Golly gee, it must be Spring! Hyacinths and daffodils are blooming, birds are calling to each other and building nests, and promiscuous Bunnies are turning to chocolate in the grocery stores. Oh, and Easter, the Day of Resurrection calls believers to raptures of joy and enthusiasm. Readings for Sunday tell the timeless story to those who’ve not paid attention before…while others tune their hearts to the challenge of “So What Now?” There’re many worthy scriptures for Easter; I’ve rather randomly chosen these three.
Why not begin with JEREMIAH 31:1-6? The prophet has recently witnessed the destruction of the Temple and the carrying off of leaders to captivity in Babylon. There’s not much to sing about. Yet he absurdly calls the People to look ahead, to see the reconstruction of the Promised Land! God is going to reverse history and reclaim the impossible? “Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel!” Can this message again be preached to the war-torn, to the homeless, to the huddled masses yearning to breathe free? And if this is your God, how shall we worship and serve in a Kingdom where death doesn’t have the final word?
Paul’s team wrote to the COLOSSIANS (3:1-4) some terse words of direction for the Christian. Among them is, “Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” In other words, if you’re gonna claim to be a follower of the Risen Christ, then ACT like one.
And thus the well-told Easter message in JOHN 20:1-18. There are so many happy details to follow, but what sprang out at me just now was verse 17, where Jesus told the ecstatic Mary Magdelene, “Do not hold on to me…” Obviously on a mission, Jesus didn’t want to be detained by earthly love when he had so much to do on Heaven’s behalf. Some have assumed this encounter to indicate that only Jesus’ SPIRIT was resurrected–but no, he was as physical as you or I are. Here was one more ultimate instance of God turning the world upside-down, of reclaiming death from life, of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Despite the best attempts of powers and principalities, the world will never again be the same.
John C. Holbert writes, “Easter is about the sort of God we worship, a God who will always have the last laugh, even in the face of that old dog, death.” (FEASTING on the WORD, A 2:355) May your new life be a blessed one…
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
Please join me on Tuesdays as we’re confronted by the scripture readings for the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com
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