Why Easter Matters

By Tom Ponchak
(Note: Well, time flies. I had every intention of posting during the Easter Triddum and especially on Easter Sunday, but busy schedules and internet connectivity issues at home conspired against me. Fortunately, it is still the Easter season.)

“And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.  If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” – 1 Corinthians 15:17-19

What a glorious cause for celebration. I love Easter. As St. John Paul II said, “We are Easter people, and alleluia is our song!” Easter makes all the difference.

If not for the empty tomb, why bother celebrating Christmas? If Christ isn’t raised from the dead then he’s not God and we have no reason to celebrate his incarnation and birth.

If not for the empty tomb, why bother going on at all? It is the empty tomb that gives us hope to carry on, hope to endure hardships and suffering, hope to stare down death and disease.

If not for the empty tomb, what meaning is there in life? Our purpose and end becomes lost and trivialized.

Christ is risen from the dead!

He is risen indeed!

Christ has “trampled over death by death”.

No matter what this world has to offer me, no matter what it may threaten me with, nothing can take away the reality that every temptation and every torment of this world or from the pits of hell have no power over me anymore. Christ is risen! He has conquered!

All of the scriptures can, and must, be only properly understood in the light of the empty tomb. It is the key to unlocking all of the mysteries of God under the heavens. It is the only context that matters.

How foolish we are when we allow ourselves to forget. How pitiful when we settle for the scraps of the world instead of the banquet of the resurrection. I don’t know about you, but I wish I would learn to more consistently live in the reality of the resurrection in my life everyday.

Just listen to what the resurrection means for us: 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: The old has gone, the new is here!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” – Romans 6:3-4

“I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms.” – Ephesians 1:19-20

“The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.” – Romans 8:11

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