diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/messageoftheday/GetMessage.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/messageoftheday/GetMessage.java
index 64fcdcb..c04b9d9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/messageoftheday/GetMessage.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/messageoftheday/GetMessage.java
@@ -19,9 +19,10 @@
 import com.google.gerrit.extensions.restapi.RestReadView;
 import com.google.gerrit.server.config.ConfigResource;
 import com.google.inject.Inject;
-import java.text.ParseException;
-import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;
-import java.util.Date;
+import java.time.LocalDateTime;
+import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
+import java.time.format.DateTimeParseException;
+import java.util.Locale;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -32,7 +33,9 @@
   private static final String KEY_STARTS_AT = "startsAt";
   private static final String KEY_EXPIRES_AT = "expiresAt";
 
-  private static final SimpleDateFormat DATE_FORMAT = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyyMMdd:HHmm");
+  private static final DateTimeFormatter DATE_FORMAT = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyyMMdd:HHmm");
+  private static final DateTimeFormatter REST_RESPONSE_FORMAT =
+      DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MMM d, yyyy h:mm:ss a", Locale.ENGLISH);
 
   private static final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(GetMessage.class);
 
@@ -59,21 +62,28 @@
       return Response.none();
     }
 
+    LocalDateTime expiresAt;
     try {
-      motd.expiresAt = DATE_FORMAT.parse(cfg.getString(SECTION_MESSAGE, null, KEY_EXPIRES_AT));
-    } catch (ParseException | NullPointerException e) {
+      expiresAt =
+          LocalDateTime.parse(cfg.getString(SECTION_MESSAGE, null, KEY_EXPIRES_AT), DATE_FORMAT);
+    } catch (DateTimeParseException | NullPointerException e) {
       log.warn("expiresAt not defined, no message will be shown");
       return Response.none();
     }
 
+    LocalDateTime startsAt;
     try {
-      String startsAt = cfg.getString(SECTION_MESSAGE, null, KEY_STARTS_AT);
-      motd.startsAt = Strings.isNullOrEmpty(startsAt) ? new Date() : DATE_FORMAT.parse(startsAt);
-    } catch (ParseException e) {
-      motd.startsAt = new Date();
+      String startsAtValue = cfg.getString(SECTION_MESSAGE, null, KEY_STARTS_AT);
+      startsAt =
+          Strings.isNullOrEmpty(startsAtValue)
+              ? LocalDateTime.now()
+              : LocalDateTime.parse(startsAtValue, DATE_FORMAT);
+    } catch (DateTimeParseException e) {
+      startsAt = LocalDateTime.now();
     }
 
-    if (motd.startsAt.compareTo(new Date()) > 0 || motd.expiresAt.compareTo(new Date()) < 0) {
+    LocalDateTime now = LocalDateTime.now();
+    if (now.isBefore(startsAt) || now.isAfter(expiresAt)) {
       log.debug("Current date/time is outside of the startsAt..expiresAt interval");
       return Response.none();
     }
@@ -81,6 +91,8 @@
     motd.html = message;
     motd.id = cfg.getString(SECTION_MESSAGE, null, KEY_ID);
     motd.contentId = Integer.toString(motd.html.hashCode());
+    motd.startsAt = startsAt.format(REST_RESPONSE_FORMAT);
+    motd.expiresAt = expiresAt.format(REST_RESPONSE_FORMAT);
     return Response.ok(motd);
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/messageoftheday/MessageOfTheDayInfo.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/messageoftheday/MessageOfTheDayInfo.java
index 09a2624..7b7fa49 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/messageoftheday/MessageOfTheDayInfo.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/messageoftheday/MessageOfTheDayInfo.java
@@ -14,18 +14,20 @@
 
 package com.googlesource.gerrit.plugins.messageoftheday;
 
-import java.util.Date;
-
 /** REST API representation of a "message of the day". */
 public class MessageOfTheDayInfo {
   /** The ID of the message. */
   public String id;
+
   /** Content ID of the message */
   public String contentId;
+
   /** The time from which on the message will be displayed. */
-  public Date startsAt;
+  public String startsAt;
+
   /** The time from which on the message will not be displayed anymore. */
-  public Date expiresAt;
+  public String expiresAt;
+
   /** The message in HTML-format. */
   public String html;
 }