The Essence of Easter
It’s Easter Week! I’ve needed a push into Easter which is a bit strange. I usually don’t. Perhaps it’s the March date or cold winds still a brewing? Either way, it just doesn’t feel all that Easter-y.
As I stop to consider why, it’s the activities surrounding Easter that most come to mind. I haven’t picked out an outfit. I don’t know the lunch plans. I’m not completely sure what the church service even entails. This is all a bit unusual for me. As I stumble into Easter, I realize most of the preparation for Easter is actually preparation around Easter.
My soul has been craving authenticity recently and perhaps that’s the source of my holy discontent of another Easter stuffed like a Cadburry Egg with everything but Jesus. It’s so easy to fill up Easter with everything but the empty tomb.
Tombs are not popular places. I’m not dying to visit the local cemetery. Maybe that’s why we keep Easter at arm’s length. It’s a day to celebrate resurrection, but resurrection invariably involves death. The essence of Easter is that Jesus passed through death and into life. It wasn’t a fake death or a resuscitation. Jesus died and rose 3 days later! He tasted the fullness of death to bring us into God’s glory (Hebrews 2:9-10). Easter is about life through death.
As Jesus approached crucifixion, He did so with the glory of the Father front of mind. The love between Father and Son would be displayed through suffering, through death.
23Jesus replied to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.” John 12:23-34
Jesus’s death is unique. It’s beyond a mere example; His death is atonement. Jesus paid the penalty for our sin so that those covered by His blood can approach a perfect God. His death gave way to life. And it still does!! Abundant life that is imparted to many.
Easter is a celebration but one that shouldn’t be too far removed from the stench of an empty tomb. Life that is imparted through death.
This is the complete picture of Easter. Perhaps my solemn tone arises from the reality that Jesus still beckons us to come die so that we can live. Buried with Christ; raised to newness of life. Seed still must die to live. We seek to relieve this tension when we cease to ponder the empty tomb.
I’m still less prepared for that which surrounds Easter, but I’m locked in on the essence of Easter more this year than most. Life through death is the complete picture. Victory still comes through the empty tomb. When I keep this tension as it should be it’s a humble reminder that I too must die to live. Victory isn’t getting my way. Victory isn’t keeping what I want how I want it. Victory is life imparted through a plunge: a plunge in Jesus’s cleansing flood.