miss-Lou, the focus is the same, but the message differs.

Why the cross?

Swilley said this year he plans to focus his message on the method of crucifixion.

“Why a cross?” Swilley asked. “Why not stoning? Why not the other way they executed people?”

Stoning, Swilley said, was a more common form of execution. Crucifixion by means of a wooden cross was reserved for the worst criminals, he said.

“The cross was for people who they wanted to not just kill, but humiliate,” he said. “Why would anyone choose to go through that for us?”

The answer, Swilley said, is in 1 Corinthians 13:1-13.

This passage begins by saying all of humans’ great accomplishments are of no use without love.

“I use this scripture often in weddings, but I really think it is the crux of the Gospel,” Swilley said. “When we talk about what God is about, this is it.”

This love, Swilley said, is what drove Jesus to the cross.

“He died this death to save us,” Swilley said. “His way to save us was to redeem us.”

Swilley said he wants his congregation to receive a similar message: That anything done without love is nothing, and that the crosses humans bear, must be born with love.

“We live in the TV, Facebook, Insta-whatever world,” Swilley said. “And this is still relevant. You don’t have to change the Gospel to make it relevant. You don’t have to change the truth.”

The reality of death

The Rev. George Ajuruchi said the goal with his Easter message is to make the death of Jesus real to his congregation.

“Sometimes, we have heard the story so many times that we don’t really understand what God has done,” Ajuruchi said. “We can’t really think of someone actually dying for us.”

Ajuruchi, the pastor of Holy Family Catholic Church, said he tells a story of two brothers to illustrate the consequence of Jesus’ death.

The younger brother, after killing a man, comes to his older brother to confess and to plead for forgiveness.

Ajuruchi said the older brother takes the fall for his sibling’s crimes and is executed.

“Can you imagine?” he said. “Can you imagine if someone you loved so much and who loved you died for you?”

The beauty of the resurrection story, Ajuruchi said, is that the elder brother is revived.

“Jesus’ resurrection makes our joy complete,” Ajuruchi said. “That our sins are forgiven, and that Jesus is with us — that makes our joy complete. That is what gives us new life and a new hope.”

While Ajuruchi said the consequence and meaning of Jesus’ death is greater than that of a single man, the closeness of a sibling makes the loss of life meaningful in a personal way.

Changing the way the story is told while keeping the focus, Ajuruchi said, is a part of being a minister.

“We have to present the story of Christ in a way that it touches the lives of people,” Ajuruchi said. “The way you tell this story is how you reach people.”

Only shot

Easter Sunday can be the only chance to reach someone, Ferriday Baptist Church’s the Rev. Josh Morea said.

Often, he said, church pews fill up on Easter Sunday faster than any other day of the year.

“For some people, this is the only time they come to church,” Morea said. “We have our highest attendance of any Sunday at Easter.”

With the crowd, Morea said, comes a responsibility to reach as many people as he can.

For this, and every Easter sermon, Morea said, he will focus on scripture.

“What I preach is the Gospel,” Morea said. “I don’t preach politics; I don’t preach psychology; I preach the truth.”

His focus this week, Morea said, is on post-resurrection.

“What does it mean for Christians now that Jesus is alive?” Morea said. “What does it mean to have him alive with us?”

Morea said a living God means Jesus gets to be among his followers.

“His presence is in our lives; the will of God is in our hearts,” he said. “He is returning for us.”

The significance of a living God, Morea said, is important both to believers and non-believers.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in church every Sunday or if you are just visiting with family,” Morea said, “the resurrection story is important for everyone.”

Mary Magdalene’s story

History tells us little about Mary Magdalene, the Rev. Linda Fox said.

“We know she had seven demons, and we know Jesus healed her,” Fox said. “But we don’t know anything about her story.”

This Sunday, Fox said she wants to take the perspective of Mary Magdalene to show the resurrection in a new light.

“She is the first-person Jesus reveals himself to after the resurrection,” Fox said. “She plays an important role in this story.”

Fox said when considering Mary Magdalene, one must consider the societal status from which she came before she met Jesus.

“She was possessed; she was outcast,” Fox said. “Then Jesus saved her.”

The loss that Mary Magdalene felt upon Jesus’ death, Fox said, was the loss of “the only person who ever believed in her.”

“The first time Jesus meets Mary, he calls her by name,” Fox said. “When he sees her for the first time after his death, he says her name again. That stuck with me. That really stuck out to me.”

The lesson in Mary Magdalene, Fox said, is that she never truly lost Jesus.

“He was there,” Fox said. “Nothing could separate her from him, not even death.”

The same, Fox said, applies to people today.

Seeing the plan

On Friday the Rev. Ron Ledford, who has been the pastor for Calvary Baptist Church in Vidalia for 18 years, said he was still working on the final touches for his Sunday sermon.

“I’m still digging,” Ledford said.  “It’s an old story, but it has new light each time I read it. That’s the way a sermon is born. It all comes to you as you study the word.”

As he studied scripture this week, Ledford said he was struck by the advantages and disadvantages of being an onlooker to the resurrection.

“We have an advantage that the disciples did not — we have the Bible,” Ledford said. “We see how the story ends. We know Jesus rises from the grave. They didn’t understand until after.”

Sometimes, Ledford said he wonders what he would have done were he in the disciples’ shoes.

“Sometimes I think about the disciples and say, ‘How can they not see what’s coming?’” Ledford said. “I think our life is a little like that. We don’t know what’s coming, or how our lives will affect others until we look back.”

Sometimes, Ledford said, it is hard to see God’s plan.

“But we have to trust that it’s there,” Ledford said. “Jesus said, ‘Blessed are those who have believed but not seen.’ That’s us.”