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Occasionally someone asks me I always give the same answer. The experience is seared into my consciousness as if it happened yesterday.
It was Palm Sunday around 3pm more than 20 years ago. Our church’s annual Easter pageant was about to begin in a few hours. I received a call that a couple at church had died in a motorcycle accident. The extended family went to the couple’s house and asked if they would tell their two elementary-aged daughters that her parents had died.
Empty tomb symbolizing the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter, the cross of sacrifice and suffering. (iStock)
When I heard about the shooting at a Covenant school in Nashville a few weeks ago, I thought about that moment again. Imagine your loved ones going to school innocently and delivering news to parents and children who lost their lives in senseless acts of violence. What would you say to those experiencing such a sudden and horrific loss? What comfort or hope could you offer?
Easter Reminds Christians of How the Resurrection Resonates Past, Present and Future
All worldviews and philosophies must answer that question. Can we offer these families real hope other than mere wishful thinking and sweet clichés?
Easter is the only reason I have something to say, looking into the eyes of people experiencing the worst tragedy on earth.
Easter is the only reason I have something to say, looking into the eyes of people experiencing the worst tragedy on earth.
Easter represents the historical fact that death has been conquered. For all of human history, death has had a perfect record. We were undefeated. From the strongest and most powerful to the weakest and most vulnerable, death finally got them all… until Jesus.
From the beginning, Christians have claimed that Jesus died and was truly resurrected. This was no fable. As Peter said, “We have not followed a cleverly contrived myth” (2 Peter 1:16). Paul stressed how important the resurrection is to the Christian faith.
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It is claimed by skeptics that Jesus only appeared dead, that the disciples stole his body, or that a group of people had the same hallucination of seeing him “alive” at the same time. All proposed alternative explanations are absurd.
The resurrection was not conceived by Christ’s first followers to make them feel better. Over 500 eyewitnesses saw Jesus come back to life after being dead and buried.
easter crown of thorns (iStock)
Resurrection is a fact of the past that gives hope for the future. It means that death is not the end for us or our loved ones.
If we believe in Christ, we will one day receive a body exactly like his. We will deliver a body suitable for New Creation. The world will be freed from the bondage of sin and reborn into the abundant life God intended. Easter affirms that this future hope is no fantasy. It’s real.
Easter also offers present comforts. Families who lose a loved one go through the darkest moments of their lives. Perhaps you have just experienced a tragedy or lost a loved one and are feeling hopeless and heartbroken.
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The Easter message won’t take away your sorrow and pain right now, but through Christ you can experience grief in a different way. The layer “does not grieve like the hopeless” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Easter reminds God that our suffering is real, but it is also temporary.
If you are feeling the pain of death or the pain of other losses in life, I encourage you to remember the reality of Easter. It is a fact of the past that provides Even if they die, they will live in me” (John 11:25).
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