The Sunday of the Resurrection is the payoff, the greatest of all in fact. On this day Jesus rose from the dead. He did not just "spiritually" rise from the dead. He did not just in "the hearts and minds of his disciples" rise from the dead. Jesus rose physically, fully human, fully God, from the dead.
The Gospel accounts go to great lengths to show that this was no mere spiritual awakening or sudden moment of enlightenment that had come upon those who loved Jesus. In fact, those who loved Him went to the tomb early on the morning of the first day of the week to further prepare the dead body because as the Sabbath approached on Friday they were rushed to lay him in the earth. They expected to anoint a corpse. They expected to adorn a lifeless body. They expected Jesus to be dead.
You could say this was the most unexpected act in history, because when they got there they did not find anything. They did not even find a body! The body was gone, and an angel proclaimed to them that Christ is risen! That is what today is all about. The eternal Son took on flesh and lived the life we humans cannot live in perfect obedience to the Father. He suffered death and was buried. But, on the third day He rose again.
The Christian Church dating back to these very days in the first century proclaimed the joyous news the Christ is risen! This day is about the resurrection of the Son of God. This day is not really about an old pagan fertility feast that the big bad institutional church took over as an empire. This day is not about bunnies, eggs, and chocolate (as cute and/or delicious as these things may be). And this day is not about allowing the wise words of a great teacher to "live on" in our hearts and minds.
This day is about Jesus' physical resurrection from the grave. This is the day the LORD has made! This resurrection of the Son of God also points to the day when all humans will be raised on the Last Day because of this physical resurrection of the Son of God! This resurrection of the Son of God, as the first fruits of the renewed creation, points to the restoration of all things on Earth. The pain, the death, the decay that marks the world we know in everything from humans to animals to earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, all point to creations groaning waiting for Christ to return and to reveal those who will have life in Him and with Him forever. On this day LIFE wins. On this day we celebrate the feast of the Lamb and look forward to the Day of the great feast when Jesus drinks the fruit of the vine with us again.
Resurrection Sunday is about reality, it's about physicality, it's about living again. This is the day all of Earth rejoices. This is Earth Day, as the Creator restores creation, beginning with the resurrected Son of God. That's the Hope in which we live, that is what today is all about!
CHRIST IS RISEN!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Earth Day
Today is Earth Day. It is also Good Friday. This won't happen again until 2095. I was talking to a longtime friend this morning from my home congregation and thought I'd be clever and send him a message that said, "Happy Earth Day!" The significance of Earth Day falling on Good Friday was something I have been trying to formulate in my mind.
The idea of Earth Day on Easter Sunday (2057) seems to be the clearer connection. Earth Day celebrates all of creation and (albeit falling short of what this means) promotes "restoration" to all the earth. Easter, the Resurrection Sunday, also promotes restoration (albeit rightly). But how is it that Good Friday and Earth Day can connect?
Well, my longtime friend replied to "Happy Earth Day," with,"Happy Tree Hugging Day." It then hit me like a ton of pollen, Good Friday is Tree Hugging Day. Good Friday is Earth Day. Jesus goes to the rugged cross, that unsightly tree, and He grips it to die. Jesus grips the tree to reconcile the whole world to the Father. We know the rest of the story that comes on Sunday, but ponder for today the beautiful image of Christ gripping the cross to reconcile the world to the Father. That is the best gift the Earth has ever received, that is the best medicine for a sick Earth, that is what it means to celebrate creation. The Creator has rescued the creation from sin, decay, and death, all by gripping the tree.
As most of the Earth celebrates the apparent beauty of creation and life I will be sitting in a dark, undecorated, no apparent beauty of a church. Today, though humans lost the tree of life and all its splendor with the rushing rivers, we look to the Tree of Life which has the rushing river flowing from the Creator (John 19:33-34) in all His glory (John 7:37-39).
Happy Earth Day.
The idea of Earth Day on Easter Sunday (2057) seems to be the clearer connection. Earth Day celebrates all of creation and (albeit falling short of what this means) promotes "restoration" to all the earth. Easter, the Resurrection Sunday, also promotes restoration (albeit rightly). But how is it that Good Friday and Earth Day can connect?
Well, my longtime friend replied to "Happy Earth Day," with,"Happy Tree Hugging Day." It then hit me like a ton of pollen, Good Friday is Tree Hugging Day. Good Friday is Earth Day. Jesus goes to the rugged cross, that unsightly tree, and He grips it to die. Jesus grips the tree to reconcile the whole world to the Father. We know the rest of the story that comes on Sunday, but ponder for today the beautiful image of Christ gripping the cross to reconcile the world to the Father. That is the best gift the Earth has ever received, that is the best medicine for a sick Earth, that is what it means to celebrate creation. The Creator has rescued the creation from sin, decay, and death, all by gripping the tree.
As most of the Earth celebrates the apparent beauty of creation and life I will be sitting in a dark, undecorated, no apparent beauty of a church. Today, though humans lost the tree of life and all its splendor with the rushing rivers, we look to the Tree of Life which has the rushing river flowing from the Creator (John 19:33-34) in all His glory (John 7:37-39).
Happy Earth Day.
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