With the Spring season comes so much joy. Spring rings in spring and the growth of flowers, blooms and trees. Just around the corner are the joyous celebrations of graduations and sometimes weddings.
Spring brings a sense of new beginnings, new plants growing, new blooms forming, and new stages of life. It brings joy and optimism to our lives, with a better future in the short term and long term.
Within the seasons of the Christian Church, there is also optimism and joy. We call this season Easter. Easter joy! After the long 40-day gloomy season of Lent, a time in which Christians are called to reflect upon our sins and return to God seeking his forgiveness.
Lent ends with the highs and lows of Holy Week. Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem for the last time on a donkey with crowds laying their cloaks on the road, waving Palm Branches and declaring Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! The Son of David!
At the end of Holy Week, is the scene of Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of the world. In the event which is known as Good Friday, Jesus offers himself as a living sacrifice to pay for the sins of the world. As Jesus is placed in the tomb, it seems that all has been lost. If the story ends here, then all is lost for all those who have believed in him.
“If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” I Cor. 15:14-17
After the fog of Good Friday and the somber silence of the Sabbath (Saturday), Sunday, Easter was a day like no other. The women went early in the morning to the tomb to honor their Lord, like visiting a loved one’s grave who has died to place flowers in remembrance. Yet to their joy and surprise, before they get to a tomb, an earthquake. At the tomb, Roman’s finest soldiers appear like dead men, the massive stone that once sealed the tomb rolled away, the tomb is empty and an angel gleefully sits on the stone and says to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” Matthew 28:5-7
At this point, the world has been forever changed. Before what was dead is dead. Before, Jesus was thought to be just a man. Before, humanity had no hope of being saved from our sins. With Jesus resurrection, it means a new life for us all. Unlike other resurrections in the Bible, those people still died again, but Jesus is raised from the dead to never die again. That he might defeat sin, death, and the devil forever.
The sin of humanity remains, but for those who look to Jesus and trust in his promises, their sins are forgiven. The forgiveness of sins brings new life to those who believe in Him. For Jesus to come again to judge the living and the dead. Those who are in Christ will be raised to everlasting life in a new resurrected body that will never die again. Think about what that means, in this life, because of our sins, we deal with sickness, ailments, pains, aches and death. At the resurrection of all flesh on the last day, our new bodies will not be riddled with these hardships of sin. The lame will walk, the blind will see, the mute will speak, those living in pain will be in pain no more, those who mourn will be full of eternal joy.
This is why we rejoice in the Resurrection of Jesus, for it means a new life and resurrection for us all.
Alleluia, Christ has Risen! He has Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
