What's The Big Deal About Easter?
April 2nd, 2007
Juddie Deans posed a question to me several months ago that has lingered in my mind. He asked--"If Jesus' death and resurrection was supposed to change the world, how come the world doesn't look like it has changed that much?" It's a great question to ask, especially as we reflect on this Easter season.
Since the beginning of our faith, Christians have claimed that Jesus' triumph over death is the ultimate moment in human history and that it offers salvation to every person. And yet, here we are, two thousand years later, and on the surface, not much has changed. People still fight wars; in fact, the 20th century was the bloodiest in recorded history. Even today, children still die of hunger, disease still runs rampant, poverty and injustice are still present in every corner of the world. And so, Juddie's question resounds with us because we look around and see overwhelming evidence that he is right. No matter what pretty words we may say in church, the harsh realities of our world continue, seemingly unchanged by the man named Jesus.
The more I have reflected on this question, the more it has led me back to one answer---The thing that has changed because of Jesus is us. We now know what we did not know before. Because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, we have been shown the fullness of God's love and forgiveness. Outwardly, the world goes on as it always has, but inwardly, you and I have been transformed by the greatest story ever told. Because of the resurrection, we are now people with hope. Because of the resurrection, we are now people who know that the outward reality is not the ultimate reality. Because of the resurrection, we are now Easter people.
Easter people are people who still live in a world scarred by violence and despair. But because we have born witness to the risen Christ, Easter people are also different. We are called to manifest our internal transformation in external ways. For the past five weeks of Lent, we have been discussing sin and how we participate in it. But in the end, Christians are not "Lenten people." We are Easter people. We are people who demonstrate passion, grace, gratitude, reconciliation, and self-control instead of apathy, legalism, complaining, discrimination, and excess. We are people who see the world as it is, but also people who work to make the world as God intended it to be. The thing that has changed since Christ came is us. We are Easter people. And it's up to us to let the world see what difference that really makes. Let's begin today.