Today is a day of celebration. Forget the pandemic and dance with joy – today is Easter!

I was looking for an Easter graphic to use in a different publication when I came across this post from Easter Sunday 2015. A lot has changed in my life and in the world in the past five years, but the message is timeless. Happy Easter! 

The foundations of the earth shook when the words were first uttered. Angels danced with joy.

Christ is risen!

Friday had been about despair and shattered dreams. How could everything have gone so wrong? It wasn’t supposed to end like this!

But it was. God had a plan.

Christ is risen!

Saturday was no better than Friday had been, maybe even worse in a way. They didn’t have to watch a crucifixion, but what was there to do? The Sabbath was supposed to be a day of rest, of contemplation, of worship. How could anyone think of worship? They had been so certain He was the promised one, but the promise didn’t include his death, did it?

Christ is risen!

How could they possibly return to their old lives after drinking the potent wine of his presence? What would friends and family say as they returned to Galilee? Would they be sympathetic, or mock the disciples of Jesus for being led astray by a mad man?

Christ is risen!

They had thought this was a new beginning; an end to oppression and a rebirth of the nation. The Jews would once again be free, to have their own country. Those dreams ended with a Roman cross and an entombed body.

Christ is risen!

Now the Sabbath was over and there was no point in delaying the inevitable. Death had put an end to their band of brothers (and sisters). Might as well face that fact, say their goodbyes and get on with their lives. No point in sticking around here anymore.

Christ is risen!

Then the story began to spread. The women must be delusional though. Stupid girls must have gone to the wrong tomb. They obviously weren’t thinking straight when they went to the Garden. How did they expect to move that huge stone by themselves? They needed strong men for that.

Christ is risen!

But what if it was true? Maybe one woman, overcome by grief, might have made a mistake. But all three? The story is impossible of course, but so were all those healings of sick people. Are sickness and death that different? And what about Lazarus? He was dead and buried; no doubt about that. If anyone could defeat death, it would be Jesus.

Christ is risen!

On that first Easter despair was turned into joy. A defeated and disillusioned group was transformed into a movement destined to bring hope to all the earth. The gulf between God and humanity, created in the Garden of Eden, was bridged on Good Friday and Easter. Like those first followers we still rejoice today.

CHRIST IS RISEN!