Easter, Jesus, and the ResurrectionSampel

Sometimes, God does something so powerful and outside the realm of expectation that we just can’t come to terms with it. Sometimes it’s something we were even told and taught, something we thought we understood, but when it actually happens, it still catches us by surprise. And sometimes, it changes everything.

That’s what it was like that first Easter Sunday. The women didn’t go to a tomb, thinking they would witness a resurrection. Jesus’s disciples were hiding in rooms because they didn’t understand what was coming. It didn’t matter that Jesus told them again and again. What they knew and what we know, too, is that dead people don’t come back to life. But when they came face-to-face with Jesus back from the dead, it changed everything.

The Bible has a message of good news. The good news is that Jesus rose from the dead! That on that first Easter Sunday, the women took their spices and went to a tomb to prepare a dead body. But instead, what they found was an empty tomb with a risen Messiah! That on that day, they came face-to-face with Jesus in the flesh! Not some soul or spirit or resuscitation, but Jesus, back to life! Transformed and renewed. Stronger than death. Alive! And now ushering in God’s new age and new hope with a promise of resurrection for the rest of us.

“Christ is risen” is a refrain shouted around the world on Easter Sunday. It’s a shout of joy and surprise that Jesus is no longer dead. It’s a shout of hope and victory that he’s risen from the grave!

“He is not here. He is risen!” May those words from the angel that first Easter morning change everything for you. This week, taste and see what the Bible has to say about Jesus’s resurrection.