He is Risen!

““Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.”

(Mark 16:6, NIV)

We are in the holy week, the most significant week of our Christian calendar.  It is a week of deep reflection, a week of mixed emotions – from the highs of celebration to the lows of death and loss.  This week we work to enter the feelings and thoughts of the disciples and other followers of Jesus who were present from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.

During Lent we have been examining our lives, doing the work of confession and repentance, to not only walk more closely with Christ but to reflect Him more and more.  We have been slowing ourselves down enough to hear from God, identifying and removing aspects of life that tend to distract us from God, being humbled at the reality of how it is our sin that forced Christ to the cross.

This past Sunday was one of celebration!  Palm Sunday was a day Jesus was honoured and declared as the Saviour of God’s people.  In Matthew 21.9, the people shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”  They acknowledged Jesus as the prophesied Messiah.  There was high emotion; it was truly a celebration.  The disciples were awestruck with not only Jesus but the people’s worship.  Their confidence was high that day!

They enjoyed four days of time and teaching with Jesus at the Passover, only to have things suddenly take a turn.  One of their own betrayed Jesus!  He was not only arrested but unfairly accused of treason.  Within a day, they went from having supper together to watching Jesus die on the cross.

Too often we are the betrayer or the denier of Jesus, turning our backs toward Him … to hide our choices, to hang on to our negative attitude, to justify a sinful habit.  It is important we grasp just how lost we are without Christ.  Each of us is only one choice away from living a life without the hope and joy He offers.

This Friday – Good Friday – we are humbled by the death of Jesus.  In Matthew 27, we read, “… Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”” (Matthew 27:50–54, ESV)

“Truly this was the Son of God!”  He did die, but by doing so opened the path for us to be truly and fully united with God our Father.  “He is risen!”  His followers heard Him speak and eat, they saw and touched His wounds and body.  Jesus rose from the dead, giving us the opportunity at new life – one filled with the hope and peace of God.

This week / this Easter, let us rejoice!  Let us offer praise and thanks to God.  Let us live in the fullness of who we are in Christ.

He is risen!He is risen indeed!