Easter 2020 - Christ is Risen!

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

With this joyful acclamation, we greet the sunrise this Easter morning!

But what are we saying? What great truth do we proclaim when we shout, "Christ is risen!"?

Isn't the answer obvious?! Christ is risen from the dead! Death has been defeated! It's power broken! Death no longer has the last word! It is not the end! We no longer have to fear the power of death. The power of God's faithful love is greater than the power of death!

Indeed, we proclaim the defeat of death. But our shout of joy proclaims something more!

Our shout proclaims God's faithful love. Christ is risen because of the faithfulness of God. God's faithful love did not abandon Jesus to the power of death. God raised him from the dead. Thus, when we proclaim "Christ is risen," we proclaim God's faithful love. We proclaim, along with the Apostle Paul, nothing can separate us from that love.

In Romans 8:18ff, Paul spoke of the pain and suffering we experience because of the brokenness of our world. He wrote of how God works in our experience of pain and suffering, using it for our good. God transforms the potentially destructive impact of our pain and suffering into a means of growing us into the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:28-29). Because of God's faithful love and transforming work, we are "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37). We are not defeated by life's brokenness. We are not overcome by life's pain and suffering. Their impact on us is not final. We move through them into greater spiritual maturity through the faithful love of God.

Death is the final product of life's brokenness and pain. Just as the power of God's faithful love is greater than the power of death, so the power of God's faithful love is greater than the brokenness and pain that produce death. God transforms them so they produce maturity, wholeness, and life rather than death.

Christ is risen! Death is defeated! God's faithful love never abandons us! God's faithful love brings life out of death, wholeness out of brokenness, healing out of pain.

Thanks be to God!!



Another thought to consider, to be developed later: Death and resurrection is the pattern of all of life. It is the spiritual principle woven into the fabric of life itself. It is the pattern of life we find in the Godhead itself. We make progress on the spiritual journey when we recognize and embrace this pattern for our own lives.