Happy Resurrection Sunday! This weekend, in churches and ministries all around the world, we celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
It is GOOD for us to make much of the story of Easter.
It is GOOD for us to celebrate the risen Savior with big gatherings, elaborate messages, and over-the-top worship.
But I want to challenge us to go deeper in our celebration. To make this holiday transformative and not just a performance.
In Luke 24:5-6, we read the story of the women who visited Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body with spices. To their surprise, what they found instead was an empty tomb and an angel who said, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead!”
These women were the first to learn of the resurrection, and it is fitting that these specific followers got to be the first to announce the good news to the believers in Jerusalem. But it is worth pointing out that they brought burial spices to the tomb, not songs. They expected the silence of death, not a message of hope and salvation.
The angels even reminded them in verses 6 and 7, “Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”
Jesus TOLD them that He would rise again. He prophesied His own victory over death so that His followers could celebrate in eager anticipation. And yet, His followers missed the opportunity to make the resurrection personal – to lean into the victory that they knew was coming. In their grief, they chose to return to the last place they had seen hope rather than celebrate the hope to come.
Let’s all take this lesson into our resurrection Easter services this weekend. Let’s make celebrating the risen Savior about personal transformation, and not performance. The stone was moved, the grave was empty, and heaven’s announcement shatters our assumptions: He’s Alive for YOU!
Happy Resurrection Sunday to you and your family,
Steve and Sharon