Isn’t it crazy that we have a national holiday that celebrates the anniversary of a man being dead for 3 days and then coming back to life? What percentage of people give that more than just an afterthought? 10% 5%? 2%?
Whether Jesus was (is) God or not is a question for everyone to struggle with. To believe that He was God, and is God, takes some measure of faith, to be sure. To believe that a man named Jesus lived on this earth takes much less faith, we have quite a bit of historical writings that say that He did.
The resurrection? It’s somewhere in between, I guess, though much closer to the former than the latter. The historical writings say that it happened, but seeing that no other man in the history of earth has done it, it does take some faith to believe that He was dead for 3 days and then was alive again. Most people who believe that He did that, also believe that He is God, not just that God raised him from the dead.
But before I start to ramble, let me get back to my original point. On Sunday most folks will observe the fact that it is Easter, whether or not they believe that Jesus did in fact go from being dead to being alive. And even some of those that do believe, will not really care too much about it, and will just go about their day as they do every other day.
I’m not asking that we treat Easter as some special day when we should live differently because we remember that Jesus rose from the dead. I’m asking that we treat every day differently because we remember that Jesus rose from the dead. As a christian, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection should color everything we do and are – something I often fail to live out.
May your weekend, and the days that follow, be lived out with love and grace for those around you and for the God who wept, bled, and died so that we might be free to be ourselves. Not to hide our flaws and shame and protect our inadequacies, but to love and give and live knowing that those flaws have been accounted for by the one who was flawless.
May the cross and the empty grave remind of us who we are, who we are not, and who He is. And may it compel us to live accordingly.
Have a great Easter weekend, everyone!