Happy Resurrection Day!!!

We follow a Savior who died but wouldn’t stay dead!

Have you ever thought about how amazing the resurrection is? It is shocking, crazy, and hard to believe. But it is true! Think about how Jesus’ followers felt. They watched him die, they buried him in the tomb, and when they went to take care of his body it was GONE! Mark tells us the women ran away scared! Matthew describes the scene:
“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.”
Those who experienced the resurrection were frightened, amazed, struck with awe, dumbfounded, scared witless, worshipful… Actually, all of the above all at once! But I think we have grown so used to the story that it has stopped truly shocking us.

I have had the opportunity to see people hear the Gospel message for the first time. I was teaching in Papua New Guinea and told the basic Gospel story: God sent his Son, Jesus, to teach us how to live to honor God, but people didn’t like his message so they had him killed. I watched the sadness in the crowd as we talked about the death of Jesus and his burial. I needed to stop to get a drink of water when one of the listeners spoke up: “NO! That can’t be the end! I know you didn’t come all this way to tell us a story about how a man died.” So I was able to tell them the REST of the story (as Paul Harvey used to say.) As I told them about the resurrection they began to smile and clap, and two or three started crying out of joy. The entire group was moved by the story of the resurrection.

It is powerful. It is amazing. It is ridiculous. It is the hinge of history. It is an act of God. Think about it: We follow a Savior who died but wouldn’t stay dead! That is the message of hope that the world needs to hear. And that is the wonderful event that we are celebrating today.

Happy Resurrection Day!