Christ is risen! Truly, he is risen! Alleluia!
Easter marks the highest season of celebration in our Church. For good reason! This liturgical season is marked by the most important truth of our faith, and it is at the center of the Gospels. Christ, fully God and fully man, came to earth so our relationship with God could be fully restored. We see the immensity of God’s love for us poured out through his Son’s suffering and dying on the Cross, and then by his resurrection and victory over sin and death once and for all. Through Christ, love and eternal life are available for us to claim each day personally!
All of this is incredible. But I want to pause for a moment and ask: does this truth resonate in our hearts? Some of us reading this may be thinking – yes and amen! For others, this question may have brought up a sense of hesitation, sadness, or maybe even shame. Whatever it may be, I want to ask if there may be a deeper invitation Christ is calling us into.
Easter is not simply a time to celebrate another liturgical season, but also a time to experience Christ’s victory personally and for hope to become deeply rooted in our hearts. Are we allowing the Lord’s victory to become part of our stories? Perhaps there were challenges, grievances, unexpected circumstances, trials, or discomforts that came up this Lent. How might Christ be using these things to actually prepare us for a greater participation in Jesus’ victory? Or maybe this season has been full of joy and great breakthroughs. How might Christ be calling us to carry this light and hope to those around us? Regardless of how things have been going, we can have peace because the truth of Lent and Easter, and all liturgical seasons, is that they are a reflection of the rhythms of our lives at different times and occasions.
I know for me, reflecting with Scripture at the tomb on Holy Saturday and even on Easter Sunday made me realize how much more Jesus still wants to work on my heart from what was started during Lent. I can see myself in the Scripture like Mary Magdalene, as she waits at Jesus’ tomb, even after she discovers Jesus is no longer there, because she didn’t know or understand where Jesus could be after watching him be crucified and buried with her own eyes. For her, the shining glory of the Resurrection was a shock to the system after the agony of the Cross.
Like the tomb, there are places in my heart that have felt emptied, buried, forgotten about, and that I’ve tried to shy away from facing. There are times when I’ve had to remain in a place of waiting as Jesus continues to unveil those parts that leave me in a state like Mary Magdalene, questioning, disheartened, and not able to understand what’s at hand. When Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene, she encounters his Resurrection and triumph before her very eyes. The absence of Christ was not a true lack or missing piece, but rather, it was the very hinge for the new life and truth Christ was revealing to her in that moment.
Jesus never leaves us in the tomb but always has a plan and way to bring us new life, healing, and restoration that is bigger than we can imagine. If we’re willing, he’s ready to transform the challenges into victory, hurt into healing, and loss into glory. Like Lent, Easter can be a season of growth, healing and even unexpected joy.
Though I may still be waiting for resurrection in different parts of my life, I have the invitation to look forward to that personal resurrection. As I anticipate God to move and remain faithful in the waiting, I know that Christ’s life, love, and grace always reign in the end. This is a time to deepen faith and continue believing that God is at work and say yes to what he is doing.
My prayer for you is that this Easter season may be one of trusting in the Lord’s victory and expecting him to resurrect and reign over every part of your life, in his timing. In other words, in our anticipation and waiting, we can still cling to hope and the celebration before us, thanking God for what he has done, is doing, and will continue to do in our lives.
So, how is God calling you to a deeper relationship with him this Easter? How will you choose to celebrate his resurrection and victory over death this Easter season?
Photo by Josh Withers from Pexels.
Related Posts
