I tuned in to Village Church this morning (in my red polka-dot pyjamas and pot full of coffee) to hear pastor Mark Clark proclaim these words:
Easter Sunday is the most important day in the world.
I have never really heard anyone say that straight up. I haven’t heard anyone proclaim that even though many feel it or believe it but yes, I thought! Of course it is.
I had that truth pour over me as I listened to his message. Rudy, (Winnie) and I sat on the couch and sang along to worship. That statement was next to my heart all day so I decided that I needed to type out all of these thoughts — which is usually the best way for me to really dive into any feelings I have.
I admittedly woke up late this morning (and missed my planned workout but who’s judging?). When I grabbed my phone and started scrolling instagram, it was already flooded with prints and words and photos proclaiming “He Is Risen!!”
As a Christian, this is so beautiful for me to see. But as the day progressed and I was in my own lovely world about the meaning of Easter Sunday, I also had this nagging feeling: how many people have no idea what that actually means?
I’m not saying, HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOW WHAT “HE IS RISEN” MEANS. Quite the contrary. I’m thinking if I have even taken the time to explain to someone what this means to me? Did I ever have anyone explain what this literally meant while I was growing up?
Many of you may not know my faith story (don’t worry I’m sure that’s a future blog post!) but I grew up attending Catholic Church with my family. It was important to my parents that we grow up attending church despite my mom and dad’s conflicting views on church and religion. To be honest, I don’t remember learning much. I only remember babysitting the younger kids in Sunday school while someone read things to me I didn’t quite understand.
Long story short, my faith fell away for majority of my life until a time where I desperately needed something to hold on to. I needed to really dive deep into what this was all for. What this life was about. Why are we even here? What’s our purpose. And what’s this nagging feeling I have in my soul?
I researched all of my answers many many years ago. I was out of school and missed learning so I decided I wanted to learn about different religions; I found them all so fascinating. After reading up on a few other religions, I fell upon Christianity. If you look back in my notebook, the learning just never stopped; my “Christian notes” continue to present day. Once I started learning about the Christian faith, there was no other thing or religion I needed to research. Maybe my heart didn’t know I was searching, I was just wanting to learn after all, but my heart was clearly yearning. I was on a mission for something. And it was in that research I found what it was that my soul needed: Jesus.
For those of you who aren’t well versed in the bible (even though I grew up in the church I had NO idea what the Bible was about or anything really to do with Christianity, except that God lived up in the clouds and knew what you wanted for Christmas) the Easter story depicts everything in our faith. Here’s a recap: God created man and woman, man and woman were deceived by evil (thanks evil serpent) and were banished from the perfect world where they got to hang out in a garden with God. They went into the world and had a heck of a time trying to survive because nothing ever felt satisfying enough, they screwed up a lot, populated the earth and screwed up some more. There was misery, death, and a lot of fighting. God finally decided that there was so much sin in the world, he needed to come down and live on earth with us and figure out what the heck was going on (the only god who has ever come to dwell among his people). We clearly needed some help. He came down in Jesus, who was born from Mary and Jospeh, lived a normal life until he started proclaiming as a young adult. He wasn’t a king. He wasn’t rich or powerful. He wasn’t shiny or trendy and in fact, he was the exact opposite of that which is why nobody trusted that he was God’s son. How could the son of God, the King of the Universe, be poor and come from nothing? Regardless, he preached truth and many started following him. They would leave their high-paying jobs and fancy comfortable lifestyles, or any life style for that matter. All they knew is that when they were with him they felt better. But those in power started feeling threatened by Jesus. Their people were following him not them! They made up a bunch of lies and tried to get Jesus to mess up — they said he was blaspheming so they pressured the Roman authorities to kill him. One day a year the ruler releases a prisoner based on the people. Instead of releasing Jesus, the crowd chose to release a murder. The ruled governor of Judea “washed his hands clean” to not have Jesus’ blood on his conscious (he knew Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong) and handed him over to the people. They whipped him so aggressively he was barely conscious. They put a crown of thorns around his head. The people taunted him the entire time about how he was apparently the King, asking “where’s your God now?” They made him carry His own cross to the top of the mountain where he was crucified and eventually killed.
Okay, that was a lot of information but stay with me. The most important is still to come:
His mother, his brother, and a few of his followers were all there weeping, including a few soldiers that were told to stand guard over the bodies. A follower asked the governor if he could take Jesus’ body away and bury him. This request was granted. Jesus’ body was put in the tomb that was meant to be this stranger’s future place of rest. The tomb was sealed (which was like a cave in the mountain side) with a huge boulder and guards continued to stand watch day and night (remember that the entire kingdom was on high alert with Jesus’ teachings and those in high power were scared that he was going to take their power away. This is why he was killed in the first place and why there were always guards around even after he was killed). Three days later his mother and a few other women came to the tomb to anoint Jesus’s body in oils and spices, as was tradition. When they found the boulder had been rolled away, they realized his body was not there.
An angel was present instead and told them that Jesus is not in the tomb, he is risen.
““Why do you seek the living among the dead.” ”
Women were given no authority in this age of history, yet they were the ones to first hear this great news. A handful of women were chosen to declare this news to the world. They came back and told their friends and Jesus’ followers and later that night they eventually saw Jesus again. He told this small gathering of people to go out into the world and teach everyone the way that He himself had taught them.
A lot of years later we are here. This day, many many many years ago, Jesus rose from the dead.
Easter Sunday is the most important day in the world.
If this day had never happened, if He had never risen, Christianity would not be a thing. But the beautiful thing is that Christianity is not a religion: you don’t have to do certain things each day, it’s not built on elitism where it only pertains to certain people, it’s simply built on facts. Facts are what drive this faith. As Mark also said today, “if we could find the bones of Jesus then Christianity is over — it’s the wrong religion! But they never found them.”
Easter Sunday is when Jesus rose from the dead and proclaimed that we no longer need to live in fear, sin, or anxiety. Death does not have to control us anymore. This was a disruption of those women’s normal, mundane Sunday. They thought they were going to the tomb to take the spices they had prepared for Jesus’ body, and suddenly their lives were forever changed. Our lives were forever changed.
God SHOWED UP many Sundays ago. Know that whether you fully believe in this story or not, He can show up for you on this Sunday and every other day after this, too. Whether you want him to or not, He can. And He will. We all feel like we need something more, something else to fulfil us. It’s not a coincidence that every person in the world feels this; it’s remanence from a time we lived perfectly with and among God. Often we don’t randomly decide to follow this faith. Jesus just shows up for us. We can’t help but follow Him.
“Easter can show up in the mundane and change everything about you.”
This truth, this Risen Christ has changed my life. The God that came down to earth to participate in our suffering; He died for us, rose for us, and now brings peace to us all.
This is what Easter is all about. The days where He was crucified, killed, buried and then Risen happened this weekend long ago. This is why we celebrate. This is why we feast. We don’t have to earn ANYTHING — Jesus freely gives His love to us. He freely gives His peace to us. We are already seen by Him. Sin has been wiped clean.
There is nothing to fear.
He is my living hope.
HE IS RISEN!