What Resurrection Means
Introduction: Embracing the Unexpected
Welcome, friends. As we gather—whether on a familiar sanctuary carpet or on the sands of the beach—Easter reminds us: God’s ways often surprise us and are better than anything we could anticipate. This year, our gathering may look different than what many of us expected, but that is entirely in the spirit of Easter itself. Easter is about being surprised by hope, shifted from comfort into new life.
The Central Significance of Easter
For followers of Christ, Easter is not simply another calendar holiday. It is the defining center of our faith. Without resurrection, there is no church, no Sunday worship, and no hope. The resurrection of Jesus is what gives Christmas its meaning and is the very reason we gather at all.
The Risk of Familiarity
While the church calendar is designed to help us remember who we are and what story we are living, the yearly repetition can dull the surprise of Easter. Traditions are valuable, but familiarity must never lead to contempt or complacency. We must never lose sight of how earth-shattering the resurrection was—and is.
The First Easter: Far from Ordinary
For the early disciples, the first Easter was anything but traditional. This single day became a dividing line in history. People changed professions, left behind family inheritances, crossed social boundaries, and reimagined everything about their identity and community—all because of what they witnessed.
The Cultural and Theological Context
The Jewish people of Jesus’ time already believed in bodily resurrection—at the very end of history. God would raise the righteous, judge the wicked, and restore the world. However, all of this was expected to happen at the conclusion of time in a grand, final act—not in the middle of ongoing history.
The Messianic Expectations Upended
When Jesus arrived, He turned expectations on their head. Instead of wielding power against Israel's Roman oppressors, He directed it at deeper adversaries: the powers of evil and corruption in the human heart. Rather than judging external enemies, Jesus exposed the true enemies within ourselves.
The Crucifixion: Seeming Defeat
Jesus’ death by crucifixion seemed a decisive disqualification for the title of Messiah. By all outward appearances, He was defeated and, according to the Torah, accursed. His cry, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” reinforced the belief that He was abandoned by God and thus not the Holy One they hoped for.
Resurrection: A New Interpretation
Everything changed on Easter Sunday. The resurrection demanded that the early followers reinterpret their Scriptures and expectations. They saw in Jesus both the suffering servant and the victorious king, fulfilling both streams of prophecy previously thought to be contradictory (Isaiah 53; Isaiah 9).
Jesus’ resurrection was not simply a reversal of death, but the initiation of a whole new creation, a new world order in the midst of the old. No longer was the resurrection reserved for the end of time—God’s new world broke into the present.
Living in God’s Future Now
The apostle Paul calls Jesus “the firstborn from among the dead.” The resurrection is no longer a distant promise, but a present reality. The grave is not a destination but a passage—what once was finality is now a gateway to new life.
The Power of Resurrection in Daily Life
The followers of Jesus knew that even the worst the world could do—death itself—was no longer ultimate. They lived fearlessly and sacrificially because they believed resurrection awaited them. They understood that the same Spirit who raised Jesus now lived in them as a “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.”
Application: Becoming Resurrection People
To be a resurrection people is to live boldly and generously, facing the future with hope rather than fear. The Spirit empowers us to live out the values and reality of God’s future in the present: to forgive, to love extravagantly, and to invest in what lasts beyond death.
Jesus invites us not merely to intellectual assent but to trust, to “believe into” Him—a faith that is active, directional, and transformative. We do not simply prepare for death; we plan for life, investing in the world God is redeeming.
Conclusion: A Call to Resurrection Living
Easter signifies that God’s kingdom—a whole renewed creation—has already begun in our world. This new reality changes everything about how we view suffering, hope, loss, and courage. As we reflect on the resurrection, let us be reminded that we are called to live out God’s future today, empowered by the Spirit and strengthened by the promise that our story does not end at the grave.
Let us trust deeply, follow boldly, and rejoice confidently: Christ is risen, and so too shall we be.
May this Easter find us not just remembering, but embodying the power and hope of the resurrection, wherever we gather and however we celebrate.
