On the Resurrection

Today is Easter Sunday.  Many have gone to church as a family tradition.  Others have held Easter egg hunts for the children and/or terrified them with people dressed in bizarre and eerie bunny costumes.  And everyone has gorged themselves on candy.  Even now, I stare at a box of peeps, as they desperately plea for their lives and I ignore their terror.

For many others, this is a day like no other, for it is Resurrection Day.

For on this day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Born of a virgin into a fallen world, Jesus came into the world with one purpose: to transform it.

And transformed it He did.

After preaching in the Galilee region, Jesus traveled to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  Already detested by the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the people of Israel, His continued preaching eventually led to his arrest and execution (which is traditionally observed on Good Friday).  To the disciples and the other followers, all seemed lost.  The man who had transformed their lives and many others with His teachings and miracles was gone.

Then, on the third day after his crucifixion, something was amiss with His tomb.

The stone covering it was rolled away and He was gone.

For He had risen.

He had gone to Hell and battled Satan for the sake of mankind.  Sin and evil had dominated the world since the original sin in Eden.  And Jesus fought for a way out; of sin, of the world, of Hell.  And when directly confronted by God the son, Satan was once more cowed and defeated.

Jesus returned from the dead, so that we may all have eternal life.  He died and rose again so that we would no longer be slaves to our sinful nature and our personal failings.  He exerted power and victory over death, hell and the grave.  He transformed the world and us because God loved us enough to give His only begotten son as the sacrifice that would finally atone and intercede for our sins from Adam on.

The world has light in it once more.

Have a happy and blessed Resurrection Day.