Pastor's Column: Easter Article 2.0

I recently submitted an Easter article to The Journal that was mistakenly printed early in last week’s edition – and with the incorrect title. When I emailed editor Brandon Cline about it, he apologized and offered to reprint it in this edition along with the correct title. I suggested rather that I submit a new article. He agreed with that ideal, and so here’s my Easter article version 2.0.

As I sat down to write another article, I thought how writing a new version is just like Easter itself, for God is into new versions. That is what Easter is all about!

In last week’s article I quoted the Bible verse: “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.” In other words, through faith in what Jesus has accomplished for us through his death on the cross, we become a new person! There’s a similar verse that says: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” We don’t have to wait for New Year’s Day to celebrate new beginnings.

But Easter isn’t just about a new beginning for you and me, it’s also cosmic in scope. Jesus’ resurrection from the grave and victory over death has implications for all of God’s creation.

The Bible is very clear that Jesus will come a second time, and when that happens, “There will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” For as Jesus says, “I am making all things new.” Actually, the universe itself will be made new, as the New Testament states: “We are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth.”

This is all because on a Sunday morning 2000 years ago the stone at the entrance to Jesus’ tomb was found removed and tomb itself empty, void of Jesus’ body. The women who discovered it were met by an angel who told them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”

This makes me recall the story told by a former superintendent of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem where many people believe Jesus was buried. Once after sharing the story of Jesus’ resurrection to a group of tourists, a young man in the back of the crowd shouted out: “If this is true, then the whole world should be celebrating!” He couldn’t have expressed it better!

I hope you have a very happy Easter!