Christians are Easter people. What do I mean by that? I mean that nothing is hopeless, nothing and no one is beyond redemption, nothing is impossible, and no one is beyond God’s amazing presence.
On that day so long ago, the day that we now call Good Friday, the dreams, aspiration, hopes, and plans of the followers of Jesus were dashed to pieces.
Three years of relentless work, all of which benefited multitudes of people, especially the poor and disenfranchised, had come to naught. Jesus had been arrested, subjected to a kangaroo court with a fixed verdict, brutalized, tortured, humiliated, and murdered in the most ghastly fashion.
His followers melted away, his own close friends went into hiding, and he was buried in a borrowed tomb. He was to be relegated to a minor footnote in Roman history.
Until Sunday.
It was on Sunday that the women who were followers of Jesus went to the tomb to prepare his body in a way that wasn’t permitted on the day of his execution.
When they arrived, the guards were missing, the great stone that sealed the tomb was rolled aside, and the tomb was empty. An angel appeared and said, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here. He is risen.” And everything changed.
Jesus would appear to his disciples over and over during the next several weeks and over 500 people became witnesses to his resurrection.
Perhaps it should not have surprised them given that Jesus had informed them that this very thing would come to pass. Not long before these events, Jesus had brought Lazarus, who had been dead for four days, back to life. But it did surprise them. Stunned them, actually.
Some weeks later, the formerly timid believers became energized on the Day of Pentecost and the fearful disciples were transformed into fearless Apostles, all of whom, save John, followed Jesus into martyrdom.
The Church grew and, even though bitterly opposed at times by the most powerful empire in the world, it survived and thrived. Old Rome is gone forever, its emperors a mere memory. The Church remains, now 1.5 billion strong world-wide.
And, as many of those followers of Jesus have learned and experienced, nothing is hopeless, nothing and no one is beyond redemption, nothing is impossible, and no one is beyond God’s amazing presence.
Easter Sunday is a celebration of life. It is certainly the remembrance of the historic occasion of the resurrection of Jesus but it is more. It is a present reminder that Christians serve and follow a living Savior. Hundreds of millions of people have given testimony that their lives have been forever altered by an encounter with this living Jesus.
As the historic Church regularly proclaims as it gathers weekly:
Christ has died.
Christ has risen.
Christ will come again.
We believe in the impossible. We believe in the miraculous. We believe in Jesus Christ. We are Easter people!
[David Epps is the pastor of Christ the King Church (www.ctkcec.org.) which meets Easter Sunday at 10 a.m. and is located on Ga. Highway 34 between Peachtree City and Newnan. He may be contacted at frepps@ctkcec.org.]
