May newsletter
Remembering Easter
Easter is later this year based on Passover being later. This year Easter is on 20 April. Some people only attend services on Easter or Christmas because these are special times in our Christian year. Perhaps we should consider why this is and how we should think about Easter on our Christian calendar.
It is interesting to me that we celebrate the birth of Christ on a specific day while Easter tends to be a floating date each year. Perhaps Jesus was not born exactly on the 25th of December, but we celebrate His birth then. Jesus rose from the grave on the first Sunday after Passover so we celebrate Easter on that day and not a specific date. I like this logic and want to encourage everyone to remember Easter this year on Sunday the 20th.
But what exactly are we celebrating on 20 April 2025? How do we think about Easter in our lives today? As mentioned, Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on Easter morning.
We remember the unlikely event that occurred in Judea so many years ago. We may have celebrated Easter all of our lives as Jesus’ victory over death and the grave, but in the first century, people were surprised when they experienced the resurrection. Today, let’s try to put ourselves into their mindset as we remember Easter this year.
I want to use John’s gospel to think about the events of that morning from his perspective. In John 20, he tells us of Mary Magdalene finding the tomb empty and coming to tell him and Peter that “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” (vs 2) So, it seems Mary initially thought someone had stolen Jesus’ dead body from the tomb. This seems to be a logical assumption as they saw Him die on the cross only three days earlier.
At this time, John and Peter raced to the tomb (which John claims he won the sprint) where they both saw the empty tomb. In the grave, the burial clothes were neatly lying there. At this time, John writes that they “saw and believed.” (vs 8) It seems that until then, they did not understand that “Jesus must rise from the dead.” (vs 9) My point here is that even Jesus’ closest followers did not know what was happening on that first Easter morning. They expected to find the sealed tomb of Jesus, but instead found an open grave with no body. But why?
Until Jesus rose from the grave, His followers did not know that was His ultimate purpose. His victory over death and the grave are now seen as the objective of His life, but then Mary and the disciples did not understand that was His purpose. They expected a physical kingdom like David ruled over Israel in the past. The spiritual Kingdom of God ruled by a risen Savior was a new concept to the people of the first century. But seeing is believing as both Mary and Thomas later experienced. So what about us today? Do we really believe in a risen Savior without a direct physical experience?
Jesus addresses this idea of us today believing in Him later in John 20:29. When Thomas believes after touching Jesus’ wounds, Jesus tells him “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.” Yes, we are those folks who are asked to believe without seeing the actual, living, physical Jesus. So, how do we do that? How do we put our faith in a Savior we cannot see, touch, or physically experience? This is the challenge for modern humanity. Reach out and touch a spiritual Savior ruling over a spiritual Kingdom. That is a big ask for some people.
Today, as we remember the events of that first Easter, let’s consider how we might reach out and touch a spiritual Jesus in the world today. First, I notice Thomas refused to believe before he touched Jesus’ wounds. Isn’t that interesting? Instead of saying I just want to hug the risen Jesus or even just touch His resurrected body, Thomas demanded to touch the wounds. When was the last time you were wounded?
There is a book called The Wounded Healer by Henri J.M. Nouwen. His thesis is that Jesus can heal our wounds because He Himself was wounded and that is who we are called to be in our world. So you and I can be wounded healers for people in our lives. Each of us carries various kinds of wounds as we journey through life. We can show others our scars and tell them how God healed them. This is one way we can show a living Jesus to the world.
Mary experienced Jesus outside the empty tomb and thought He was the gardener (vs 15). So Mary did not recognize Jesus when she first saw Him alive again, but only knew Him when He spoke to her. The world often does not recognize Jesus as He moves through it. When was the last time you talked to someone who was living out the life of Jesus in your world? What kind of difference can we make by doing that for others? You and I can be Jesus for the world just by living out His love and compassion for others. Jesus often appears when we least expect it.
Look for Jesus in this Easter season and I predict you will find Him very close. Finally, Peter and John believed when they saw the empty tomb and understood what that represented. They believed in Jesus just based on an empty tomb. They understood that instead of seeing a dead Jesus, they saw where He once was. This was enough for them so that they went home rejoicing that Jesus had risen. Perhaps this is where we need to locate ourselves today. We need to find the empty tomb that can no longer hold Jesus. Of course, our empty room may be a past traumatic event or a lingering sin or the loss of someone dear to us.
Can we find comfort in Jesus in this situation? Does that increase our faith? How? We remember faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen according to Hebrews 11:1. We put our faith in a risen Jesus hoping for His resurrecting power in our own lives. We have not seen the physical Jesus, but we believe based on knowing He can heal even our wounds, find us when we are lost, and be there for us even in the emptiest place in our lives. Our faith tells us Jesus is alive. There is more to life than death and the grave. As we remember Easter this year, let’s look beyond ourselves to find Jesus in the empty tomb, outside incognito, and even showing us all of His wounds. This is what we celebrate on Easter. We celebrate new life promised through a resurrected Savior now and forever.
Sonny McCauley
Welcome to May!
The rains have come and the grass is growing. I love this time of year as the cold is gone and
the heat is yet to come. What an amazing world we live in that has four seasons each year.
Imagine living where there is only cold or heat all year round. Imagine living on a planet where
there is no night with only the daylight sun at all times. God creates a perfect place for His
people to live.
We do expect that the summer heat is just around the corner. In fact, we have already
experienced some 100+ degree days. I love thinking about the future as some of you do. We
plan events and travel and work to do. What could go wrong? How does God view the plans
we have in our lives? This month’s Newsletter article focuses on the idea of procrastination.
We concluded that God wants us to use our skills and talents in His Kingdom today. How we do
that is a joint venture between us and God.
I mentioned the man in Luke 12:13-21 who was going to tear down his old barns and build
bigger ones. The problem is that he wasn’t going to live long enough to fulfill his dream of
eating, drinking, and being merry. (vs 19) Jesus tells us to focus on our relationship with God
more than worldly concerns. I view this as an issue of priorities. In the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus also tells us that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” ( Matthew 6:21)
So should we plan ahead or not?
Making God our priority in life does not mean we do not plan for the future. All of us have
dreams and goals in life, even if they are modest. Some just want a stable family or home.
Others look forward to grandkids or visiting distant places. Can we look forward to the summer
heat and enjoying air conditioning as Christians? Surely, we are meant to enjoy the blessings of
life? The answer is “of course,” understanding that does not mean putting our desires ahead of
our relationship with God. Remember the folks in the Corinth church who were eating and
drinking in front of those who had little? They were chastised for not sharing with those in need.
My point is these affluent Christians were not using their wealth to the glory of God. They were
successful in the world, but needed to work on their relationship with God. (see 1 Corinthians
11)
Let’s close our thoughts about planning ahead today with guidance from James 4:13-17. Here,
James warns us about boasting about tomorrow because we are so fragile that he says our
lives are “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (vs 14) So what are we to do
without a guarantee of tomorrow? Plan or not? James tells us to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we
will live and do this or that.” (vs 15) So our solution is to include God in our plans. We
recognize that it is only by His grace that we have life and continue to live. James concludes his
thoughts by saying, “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin
for them.” This fits nicely into what Jesus tells us about working on our relationship with God
first. We do good by doing His will in the world. We know His will for us by doing what Paul tells
us to do in Romans 12:2: “let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you
think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”