Imagine it.
For three long days they had been living the stuff that nightmares are made of. There were false allegations. There was a trial. They watched, helplessly, as one they loved was unjustly convicted. And that was the easy part. Then came the sucker punch. The screaming, gut-wrenching, curl up in a little ball, I-can’t-do-this horror of seeing their friend, brother, son, teacher, and savior beaten, humiliated, and mercilessly put to death. How do you deal? You don’t. You just survive – moment to moment. Those first days after Jesus died they must have wandered around in a fog. They must have tried to remember EVERYTHING about him. How he looked and how he laughed and what he said to them.
Wait – STOP – what had he said to them? Resurrection – he had talked of resurrection. He had said that in three days he would rise. No, it couldn’t be. Death was all they could see. Death and loss.
Imagine it.
The looks on the faces of the women who had come to prepare his body one last time. The looks on the faces of the Apostles when he came to them. Disbelief and shock must have given way to hope and joy. How awesome a passion and a faith that experience must have created for them. Now that’s Easter!
But if that’s just their story, then what’s the point? Easter has to be more than just their story. It’s got to be MY story too. More than that, Easter has to be my way of life. I have to learn from Jesus what it means to be a resurrection seeker and a resurrection sharer. Jesus didn’t just rise and go on his merry way. He made sure that people knew about it, saw him after it happened, could tell others what they had seen in him. Wow! So, like Jesus, I need to rise beyond the deaths that happen in my everyday life – breakups, failed tests, illness, family tension. I need to look beyond sorrow and death to see the everyday resurrections that wait to be noticed in my life – new friendships, healing, reconciliation, love and support. Then, I need to share it. I need to tell people about the good that God is doing in my life and by my example teach them to see the resurrection in their own lives.
Imagine it.
Hmmm…..I can only imagine…..