The Easter season, for me, has always been an enjoyable time of the year. As a child, I looked forward to the Easter celebration, but not necessarily for religious or spiritual reasons. For one thing, the temperatures were warmer, meaning that I could run around the Mississippi countryside in a short sleeve shirt and a pair of cutoff jeans. I loved not having to worry about getting my clothes dirty, as I tromped through the woods and explored my grandfather’s pond, or anywhere else my free spirit decided to take me. Even more exciting to my cousin Johnny and me, was the fact that after Easter, our parents allowed us to go barefoot for the rest of the spring and summer. We loved to wade the creeks in our area, to catch tadpoles and minnows. We also loved the feel of the cool grass beneath our bare feet when we walked into a shade-covered grassy area. Oh to be a child again, and to revel in such simple pleasures, rejoicing in the carefree days of life. My, it seems like 40 forevers ago!
A lot of Easters have come and gone since my childhood days. Back then, although I had been taught that Easter was the celebration of Christ’s resurrection from the dead, the brightly colored eggs, jellybeans, and chocolate often captured my focus. However, my present perspective on this Christian holiday is drastically different from that carefree child of days gone by. Today I realize that we, who know and worship Christ as our Lord, serve a risen Savior, not a dead martyr. Actually, everything Christians believe about salvation and the Savior hinges on the Resurrection. If the Resurrection is nothing more than a myth, then the teachings of Christianity are null and void (1 Cor. 15:13, 15). Christ specifically said, “…Destroy this temple (His body), and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). Speaking of His life, Jesus boldly proclaimed, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:18a). If Jesus Christ did not come forth from the tomb alive and well, then He was nothing more than a charlatan of the first magnitude. If that were true, why should anyone believe anything He said, much less bother with the charade of celebrating His resurrection?
If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, then all of His promises are invalid. If Jesus Christ is yet in the tomb, then all who have put their trust in Him for salvation have been duped. “Why?” you ask. Paul the apostle answered that question rather succinctly when he said, “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (1 Cor. 15:17). In Romans 4:25, speaking of Christ, Paul also said, “Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.”
If Jesus’ bones are still in the grave, then His promise of the resurrection of the saints and their expectancy of a home in heaven is nothing more than wishful thinking; or worse yet, a horrible cosmic hoax. Jesus said, “…because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19b). Our Lord further stated: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).
Is Jesus Christ really alive today? Well, ultimately, individuals must decide for themselves what they will believe. I, for one, can say that I know Christ lives, because He has changed my life. I’m no longer merely a religious person, but a redeemed child of God, who no longer lives in guilt and shame, since all my sins have been forgiven, and washed away in the blood of Christ, who took my place on Calvary (2 Cor. 5:21). I have the privilege of talking and fellowshipping with Jesus daily. What a blessing.
In an effort to convince you of the reality of Christ’s resurrection, I could tell you that over 500 hundred eye witnesses saw Jesus alive after His death on the cross, along with Peter, the twelve disciples, James, and the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 15:3-8). I could also tell of the two men on the Emmaus Road, who witnessed that Christ was alive after His death (Luke 24:13-31). However, none of those facts would convince you of the validity of Christ’s resurrection unless you are willing to exercise your faith as a little child (Luke 18:17). Let me close with the following story:
The Empty Tomb
Little Philip, born with Down’s Syndrome, attended a third-grade Sunday School class with several eight-year-old boys and girls. Typical of that age, the children did not readily accept Philip with his differences, according to an article in Leadership Magazine. But because of a creative teacher, they began to care about Philip and accept him as part of the group, though not fully.
The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought L’eggs pantyhose containers, the kind that looks like large eggs. Each receiving one, the children were told to go outside on that lovely spring day, find some symbol for new life, and put it in the egg-like container. Back in the classroom, they would share their new-life symbols, opening the containers one by one in surprise fashion. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the students returned to the classroom and placed the containers on the table.
Surrounded by the children, the teacher began to open them one by one. After each one, whether a flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would “ooh” and “ahh.” Then one was opened, revealing nothing inside. The children exclaimed, “That’s stupid. That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t do their assignment.”
Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.”
“Philip, you don’t ever do things right!” the students retorted. “There’s nothing there!”
I did so do it,” Philip insisted. “I did do it. It’s empty. The tomb was empty!”
Silence followed. From then on Philip became a full member of the class. He died not long afterward from an infection most normal children would have shrugged off. At the funeral, this class of eight-year-olds marched up to the altar, not with flowers, but with their Sunday School teacher, each to lay on it an empty pantyhose egg.
Dear friends, life eternal is found only in the risen Christ, for the writer of Hebrews said, “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25). Life is worth living because He lives.
