Does my life reflect the reality of the resurrection – or is it just an annual celebration? I love attending sunrise service. While it was a gorgeous morning overlooking the harbor this year, it felt somehow incomplete since some of my favorite hymns weren't sung. OK - and shouldn't there be a trumpet? Those are things that I connect with emotionally, but have nothing to do with the reality of what we are celebrating.
As Christians worldwide celebrate the Easter holiday, or Resurrection Day, we all have favored traditions. But I wonder if the events we celebrate have become too familiar. Do we overlook how impossible it all seemed? And how it changes everything?
The resurrection was incomprehensible to the early believers. They saw Him crucified and were then confronted with the empty tomb. People saw the risen Jesus and the encounters are recorded. There are lots of apologetic arguments making a case for the resurrection's authenticity - the hundreds of eye witness accounts, the fulfilled prophecy, that women were among the first testifiers (not something you’d do if you made it up since they didn’t have legal standing), the conspiracy for secrecy among the Romans, the stamp of the Holy Spirit weeks later on Pentecost. I could go on. Jesus’ resurrection was real.
Does “knowing” the resurrection was real change how we live? Change how I live? I become frustrated when what I profess and what I live are not in harmony. I say I believe that I am loved and redeemed and that a high price was paid for me. But then I live in the petty things, becoming anxious or discouraged. I want my life to reflect the reality of the resurrection. Jesus was the first fruit of the resurrected. He has destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light. I can live in the fullness of life that He has bought for me – loved and secure.
I need to remember His resurrection every day and celebrate by living in its reality.
How does the resurrection change how you live?
What would it look like to really live in this truth?
