Live Now Live Later

 

As a kid, when it came to Easter Sunday I knew for example I could expect “certain things”:

1. a fresh haircut (hopefully not from my uncle)
2. an easter speech to recite
3. an egg hunt
4. a home cooked “soul food” meal that afternoon PREFERABLY from my grandma (I hope my mom doesn’t see this lol).
5. Not to forget the latest in spring fashion, a New Outfit

The day prior was ALWAYS super busy. Running around handling the listed things above took up a lot of time. So much energy and effort was spent because EVERYTHING had to be just right come Sunday. Get up super early on Sunday, get dressed and ready and head off for the BIG DAY.

Growing up in a small baptist church like I did, You knew EVERYONE who came on a regular basis. So when one of the big 3 holidays rolled around like Mother’s day, Christmas, and in this case Easter, you knew to expect 3 types of people:

• Regular Attendees
• church members on roll who only came for days like this
• New Visitors

If there was one part I did look forward too it was seeing everyone in their BRAND NEW flashy suits and dresses. I’m not really sure why, but people felt a level of  EXTREME boldness to wear things that normally they would NEVER wear. It was kind of like having a front row seat on the red carpet at the Oscar Awards!

 

The church would be so packed to hear the sermon and when I say packed I mean PACKED! There were times they had to bring fold out chairs so people could sit in the choir stands and in the aisles. People were shouting, screaming, and praising God. It was REALLY REALLY intense in a good way. On the other hand since my family did take us to church every sunday, I never could understand why there was such excitement and enthusiasm from everyone on this particular sunday verses any other. The Pastor we had ALWAYS ended every message EVERY week with a brief summary of Jesus last 24 hours with at least telling the congregation about Jesus trip to Calvary, dying on the Cross and rising from the dead. So for me as a kid I didn’t really see what the big deal was all about. Especially since we were basically hearing the same sermon from last week pretty much.

After the sermon was over, it was kind of like a family reunion TIMES 2. You catch up with all the people you haven’t seen since….well…..Christmas.

After that lasts for about 20-30 minutes give or take and you finish getting compliments on how cute you are with your new outfit from the older women(as if you haven’t been in the past lol) you get your stuff and leave. Meet up with family afterwards and not really talk about the sermon (because everyone heard the same sermon pretty much), but about who all came, what they wore, who messed up on the easter speeches and so on.

                 2 DAYS LATER….

 

To be honest I’m being generous saying 2 days but Come Tuesday, I had completely forgot about EVERYTHING that took place and was said during the church service. Don’t get me wrong, if asked by someone I could tell them some things, but it had no bearing on my thought process and everyday life. By Tuesday, it was a PAST event. Kind of like the haircut I got on the Saturday before. Nothing more was said or mentioned about Easter Sunday by anyone I knew other than the clearance sales at stores trying to get rid of excess products.

For me Easter sunday WAS great, but therein lies the problem it WAS…

 

 So is the same for MANY people today young and old.

 

On “Easter Sunday”, the average Pastor throughout America can expect to see his average attendance at least DOUBLE in numbers and it’s usually to hear him preach the exact same thing plus a few tweaks give or take that he did the prior year and all the ones before that. Looking back over the years of my youth and even still today, I often wonder do people actually consider how SIGNIFICANT this day actually is???

We aren’t just talking any kind of holiday here (If you want to call it that).

Jesus ROSE from the DEAD

I don’t know about you, but that’s not something I hear about or see everyday. The last time I went to a local cemetery, I don’t recall seeing any OPEN tombs. I’m not sure the last time you might have read through the gospels particularly the last couple chapters of each account, but this was a REALLY REALLY BIG DEAL and I’m not just referring to believers but also NON-believers.

I try to imagine sometimes If I were living in the 1st century as a Jew. Having had the opportunity to follow Jesus around the Palestine area for 3 years. Being able to witness the miracles, healings and hear the teachings and envision that this is the long awaited Messiah that not just myself but my ancestors have longed for! Then all of a sudden, things go TERRIBLY wrong. Jesus is betrayed by one of his closest friends and gets taken into custody by the Jews and Romans. I watch him be BRUTALLY beaten and whipped with a flagrum or famously named Cat O’ Nine tails. So much so that despite what we see in the movies and probably envision in our minds a person wouldn’t have even known it was Jesus anymore. The prophet Isaiah approximately 700 YEARS PRIOR to this event mentioned what his appearance would be like after the torture he would receive.

“But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man” Isaiah 52:14 NLT

Having lost a tremendous amount of blood and being EXTREMELY weak, I watch him attempt to carry a 150-300 pound wooden Roman cross up a hill. After needing help to get up there, I watch him spend his last few hours trying to raise himself up while gasping for air. Being made a public example to show what happens when someone tries to defy the Roman government just like the other 2 men beside him and many others whom the Romans crucified during their 400 year reign.

Afterwards, I watch him be placed in a tomb with a large rock placed in front that weighed at least 500 pounds. The rock took at least 2 healthy men to move in front of the tomb.

All my hopes, dreams, and expectations gone down the drain…….

Until a few days later some of the women followers come frantically telling us that not only is the tomb EMPTY but they SAW Jesus. Without having much time to consider what to think Jesus appears right in the midst of everyone and we start exchanging hugs, embracing him, and crying with tears of joy.

As a 21st century believer looking back I can only try to imagine what this must have been like for them. The GREATEST MIRACLE they ever saw!

We aren’t talking some hallucination or well-crafted mythical lie as some people try to assert. This REALLY HAPPENED! This was so significant that Jesus followers were willing to be IMPRISONED, TORTURED, & KILLED because they were CONVINCED of his resurrection after seeing him for 40 days EAT and TALK while TOUCHING him SPECIFICALLY in the areas he was pierced by the Roman guards (John 20:19-30, 21:1-14, 2 Peter 1:16, 1 John 1:1, Acts 1:1-3).

“Easter Sunday” wasn’t just something they thought about ONCE a year. It was something they thought about EVERY DAY of the year. It wasn’t something in their “distant memory”, but it became an EVERY DAY REALITY. Not only did they think about it daily, but they lived like it daily. It was a day that RADICALLY changed their lives and has continued to change the lives of MANY people throughout the centuries.

Think about it, If there was NO resurrection there is NO Christianity. No Apostles, no New Testament, and no Gentile Believers (Non-Jewish). No estimated 400,000 churches across America alone. No estimated 5.5 million christian full-time workers and 400,000 christian missionaries across the globe. No Salvation Army’s, christian housing shelters, food kitchens, and orphanages. No bibles translated in over 4,400 languages. No seminaries and bible colleges. No Braille reading system for the blind. I could really keep going on and on, but most importantly NO hope for life after death with God. No union with Christ. No chance of seeing all of God’s creation in a state it was intended to be without sin and the reason for all of this is because

We would still be LOST in our sins (1 Corinthians 15).

So when I stated that I am not of fan of “Easter Sunday”, I meant that I’m not a fan of viewing it as some day that happened a really really long time ago that I only think about “ONCE a year”. On the contrary..

I’m a fan of the RESURRECTION. I’m a fan of being in remembrance EVERYDAY that Christ has RISEN and not just thinking about it for ONE DAY.

 This single event has changed human history in more ways than I can fathom in my finite mind.

It RADICALLY changed the lives of Jesus 1st century followers.

It has continued to RADICALLY change the lives of Jesus followers over the last 2000 years.

It has RADICALLY changed my life and will continue to change the lives of many others.

The ULTIMATE question remains:

Has it changed YOU?