Resurrection Perspective

            “Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” (Luke 24) On Easter Sunday, Bishop Sloan, in his own words, recalled how God has acted in history to save his people and how God’s saving acts are fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection. And like the travelers to Emmaus, whose hearts burned within them while Jesus opened the scriptures, my heart burned within me as the bishop recalled the stories of our faith.

            As the bishop spoke, it was almost as if time stood still. His words created space for me to be suspended in time by God’s eternal reality. And in this suspension of time, nothing else really mattered. I was still aware of our temporal reality, but everything else that is going on in the world just passed on by with little or no consequence.

It's not that these things didn't matter, but I wasn’t emotionally or physically attached to all those things that usually make me happy or sad or angry.  Time was fulfilled, and everything else was a footnote in God’s never ending story made visible in Christ’s resurrection. Everything else was given a different meaning from the perspective of Christ’s resurrection.

             Christ’s resurrection event should change our perspective about everything. The story of our lives does not end in death. The story of our lives does not end in despair. The story of our lives is not summed up by our best day or by our most outstanding accomplishment. The story of our lives end beyond the grave of Jesus Christ where there is new life, new hopes, and new possibilities beyond our wildest imaginations. The story of our lives will only continue in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

            In turn, this change in perspective gives new meaning and new direction when we are dropped back into this temporal reality. In a world so emotionally and physical attached to things that are perishing, to things that don’t matter in the end – power, control, possessions, we are given new purpose.

Instead of being bound by the things that make us happy or sad or angry, Christ’s resurrection has the power to bind us to a love that is stronger than the temporary things we give so much power to. Christ’s resurrection allows us to rise above hate and fear and compels us to walk in love and peace and hope. Christ’s resurrection allows us to rise above the need to be popular in order to be loved and compels us to love the least of these. Christ’s resurrection binds us to a love that is stronger than any obstacle this world can put in front of us.

In the days following Easter, I pray that Christ’s resurrection changes how you see and act in a world where we are too often bound to things that are perishing. Instead of bracing for the worst, commit to the truth that God’s eternal reality in Christ will endure even the darkest hour. Instead of being controlled by the negative, look for signs of resurrection life to give you hope in all things. In fact, look for signs of life in all the places the world has pronounced dead for it is here where God in Christ is making all things new.