Easter is a day of rejoicing in Christ’s risen triumph. We see it as a time of rebirth. It is spring, we have on our newest clothes, and life is wonderful.
To have lived it two thousand years ago would have felt very differently. Christ was dead. His followers had been mocked. Nothing wondrous had happened since he had hung on the cross.
Where were the promises of Jesus for those who had trusted him?
We often feel the same way. We have received God’s promises. He will restore our marriage. Our wayward son will return home. Our finances will once again be secure. In the darkness that seems to consume us, we can no longer find the wonder of God. We cry to him, for we feel lost and hopeless.
We need to see things the way God sees them.
The Lie:
What we must understand is that our reality is a lie. The evil one is a liar and a cheat, and he will stop at nothing to separate us from the love of God.
The scribes and Pharisees believed the devil’s lies. In Matthew 12:38, they approached Jesus and asked him for a sign of his deity. However, Jesus saw through them. They wished to mock him, for they were evil and adulterous.
Even on the day of Jesus’ crucifixion, the Jews could not see through the lies. In John 19:31 they asked Pilate that Jesus’ legs might be broken so he would die more quickly. They had failed to heed the scriptures that told how his bones would remain unbroken. They still believed the lie that Jesus was no more than a man.
Even Jesus’ followers fell for the lie. Luke 24:1 tells the story of how the women went to the tomb with spices, fully prepared to minister to Jesus’ dead body. The lie haunted them.
Luke 24:21 expresses their despair. They had hoped he was the chosen redeemer to return glory to Israel. However, it was now the third day since Jesus died.
The lie had become truth to them.
The Warning:
Instead they should have listened to Christ’s warnings. He spelled it out in Mark 9:31. In his teachings to his disciples, he explained exactly what would happen. The Son of Man would be given over to the Romans, and he would die at their hands. Three days later he would rise again.
Without his death, Jesus’ work could not be fulfilled. In 1 Corinthians 15:17, Paul reiterates that if the Christ has not risen, our faith is useless, and our sins still stain us.
The Wondrous:
Matthew 28:1-6 reveals the glory of the revelation of Jesus’ risen self. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary approached the tomb, abject in their sorrow, only to find lightning and earthquakes, for the angel of the Lord had come in brilliance and glory to release Jesus from the tomb.
When the two Marys ran to tell the others of what they had seen and heard, nothing else mattered, only that the Christ had risen as he had said. The lie had been dispelled, and only the wonder remained.
When the darkness of failing marriages, wayward children, and devastated finances seem to consume us, we should look for the angel of the Lord. He will roll away the stone, and he will say to us, “Do not be afraid, for the one you seek is Jesus who was crucified. Go tell all the world that he has risen, and that he is filled with great power, for he wishes to be your salvation and your redeemer.”
God shines with the glory that flows from his heavenly throne, and he has sent his son Jesus to give us life more abundantly. All we have to do is believe on him, for he is the Truth, the Light, and the Way.
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Rewind Wednesday: Originally Published March 31, 2013 in Hope