Easter Changes Everything
Easter changes EVERYTHING, and yet Easter changes nothing.
The reality that the incarnation of our living God, Jesus Christ, was born, walked, taught, healed, loved, transformed, challenged, suffered, died, was buried, and rose again has forever altered the world we inhabit.
Death became untrue. The separation between human and divine was forever breached.
We have become co-laborers with God in establishing God’s Kingdom. Easter injects our world with an unquenchable hope and, for that, we shout out a whole-hearted, “Hallelujah!”
But…every bit of that can be true and we can still say that, if we are honest, Easter changes nothing.
Frederick Buechner once said, “Resurrection means the worst thing is never the last thing.” But what if the worst thing is still the now thing even after resurrection?
Two full days after we celebrated an empty tomb and a world turned upside-down, my guess is that your Tuesday looks a lot like your Good Friday. We are still living an anxiety-riddled existence separated from community.
My friend still sits with her seven-year-old daughter in the hospital, watching her battle osteosarcoma. Another still grieves the loss of her sister as if the wound will never stop festering. Another friend worries how long into his current job loss the proverbial wheels will come off.
Easter changes everything and hard things remain.
Easter is miraculous—not magic.
This is why I am oh so grateful that we have the rest of God’s Word. The Old Testament text for Easter Sunday probably went unnoticed by most. After all, empty tombs, earthquakes, and angels clothed in lightning are pretty attention-grabbing. But the OT text was Jeremiah 31:1-6. Here’s a bit of that:
Thus says the LORD: The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, the LORD appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall take your tambourines, and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.…
Ages ago, a conquered people in exile were told that grace could be found in the wilderness, that the Lord would appear to them, that they were loved with an everlasting love. They were told that right now life was hard but one day they would be rebuilt and would dance and sing with great merriment.
Long before the empty tomb, Israel took great hope in a God who saw their pain, promised His presence, and drew their eyes to restoration.
Does your Tuesday look and feel a lot like your Good Friday did? You’re not alone.
We can still admit that our “hard thing” is still hard even after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Maybe on Sunday you needed to hear, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” But today you need to hear, “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness… I have loved you with an everlasting love…”
Hallelujah for both.
Rev. Shelley Woodruff
Interim Pastor for Community Engagement
First Baptist Church of Decatur