None of us would ever empty Easter of its power. Absent Easter’s premises and promises, the Christian life wouldn’t have much more to offer than a religion invented by science fiction writers or social malcontents.
What, then, might happen if, after Easter had passed, we hadn’t changed one iota of our lives. Wouldn’t we be turning Easter into something artificial or empty? It would not make sense to claim God’s Easter promises—among them “You will have new life”—if our post-Easter lives were no different than our pre-Easter existences. Christ Jesus didn’t suffer, die and conquer death so that we could continue lifestyles that are killing us.
Part of the power of this miraculous event is that it colors all life-related theologies with amazing and wonderful hues. What makes Easter more than a metaphor is the fact that new life does defeat death of every kind!
Christ’s victory over death requires us to lay claim to a new way of living. Easter offers us great hope that we can bury in new graves our old ways of being and doing. That we can revisit Jesus’ invitations to live abundantly.
That we can be resurrected.
*This entry is adapted from content in “Don’t Mock Easter,” a mini-essay in Simple Enough: A Companion Along the Way, by Bob Sitze. Copyright © 2013. The Alban Institute.
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