Resurrection Sunday. It is the day we celebrate the truth that we serve a living God. Easter is not about bunnies and colored eggs. It is about the death and resurrection of our Lord. We cannot separate the death of Jesus from his resurrection, nor can we separate his resurrection from his promised return. If he died without raising from the dead, then we have a dead founder of a religion without life. We have a dead example without living power. We have a dead faith without hope. The death of Jesus apart from his resurrection is meaningless.
Likewise, the resurrection without the death of a sinless life is meaningless. Resurrection can’t happen without death. Without death there is no way to rise from the dead. The death and the resurrection cannot be separated. Neither can they be separated from the miraculous virgin birth. Without the death of a sinless life there is no significance to the death, or the resurrection. Jesus showed us what life looks like. Jesus died that we might live. Jesus rose to impart his life and empower us to live a life eternal.
The resurrection is not just a myth told to motivate us to try again, or to start fresh. It is not about Spring cleaning, or turning over a new leaf. The Gospels tell the story of Jesus arrest, His trial, Pilate’s verdict of innocence, the insistence by the crowds that Jesus be crucified, his death on the cross, and his resurrection early Sunday morning. It was an event that guards were paid to cover up, but it is a little hard to cover up a reality the disciples and others witnessed. In fact, 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that over 500 people saw the resurrected Jesus. He is alive.
An old Larry Norman song said about the resurrection, “You can’t keep a good man down.” But it is more than that. Jesus, in his death and resurrection took the punishment for our sins and conquered death. Professional soldiers verified Jesus death. Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus’ body and buried him. Soldiers sealed and guarded the tomb. 1 Corinthians 6:14 says, that “God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.” The resurrection is about new life that flourishes even as this body dies. Romans 6:4 says that “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” The resurrection is about a radically different way to live because the life of our resurrected Lord is active in every believer. Speaking of the Holy Spirit, Jesus promised his disciples, “it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (Jn 16:7). The Spirit of the resurrected Lord is living in and empowering every believer.
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