The "So What?" of Easter
Following the Resurrected Christ
Easter Sunday is really the first day of Easter, just as Christmas Day is really the first day of Christmas!
A key benefit of being alive now is that we live on what one author called the “good side of the cross.” This means we are living in a time when we can slow down and experience the full meaning of the cross, while still recognizing that we are beneficiaries of the resurrection every day. When Easter comes around each year, we move through the Season of Lent, then Palm Sunday, then the rest of Holy Week, until we finally gather together for a celebration of the Resurrection. But it is more than just a memorial.
The resurrection of Jesus is cornerstone of our faith (as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 15), not only because we participants in the resurrection after our own physical death, but also because we are participants right now! The change that comes when following Jesus is more than simple acknowledgement or awareness that something is different. It is also living out the ways of Jesus in the world around us. While this is easier said than done sometimes, it is still the calling of the Christian faith to do so!
In John 17, Jesus prays that his disciples (even those of us who seek to be disciples NOW) live “in the world, but not of the world” (see 17:14-16). That doesn’t mean we walk around aloof and uncaring when it comes to the troubles of the world or the experiences people are having. In fact, the call of Christ is just the opposite. The same Jesus who engaged with those who were sick, lost, struggling, hopeless, and outcasts is the same Jesus whose resurrection calls us to fearlessly and consistently do the same. As we do so, we live in such a way that separates us from the priorities of the world. We choose service over power. We choose compassion over revenge. We choose truth over lies. We choose inclusion over exclusion. We choose hope over fear.
This is what people who have been, like Christ, “raised to new life” (see Romans 6:4) are to be all about. It is the “so what?” of Easter, and it is much needed in a cynical world that sees little hope and a distracted Church that often exchanges its true Lord for temporary substitutes.