Suspended Easter

I remember when our oldest daughter, Annlyn, who is now eight years old, was around age four. She was curious and inquisitive - and still is. She would ask about days and often would ask if “today was a special day.” Now, admittedly, for a four year-old, a special day is any day that includes time on a playground or a trip to get ice cream. We would tell her that every day is a special day because every day is a day made by God. Then she began to differentiate. She began to see that there are some days that are more special than others. Though every day is created by God, there are some days that hold a little more oomph to them, a bit more brightness than usual. Birthdays for example fall into this category. A day when we celebrate the life God has given us and ask for God’s grace to use it in ways that will bring glory to God.

For 2000 years Chrsitains all over the world have gathered on Easter. Gathered for prayer. Gathered for worship. Gathered for celebration. It is the most important and highest day of the year. It is the day when the resting heart of Jesus housed in his dead human body began to beat again. Not of his own power, not of any kind of resuscitation, but through the resurrecting breath of the Holy Spirit poured out from God, the Father. 

It is the day when the forces of sin, death, and hell met their ultimate match. The day when the stench of death was dissipated by the air of new life. The day when the darkness of death was swallowed up in the light of life. Some may say this is an exaggeration but there is no way Easter can be exaggerated. I mean, after all, this is the moment singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson describes as when “the blood that brought us peace with God was racing through his veins.” There is no exaggeration here. This is eternal gospel. This is truth. This is power. This is hope. This is light. This is life. There is simply no way to stress the importance and the uniqueness of Resurrection Day. 

With a description such as this - no exaggeration - it is no wonder that we are all wondering how we will celebrate Easter this year. How in the world are we supposed to give voice to this kind of truth? How are we supposed to exclaim HE IS RISEN as we do so with resurrection life in our own lungs this year? Our customary gatherings have been suspended. Not cancelled because Easter cannot be cancelled. The gatherings have merely been suspended. Dispersed. Scattered.

This creates a very real issue for us though. One of the central doctrines of the Christian faith is that of the incarnation. I have often referred to the incarnation as the “en-fleshed-ness” of God in Christ. The scriptures teach that the fullness of the deity of God was pleased to dwell in Jesus. Therefore, we hold to the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. The man who lived and preached and healed….died. And God raised Him from the dead. In his body. Giving Him a resurrection body glorified in flesh. 

Admittedly, the incarnation is an aspect of the Christian faith we focus on most at Christmas, not Easter. But the incarnation of God in Christ is just as important to the resurrection of Jesus as it is to the birth of Jesus. The incarnation is one of the many ways we describe how Jesus is our Immanuel, God with us.

The Christian faith and the expressions of the Christian faith are built upon these two foundational theological realities - incarnation and resurrection. When we are together as brothers and sisters in Christ, we are living witnesses to the resurrection power and life of Jesus and we do so together. There is power when the church is united because it strengthens our understating of the incarnation. We are en-fleshed with one another to proclaim the good news that Jesus has died for our sins, was buried, and God raised Him from the dead.

Our Easter gatherings are just as much incarnation as they are resurrection. So when we cannot joyfully and jubilantly and vocally express our faith in the risen Christ WITH one another, we are tempted to lose sight of the incarnation aspect of Easter. However, I would like to encourage us all that this Easter, maybe more than ever before, we should hold to the incarnation. Better yet, maybe we should prayerfully allow the incarnation hold to us. 

After all, our suspended Easter gatherings are causing us to rejoice from home. Our living rooms filled with the signing of the empty tomb. Maybe we should step out on the front porch and proclaim boldly on Easter morning that the Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! To share in this practice together…though it may be from a distance. 

Another aspect for us to keep in mind this year is how the first Easter there were small groups learning about and proclaiming the news of the resurrection. Not everyone was together in the same place when the news was being shared. A small group of women first hear the news. Matthew says that while they were on their way to tell the other disciples, they met Jesus. He stood there in front of them and affirmed the command of the angels to go and tell the others that He is risen! In John, Mary Magdalene hangs behind in the cemetery after Peter and John have left. She’s weeping all alone wondering where the body of Jesus has been taken. And Jesus appears. What is so remarkable is that at first, she does not even recognize Jesus. It is only when He calls her by name that her memory and her spirit are jarred into reality and she KNOWS who this man is. 

The other disciples had locked themselves into a small room. Afraid of what was on the outside of the room - could a mob of angry Pharisees rough them up? The point here is they were scattered. Scattered about. Moved from place to place. Then poor Thomas…he has to wait a whole week before He meets the resurrected Jesus. What was that week like for Him? The waiting. The wondering. The worry. By the time Thomas meets the resurrected Jesus, the experience of the others is a week old.

Thomas…maybe he is the fellow we identify with the most this Easter. Waiting to celebrate. Wondering when he will be able to join with his brothers and sisters to and take part in sharing the good news of the resurrection of Jesus because he too has lived it and experienced it. Sounds to me like maybe his Easter was suspended. That’s the thing about something being suspended. It implies there is a time when it will be so no longer. It carries this connotation of a temporary context. 

Maybe the sandals of Thomas are the ones we need to wear this Easter as we KNOW the truth. We know the reality. We bear witness to the resurrection and we feel HIS heart beating within our lives. But we must wait until the time comes when we can be WITH our brothers and sisters to rejoice out-loud. To corporately and abundantly profess and proclaim that Jesus is Lord. Until THAT day comes…let us proclaim the good news with small groups of fellow believers, and knowing full-well that all believers are joining together this year in the same manner. 

So, as we approach this Easter, let us do so with eyes of faith. Let us do so with eyes of hope. Let us do so knowing that Jesus IS alive and the incarnational longing to be with other believers to joyfully and boldly express this is present. And let us carry the hope that Easter IS coming. It will be here Sunday. So step out on your porch. Say it loudly that the Lord is risen. Hear those words ring throughout all creation, knowing the hills echo back their joyous strains. Let us hold fast and hold with hope that the day is coming when the suspended celebrations will burst forth in a chorus of praise like the earth has not heard in a very long time.

So, Annlyn was right. She is right. All days are special. Some days are extra special. And with this kind of hope and faith, this Easter will be EXTRA, EXTRA special.

Soli Deo Gloria...
-ASR