Easter

Christ is risen!

The Temple was destroyed, and in three days, Christ Jesus rebuilt it. Just as he foretold, Christ was crucified and on the third day he rose again. The tomb was found empty, the stone rolled away. I can only but wonder what it must have been like to have discovered that in person. I often imagine that, as told in Luke, when the women who visited the tomb told the disciples, Peter made a mad dash through the crowded streets of Jerusalem. The Passover celebration was still going on and people were going back about their lives after the Sabbath. I can see him bumping into people, jumping over obstacles, sprinting for the tomb. I see him coming to a sudden halt at the entrance, slowly walking in and realizing that the body is gone. I see him as confused, hopeful, but confused, not quite sure what to think. And I imagine the disciples, when Christ first appears to them after the resurrection, falling face down and worshiping him.

Though Christ wad dead, he now lives and reigns forever. Though the wages of sin is death, they have been paid in full by the blood of the Lamb. Having died, Christ rose and is now the Firstborn from among the dead, "From whose resurrection flows all the life, spiritual and eternal, of all his brethren," (John Wesley). It is through the Resurrection that we no longer must fear death, for Christ has victory over it, "supremacy in all things".


Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou then ?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die.
- John Donne

Rock on.