UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE: THE END?

 

April 5, 2024

Matthew 28:5-6

“I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, ….”



Matthew 28:18

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”

UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE:

THE END?

We have spent the past few weeks looking forward to Resurrection. We prepared our hearts. We reflected on the cross and its significance. Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday we spent time waiting for the discovery of an empty grave and a risen Savior. And then it comes. Jesus comes, “up from the grave He Arose”, we sing. And then it’s over.

The temptation is to treat Easter like it’s an ending. Jesus is risen we went to church, we celebrated, we gathered for a family feast. Now it’s back to “normal life.” Can you connect with this feeling?

But nothing was normal after Jesus. resurrection was a revolution. It was the day after which nothing was the same ever again. This event changes everything.

I mean, when a man who claims to be God rises from the dead, it just cannot be “business as usual”, normal life, whatever that was/is, ceases to exist. From resurrection day forward, life is lived by either affirming that he is risen or by denying it. I have come to recognize that Easter isn’t just a time to pause and reflect on some nice truths that we tend to forget in our busy world of family, friends, and vocation. Resurrection is the core of our faith. It is the truth that establishes hope.

It is April, we are a third of the way through 2024, and maybe the “fresh start” you thought this year would bring has already been contaminated with disappointments, mistakes, failures. If that’s normal life, then I am sure that you, like me, are ready for a change, ready for resurrection.

Easter isn’t an ending. It’s a beginning. It’s THE beginning, the fresh start all our hearts long for. It isn’t about fluffy bunnies, cute as they are, and beautiful pastel colors. No Easter season is about the radical death, relentless love, and revolutionary power that is ours in Jesus.

The cross, the empty grave, and the resurrected Jesus not only give us a reason to hope for change and renewal, but they also give us the power for change and renewal. See, maybe instead of us trying to bring change from our own efforts, we need to lean in with faith and let the resurrection change us.

In Romans 8, Paul reminds us: “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

This changes everything!!