“The Six Words of Easter“, by Rev. Mike Holly
Easter is more than a special day in worship. It is the greatest news humanity could and has ever received. The very course of our lives was headed in a very different direction and then God, out of His love for the world and everyone and everything in it, defeated that last foe: death. Death is the last thing any of us wants to dwell upon. It either brings sadness and mourning to our minds as we remember the loved ones we have already lost. Or it brings fear and anxiety to our minds as we contemplate our own mortality. Death is inescapable. But what changed is the power of death over us.
You see, each and every one of us will face death. And yes, we will still suffer loss of loved ones and we will still be fearful of our own mortality. But we have a God who sent His own self in His Son, Jesus. And Jesus Christ was raised from the dead and promised that each and every one of us could anticipate our own future with God there. Even though death still stings, it cannot, or at least should not, create panic in our hearts because what is on the other side of death is eternal love. This news created such joy and passion in the early disciples and apostles that they did not fear punishment or capital punishment because they knew what is on the other side.
Easter, then, is the best news we could ever receive. The one last enemy may take our very bodies in the end. But on the other side is God. He is risen and that means everything has changed
~Mike Holly
The Easter Word
Luke 24:1-12
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
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