He Has Risen

While many are thinking of the Easter celebration, I think its important to realize that the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus is not a Holy Day like we would find in the Old Testament where God directed the Israelites to set aside certain days.  Instead these annual events Christmas and Easter were established as traditions by the church.

Sometimes traditions can help us to remember certain events and sometimes the tradition itself takes on its own life.  We add practices to the tradition based on our culture and history.  These practices expand and soon we are eating Cadbury chocolate, buying cute bunnies for the kids, wearing pretty dresses, meeting for sunrise service, church breakfast and decorating with Easter lilies.

Don't worry I am not going to jump out with a condemnation of these practices.  When the kids were home we had egg hunts in the back yard and our church has a sunrise service and breakfast. As a matter of fact I delivered the sunrise service message this morning that had a similar theme to this blog.

We need to step back from the traditions and realize there is something real going on here.  Jesus truly  did rise from the dead.  This is the difference between Christianity and religion. We have a truly risen and living Savior.  Lets look at a couple of verses from the very first Easter.

Mk 16:1When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. 2Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb  

So what is happening?  The woman were on there way to fulfill a tradition.  They could not attend to Jesus properly on Friday night because of the beginning of the Sabbath.  So they had to wait for the first day of the week.   They were not expecting to see Jesus alive.  Though they had spent several years with Jesus they fully did not grasp His nature as the Son of God.  Especially after seeing Him endure an agonizing death on the cross.  They probably felt that surely if Jesus was the Son of God, He would have stopped the suffering and stepped down from the cross alive.


After the resurrection Jesus made clear to His disciples the fulfillment of prophecy that a sacrifice is required for sin.  But at the time the woman were not thinking of that.

They did not expect to meet the risen savior.  Here is another part of the story recorded in Matthew.


 ^{Mt 1:5}The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
 ⁸So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

The angel proclaims He (Jesus) has risen from the dead.   This is not a myth, a fair tale, a legend or a story told to create a moral message.  Jesus truly did rise from the dead.  This is a historical fact with more evidence than the assassination of Julius Caesar.

My prayer is that you are not distracted by Easter as a religious thing, a Holy day, some story told as a moral to give hope.  My prayer is that your heart and eyes are open to the real story about God's Son who was sacrificed on the cross for you and then rose from the dead.  Your savior is truly risen.