Easter Sunday

Scripture Reading: John 20:1-31, Psalm 16:9-11

Today, Christians around the world gather in numbers rivaled only by Christmas Eve. People wear blazers and khaki pants, colorful dresses and uncomfortable shoes; perhaps garish hats and bold pastel colors suitable only for this day of the year. Some churches will hire brass ensembles and install gorgeous displays of fragrant spring flowers to mark the specialness of the day. Services will range from ostentatiously formal to questionably casual; some preachers will lob softballs for the holiday crowd while others will hurl scathing criticisms about behavior in and outside of the flock.  

Whatever your Easter experience, I’d like to invite you to consider what it means if Jesus of Nazareth really, truly died and rose from the dead. 

My gut reaction to the reading today was that we must not take the resurrection for granted. If Mary and the other disciples did not encounter the risen Jesus, there is no need to belabor the trappings of our religious affiliations; let’s just go get some brunch and take a nap.

But I believe that they really did see, talk to, and have meals with their friend Jesus after He had been abandoned, executed, and entombed. For these men and women, the resurrection was more than a byword for vapid religiosity; it was an incontrovertible fact.

I believe because I have seen atheists come to faith and because I’ve seen people give up their comfortable, upper-middle class lifestyles to serve the poor. I believe because I myself am radically different than I was before I accepted the reality that a man conquered the grave for me to be reunited with God. I believe because I’ve witnessed dying people whisper, “Hallelujah” and families on the brink of homelessness raise their hands to praise the God they trust in spite of their circumstances. 

Yes, I believe. 

“My heart is glad, my whole being rejoices, and my body also rests securely” (Psalm 16:9) because my belief is not built upon mythology or wishful thinking; it is founded on the solid rock of Jesus, whom the grave could not contain. 

Will you join me today and believe? Not because it’s fashionable or culturally necessary; not because it makes a nice story or to keep up appearances for the family; not even because pretending to believe helps take the edge off of our grief and turmoil. Let’s believe without cynicism or fear of being mocked. Let’s believe with such passion that every part of our lives makes the declaration that, “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18). 

Jesus was crucified and his body was surrendered to a grave. But the story does not end there. In fact, the best part of Easter is that the resurrection of Jesus is certified every time someone affirms with words or believes in their hearts that Jesus is Lord. The result of believing in the resurrection is that our thoughts, words, and actions all have the potential to testify to the fact that Jesus is risen indeed.

Written by Alex Florez