by Ronald B. Webb, Jr.
Easter is the day each year that Christians intently focus on and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus the Christ. We celebrate Easter at the time of year when grass turns from a dismal brown to a vibrant green and flowers emerge from the ground with their polychromatic array to renew their glorious display of pulchritude. This implies that Easter is about the hope of revival, renewal, rebirth, reconciliation and restoration.
However, my friends, we must be careful not to allow our perspective on Easter to be simply relegated to experiencing the resurrection as an event. Too often, the view of truth is warped, if not completely blinded, by tradition-fueled rituals that unfortunately lead one to practicing religion, mindlessly performing godly exercises that do not result in godliness.
Peter’s first epistle was written to the Jewish Christians of the diaspora, those who left Jerusalem to escape persecution; 1 Peter 1:1 refers to them as “scattered strangers”. Peter shared principles of the resurrection with these scattered believers to inspire them as they endured some very tough times. Likewise, these principles should provide us comfort and consolation today as we move from the trying times of a global pandemic to a “new normal”.
An emphasis of the resurrection is God’s love made evident through Jesus’ sacrifice. The resurrection is a reminder that even when things appear to be dead, lost, or forgotten, we have God’s mercy with us. His mercy grants access to a multiplicity of blessings even when undeserved. All have missed the mark or come up short at different occasions, but thanks be to God that as Jeremiah wrote, “It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”
In addition to pointing to God’s love for us, the resurrection also inspires us to look forward. Knowing that God raised Jesus from the dead provides hope on two dimensions. The first dimension is that things will get better. Sometimes a person can be in a situation so long or so painful that is seems that there is no way out; however, the resurrection is proof that our darkest moment can lead to our greatest triumph. The good news of the resurrection is that things can change and that things will get better.
The second dimension of hope is that, not only will things get better, but people get better, too. God allows trials so that we can grow and develop. There are things in us - our thinking, our feelings, our habits - that need to be refined and reshaped. God lovingly and intentionally uses the crucible of trials so that these impurities of character can be removed from our lives.
Ultimately, the hope of the resurrection is that as things get better, I get better, and as I get better, things get better. Because of the resurrection, you have the reassurance that God is preparing a better YOU for the better days to come.
To learn more about St. John ‘A’, click here.
