Read: Jeremiah 31:1-6; John 20:1-18
It’s beginning to look a lot like Easter! School children are coloring pictures of Jesus hanging on the cross. Shop owners have lights in their windows and scenes from Calvary set up. In the malls and supermarkets, we hear all the songs of the season – “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” (what do you think of the Chipmunks version?) – and car dealers have those great Empty-tomb sized discounts on the new 2023 models!
Yes, it’s beginning to look a lot like Easter. Or is it? We don’t make the same big deal of Holy Week that we do of Advent and Christmas. No one wishes us a holly jolly Easter or throws an office Good Friday party.
A Jewish man, named Mitch, wrote this note to his Christian friend:
Looking at the Christmas thing as a man raised in a Jewish home, the big celebration in Christianity should be Easter. No Easter, no Christianity. So all the focus on Christmas, at least to me, seems misdirected.
Why Christians don’t whoop it up more at Easter is a mystery to me. How inspirational! How joyful! That is the time to toast each other, lay on gifts, attend worship services, pack in the rich food. Something really substantial and holy to remember.
No Easter, no Christianity. Mitch has a point! If Jesus doesn’t rise from the dead, where he was born makes no difference. No cross and resurrection, no celebration of Jesus’ birth.
Sometimes we say, “Christmas is for children.” That may be, but shouldn’t Easter be even more so? Yes, the weight of sin and the weariness of life may not be things our children are thinking about, but what hope we give them when they learn that in the midst of life’s difficulties and our inability to be good enough, Jesus has triumphed. He has conquered death. He has made a way. Jesus is present to us today in ways we cannot understand or explain. In him, we find life that is full and meaningful and vibrant and without end. He is life itself!
In the fourth century, John Chrysostom wrote a sermon that is still quoted in Orthodox churches around the world for Easter. It’s called “O Death, Where is Your Sting? O Hell, Where is Your Victory?” In it he wrote:
Christ is risen, and you are overthrown.
Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen.
Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice.
Christ is risen, and life reigns.
Lent and Easter may seem boring to children. Other than a chocolate bunny or a colorful egg, this isn’t the silliness and celebratory season Advent and Christmas offer. There isn’t the anticipation of what gifts might be found under the tree.
Yet Easter contains the one thing that every man, woman, and child needs most… Resurrection.
Jesus said in John 5, 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. 25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
Easter changes everything. It is the single most important event in human history. It is the place where God, once and for all, made a way for us to be restored to all he intended for us. It is a place of hope; a place of life; a place of unconditional love.
For reflection:
- Think about how you celebrate Easter and Christmas. How can we “whoop it up” more at Easter? Should we?
- What would it look like to live your life in light of the resurrection more than you do now?
* This devotional was adapted from one written by Frederica Matthews-Green.