nEmma’s First Easter
n”And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”n- Luke 24:5
For most of my life, Easter was just a Sunday when we had to put on bright pastel colors, deal with the bigger church crowd, and eat a really big meal that afternoon. I understood that it was about Jesus and understood that it was about his death on the Cross but I had zero understanding of how that impacted me or my life. Freshman year of college that all changed.
What dawned me then and still sits heavily on my heart today is that I had created a debt between me and God with my sin that I could not fill or reconcile. No amount of good work or “righteous” living was going to set me right before the Lord. I was stuck in that state of debt to God and had no way out. Christ’s life, death, and resurrection became my way out. I knew that I needed reconciliation before the Lord and I knew that I could not achieve it. However, I learned that freshman year Christ had done all that work for me. My faith in Him landed me in good standing before God. Christ’s righteousness imputed to me and my sin imputed to Christ saved me. That’s what we’re celebrating today.
However, this day of celebration has a dirty little secret. The reality of this holiday is that it has been largely made to be the holiday in which people descend on the church to remind themselves of a truth that they don’t really believe in.
One of the most profound statements I heard this past year was that the most dangerous mindset a nonbeliever can have is to think they’re a believer. That’s the dirty little secret of Easter in America. Many unbelievers who have no real relationship with the Lord and no real reflection of their relationship in their lives descend on the church today to make themselves feel more comfortable about their life, feel like they are in right standing before God, and ultimately pretend for a couple of hours that their life outside of the church looks more like heaven than it does like hell.
I say this because for 18 years I was that child that walked into the church every Easter believing himself to be saved and under the grace of the Cross. The problem is that I had no idea what the Cross did for me or why I needed it.
As each of you take the opportunity to go to church or not go to church this Sunday I pray that you will take this day for what it is. An opportunity to look at your spiritual standing before God and determine what is your basis for your righteousness. Is it your own works? Is it your capability to be better than the people around you? Or is it Christ’s life, death, and resurrection? The hard truth is that our own capabilities will always fall short of The standard set by God. This is why we celebrate Jesus today. Because our capabilities are no longer the basis for our right standing before him. Jesus is.
Happy Easter