For most of us, Easter 2020 looked very different from past Easters. We didn’t get dressed up and dash off to church to celebrate the Resurrection with fellow believers and newcomers alike (oh well, no parking problems this year). I am very grateful, however, for the opportunity to worship virtually with my church family. Kudos to our Worship Team for their hard work in keeping us connected. Many family traditions were foregone or, at least, greatly modified by social distancing. Things were just different! Perhaps like some of you, my mind retreated to a favorite, memorable Easter of years past.
I remember that day well. I was about eight or nine (a good while ago). My parents and I got dressed in our best attire. Even Uncle Speck, who lived with us at the time and was like the brother I never had, decided to go to church with us. Now, Uncle Speck wasn’t even a CEO (Christmas and Easter Only). Church just wasn’t his thing. I think my mother must have “prodded” him enough to make him give in. We climbed into the family Pontiac and drove off. I don’t remember Dr. Robertson’s message that day, but I’m sure it was encouraging and uplifting as were all his sermons. It probably made Uncle Speck squirm a little. I do remember the beautiful pipe organ blasting “Up from the grave He arose, with a mighty triumph o’er His foes . . .” as a packed house enthusiastically sang all stanzas of that memorable hymn. I had no doubt in my young mind that Jesus was alive.
We returned home for one of my mother’s great Sunday dinners. Ham, potato salad, deviled eggs, and lemon meringue pie must have been on the menu. Then we all went out to our spacious back yard for more quality family time on a beautiful, cloudless afternoon. I recall sitting in that red and white metal yard chair enjoying the conversation and basking in the aroma of apple blossoms and spring flowers. I felt very secure and very loved by my family and the God I heard about in the sermon, whose death, burial and resurrection were for me. Oh, happy day, life was so good!
While I’m incredibly grateful for that wonderful experience as a youngster, Easter is about so much more than family traditions and all the trimmings. It’s a time for deep, personal reflection on the huge price Jesus paid for our salvation. And, because He conquered death and rose from the grave, Christ-followers are assured that physical death will not overcome us. No other world religion worships a leader who overcame death – only Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul addressed some misconceptions about the resurrection that had crept into the first-century church. While his message is somewhat complicated, I believe the essence is captured near the end of the chapter. Think about his concluding words: 54b then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
HE IS RISEN – HE IS RISEN INDEED
