The resurrection of Jesus Christ has become a fairy tale in modern culture. Chocolate bunnies, new clothes, and Easter church services are all tolerated as a tip of the hat to an outdated myth. So, Easter break has become Spring break.
This is Easter week. Does it still matter?
The media will observe this week as a religious or traditional event. But it is doubtful there will be commentary that states the fate of the world depended upon a political prisoner 2,000 years ago. It is unlikely that you will hear that the decision of this prisoner, a radicalized carpenter, to suffer the pain of the cross was the defining moment in all of human history. If Christ had not gone to the cross there would be no human story, no newscasts, no twitter feeds, no posts to talk about the events of the day. In all likelihood, humanity would have perished in the great flood. Noah would have been like every other wretched human, believing only in himself. There would have been no ark, no hope for man.
Instead, Jesus chose to be betrayed, falsely accused, tortured, mocked, and murdered. His friends would turn their backs on him. His own Father refused to hear his request to be spared from unspeakable suffering. His country’s religious & political leaders turned on him in hatred. Crowds of people who had only days earlier shouted his praises, railed against him, demanding his death.
This thirty-something outcast was all that stood between the tsunami of the wrath of God and the destruction of all mankind. So instead of the world being deluged in judgment, the terrible waves of wrath fell only upon him. He could have left you to face God’s wrath on your own merit but he chose to pay the horrible price that you deserved to pay.
This is the true story of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Don’t think of this as a religious story. It is humanity’s story. It is God’s story. It is the story of why you are alive today, blessed with the hope of heaven.
Does the story grip you to the point that it defines who you are and how you live? Do your children know that this story is the pivotal point of all human history? Without this story, nothing would make sense in this life. Nothing!
If the resurrection is to be relevant to those around you and to your children it must be relevant to you. How well do you know the story? Without the sacrifice of Christ, the political outcast and prisoner, we could not live for the glory of God or for anything else. We would instead live in hell.
The resurrected Christ is the only hope of the world.