Easter is Coming!

                What better timing than today for Easter to be on the horizon. Easter comes after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. So, Sunday is Easter. Our hearts are broken for the families of victims of the terror attacks in Brussels and the Dutch as they deal with a very real threat to their health and safety in their country. It brings to the forefront the darkness of man and this sin infected world we live in. In the midst of that Easter is a bright and shining light.

                The looming anger of voters tired of the way things have been for a million different reasons all clamoring to be heard at the expense of other voices contributes to our uncertainty. Uncertainty is the bane of our existence anyway. When any event happens we wonder what it means and how it will affect us. The talking heads all theorize what will happen and how good/bad it will be. Of course, they don’t know what’s going to happen nor are they held accountable for the failed predictions. They are just running their mouths filling air time. The sad thing is we believe them especially the loud ones. In fact, no one really knows. Easter is the bright and shining light in the midst of that uncertainty.

Peter and John upon seeing the empty tomb and carefully folded shroud must have thought “what’s it mean?” In just a few days their world had been turned upside down and sideways even from the upside down of the ministry life they had been living for the past 3 ½ years. This “kingdom” they had expected to be revealed was but a dream from the night now that Jesus had been crucified. He brought the dead back to life. He made the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear and brought the outcast into the inner circle of life. Now he was dead and his body was missing. “What’s it mean,” was the understatement of time. It led to a flood of questions and a tidal wave of confusion and uncertainty. Easter is clarity.

Easter means death is defeated, sin is crucified and the grave has been overcome. Could it be that all the other things he said are true? Easter says YES. He is alive and well and overcoming sin and the effects of sin on this world. It means terrorism is useless. How can terror and fear rule when Jesus is alive just as he said?

Easter means grace wins. God’s forgiveness overcomes your past which led to death. In fact, grace makes your past irrelevant. It also makes the past of others unimportant. The playing field of life has been leveled for you and the whole world by grace. Easter means a fresh start, a new adventure. Light and life abounding in the face of darkness and death. It means there is hope for the hopeless and help for the helpless. It means there will be life following death. Death is no end just a turning of the page. It means we are not condemned or condoned for our sin but forgiven. Ah forgiven, that’s what Easter means. I hope you have a marvelous Easter celebrating life and living.

Easter is here! That’s what it means.

        

In HIS service and yours,                                                           

BroG