I am a bit saddened this morning by all those who will celebrate the fact of the Resurrection today as if it guarantees them the hope, light, and joy they want. But so many will miss the reality of the Resurrection in their own lives.
The fact of the Resurrection did nothing for the soldiers who saw it, the Pharisees who sought to cover it up with lies and persecution, or the people throughout Jerusalem who did not yet know what happened there.
The fact of the Resurrection mattered only to a dozen or so that day, and five hundred more who saw him later and let the Resurrected Christ begin to take shape in him.
The Resurrection is a doorway that allows us to know God in the safety of his love and forgiveness, and it only has power when we let his hope seep into the cracks of our hopelessness, let his truth disrupt our illusions, and let his priorities overrun ours.
Stepping through that doorway is our choice, and it isn’t made in one prayer, but a thousand moments of standing at the threshold of God’s reality and choosing to follow him instead of grasping for our own wisdom and comforts.
That’s why the Resurrection is still a scandal. We can celebrate the fact of it today and miss its reality. Embracing the Resurrection risks everything as it seeks to overturn the darkness in us, most of which we are unaware.
But there is no other way to celebrate the Resurrection. There is no pure joy to be had in pleasing our own affections every day; it is found on the other side of the upheaval of all of our agendas and finding our wings inside God’s desires for us.
Don’t just stand at the door and rejoice that it’s there; take the risk to come inside and let the Resurrection have its work in you. Of course, you don’t know what it will mean for you, but this is the only adventure that matters and the reward is Life as it was always meant to be lived.
“Jesus Christ, Risen Lord, take my hand today and lead me to your Life. I want to see you and follow you one day at a time until my heart finds its glory in you.”
Amen beautiful picture of what Easter truly is about.
Thank you for your dedication to people outside the fray and willingness to share something that offers hope .
Amen! Hallelujah!! I enjoy your posts. I want to know (personaly not just cognitively in the Greek word) Christ and the power of His resurrection and (or including) the fellowship of His suffering. (Phil 3.10)
Indeed … without the cross, there is no Throne. In the Spirit, Christ died and was raised before the foundations of the world, in the Spirit we died with Him and were raised with Him. We appropriate it during our Journey in Time as Eternal Spiritual BEings through an awareness in Him we live and move and have our BEing as Heirs … we are conformed into His Image and Likeness through that which this post speaks of. Sharing…
I love this! Thanks Wayne!
Thank you Wayne! I’ve never considered the meaning of the Resurrection in this way, but it makes total sense. We are new creations in our Lord’s hands and we are stepping into this new life with Him at this point in time!
I thought I was the only one feeling this as the news shows and televised services bankly repeated the “He is risen indeed” mantra. Thanks for helping me to know others share this thought and that Jesus died for more.
Yessssssssssssssss!
I read this several times. I found it disquieting and sobering. Yesterday, before I read this, I went through the gospels and read the resurrection accounts as my morning devotion, then I watched The Passion late last night. I hadn’t seen it since it was released in theaters. It’s hard to watch, but I felt compelled. It has been over 10 years since I’ve been in the institutional church and sat through an Easter service, and I wanted to connect with the story again. Reading the scriptures without the churchy fanfare – I was engaged in a new way. So Christ’s death and resurrection was heavy on my mind when I climbed into bed. Then, before lights out, I checked my email and read this. Over and over. And again this morning. It was the final paragraph in the day’s chapter – all the scenes and emotions and processing leading to your post, and the invitation it held for me. My quiet hour with Him this morning had me asking, hesitantly, what are my priorities? What is my agenda? What are my false comforts? What darkness is in me that I don’t yet know, or am ignoring? And most important: what are YOUR priorities and agenda for me? Your desires for my life? I can list all of my faults and struggles – issues I’ve prayed about for decades. But I sense Father might want to show me some other things? Maybe my worn-out laments are the distractions, the false comforts, my priorities. Maybe not. I don’t know. I don’t want to have expectations on God for what this encounter might unearth in me. I only know I feel a touch of dread/apprehension, while at the same time, an irresistible pull to “come inside and let the resurrection do its work” in me. All of this to say – your post reached into my world in a pretty profound way. It’s given me much to contemplate.
Thanks for writing, Wendy. Honestly, I don’t think any of us knows what it will mean when we give God a blank check like that, and I’m grateful he doesn’t rush in and try to adjust everything in our lives in a week or two. I love how he just guides us through life and nudges our heart into different realities than the ones we thought were protecting us, when in fact they were only keeping us from a deeper life in him. I love how you’ve searched this out in your own heart and opened a door for his graciousness to continue to flow to you. Blessings to you on this journey.
That is a sobering reality to millions that have never experienced True Spiritual Surrender unto an Eternal Savior that cannot be copied or duplicated by any ministry on Earth. I had to be led by God to a humble place in my own life to receive God’s True Resurrection and actually understand why I needed it all a long. I wonder how many people are out there in the world who can relate to this. Love your reality inside the resurrection of Christ you speak of Wayne. Thanks Eric M