Easter Reflections: Resurrection Changes Everything

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! And with the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church we cry out together what appears to be the earliest Christian confession: Jesus is the Risen Lord!
“It is finished!” That was the cry of the Christ on the cross on Good Friday. Death, sin, our shame and guilt, God’s wrath against us, our failure to be the people of God that Yahweh had called us to be . . . all finished at the cross. For the One who knew no sin became sin for our sakes, taking the punishment that should have been ours, and buying us our peace with the Father and with each other by his freely-given blood.

But when the Incarnate God in Jesus lays down His life, He is free to pick it back up again, and the great ending, the history shattering finishing of the cross is answered by the Easter new beginning of the resurrection. Christ paid for the disciples’ sins on Good Friday, but on Saturday they locked themselves up and hid for fear. But on Easter Sunday, when the risen Lord appeared before them and breathed the Holy Spirit on them, that same Holy Spirit through whom the Father gave life back to the crucified Son, they became the founders of the Church, the authors of the New Testament, the martyrs who became one with Christ in his sufferings so somehow to become like him in his resurrection. Easter and the empty tomb are the turning points of the world, the foundation of our new life in Christ, the first day of a new creation week that can only come after the finishing work of Jesus on the Cross.

There is no greater source for Christian evangelism, for Christian social action, for Christian callings and community, than the resurrection of our Lord and King Jesus the Christ. If Christ has not been raised than our faith is useless and we are still dead in our sins; Good Friday’s “it is finished” is no good news without Easter Sunday’s “behold I am making all things new!” So this week, we want to reflect on several aspects of Christ’s resurrection, and a few of the ways that Rebecca and I have had our faith and calling renewed and reinvigorated by meditation on Easter and our Risen Lord. Over the next few days, we’ll blog about The Resurrection New Creation, The Resurrection Crown, The Resurrection Family, and finally The Resurrection Hope. We hope that you’ll follow us through these reflections and find yourself delighted again to behold this Jesus whom God has made both Lord and Christ.

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

Peace,

Michael