Easter is Everything

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). Dead man (or woman) walking. Close the churches, and the rest of the universe, too. What would be the point? If Christ is still dead, then so is everyone and everything else.

But He’s not dead. Not anymore. Sure, He died on the cross – and that was a real live death. He didn’t fake it or hold his breath for a long time or magically pull a switcheroo with Judas or someone. He bled out. He breathed His last. He said, “It is finished,” and He gave up His spirit. That’s a death, folks.

When Jesus died, He took death and the devil down with Him. But when He rose, death and the devil didn’t. The devil still prowls, but he’s been de-fanged. Since death holds no power over the child of God, Satan really has nothing left.

Which is why his whole strategy is to get you away from Christ. Without Jesus, you bring death back into the equation. I’m not referring simply to physical death: that’s the wages of sin. God, however, has far more in mind when He talks about death and life. The devil knows this, but he doesn’t want you to know it. He wants you afraid of death, and afraid of God. So much so that you’ll start moving in the other direction whenever Jesus comes around.

The initial reaction to Christ’s resurrection was a mix of shock and awe. We wouldn’t expect any different. Nobody expects the Resurrection nor the Spanish Inquisition. That first Resurrection Day was stunning beyond human description, even though Jesus called His shot ahead of time.

But there He was. Here He is. Calling Mary by name, and then she bear hugs Him. Saying “Peace” to cowering disciples who at that moment had no peace. Bringing Peter back. Clearing Thomas’ cobwebs. Showing the disciples and over 500 other people – even the death merchant SaulPaul – that He who was dead is now very much alive.

Other people in the Bible had been brought back to life, like Jesus’ friend Lazarus, for instance. But then they died again. Jesus never did. He died once, to pay the price in full for every sin of every sinner ever. Then He brought it back: life.

That’s when Peter stopped crying. Mary stopped running. Thomas stopped doubting. John stopped hiding. And, eventually, Paul stopped killing. That’s what Resurrection does to people. It not only stops the bleeding, it stops the dying.

The thing about Easter, though, is that we would be making a grave mistake (you like that?) to confine Resurrection to one day. The disciples realized that this was THE game changer, not only in life, but in faith and in church. They spent 40 days listening to the undead Messiah explain why.

The early church realized that the Lord of the Sabbath let go of the leash on laws and regulations, so when they realized they still needed to agree on a day to show up for worship, they settled on Sunday – the day of Resurrection. That means every Sunday is Easter, not just the first one after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox.

The name Easter actually didn’t come around until centuries later, when the Resurrection Gospel reached English-speaking lands. It seems to have originated from a German word for “dawn,” as in the sun coming up in the east. The early church still referred to Resurrection as Pascha, the Greek word for Passover, which was the Old Testament festival that Jesus crashed. (Oh, and neither Easter nor Christmas have pagan origins, even if some secular customs do; that’s just Satan trying to divide and conquer again).

What it all comes down to is that Jesus is here, right now, with you and in you. You don’t have to wait for heaven. Your eternal life starts the moment Jesus raises you up out of sin and darkness and death, and you live every day as your own personal Easter, in forgiveness, light and life.

Jesus is calling you by name. He’s chasing away your fears and removing the clouds of doubt. He dries your tears and heals your heart. Only a living Savior can do all that.

The added bonus to Resurrection is that we’re not the first ones to get it. The believers before us got it, held it, lived it and took it all the way to the Father’s House. If you want to see them, you have to see Jesus. You have to see Easter.
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Easter is everything.