He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! It is a cry that changed the world. We literally measure time by it, before and after. But why did the world have to change to begin with?
In point of fact, if we shift our focus but a bit, the deepest miracle of Holy Week may not be the Resurrection. As we just said, this miracle was already firmly established. The real miracle may just be that Jesus died at all. Think about it. He was, after all, God Incarnate. He is the Alpha and the Omega – He was before and He will be after – he is the eternal God. How can that which is eternal die? How can that which is forever terminate? And more ominously, what could kill the eternal and omnipotent Creator of all things? Certainly not a few nails and a bit of suffocation inducing hanging….
This, then, is the force so great that it could kill the unkillable. My sin, and your sin, killed Jesus.
This weekend on the church calendar paints a different picture – one of sin/death/resurrection/redemption. The church does not see things in terms of mistakes, illness and recovery. The church sees things plainly in terms of moral failing – a failing reflective of our spiritual situation – a situation that can only be rectified through Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection….
Also this week, the host interviewed Bishop Robert Barron. In the interview the Bishop commented that at times the church more closely resembles just another charitable institution, than an instrument of God’s salvation.
Easter is a joyous time because it marks the Lord God overcoming death, the consequence of our sin. But to appreciate and understand and truly feel the joy, we have to acknowledge just what is being conquered. Easter only makes sense if we acknowledge the fact that we are sinners in need of an Easter miracle.
We work so hard to deny the reality of our sin and in doing so we rob ourselves of the true joy of Easter. Easter is best understood through the lens of our sin.
He is Risen! – so I do not have to die.
