Devotional - April 11, 2004

Today we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We refer to this day as Easter. But, the term can be a little confusing as it originated as a pagan festival close to the date of a paschal festival of the church. What is paschal? The root of the hebrew word "Pasch" means "to pass over. " Associated with the Passover festival, the paschal lamb was slain and eaten at Passover by Jews. The term, "paschal lamb" was used by early Christians to refer to the person of Jesus Christ. (At least we've got Jesus' name in there somewhere!)

What does Easter mean to you? I hope you're not a "CEO" Christian. Someone told me this week that term is reserved for those who attend church on Christmas, Easter and Other special days like Mother's Day. That brings up another misconception we need to address.

We call the place where we attend worship service as "church." That's unfortunate because the church is not a building. Instead, it is the living organism comprised of every person washed in the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. If we'd used the same logic for designating the place where we park our car, we'd park our car in the car and not the garage. Oh well...

If you're a Christian, then YOU are the church. But have you ever realized the majority of the world isn't a Christian and doesn't believe Jesus is alive. They fail to recognize him as Lord and therefore do not see the significance of Easter. The disciples knew the significance however.

After the crucifixion but before the resurrection, they were all running like scared rabbits, afraid to be associated with Jesus. They were planning to get on with their lives and the hopes and aspirations they experienced when Jesus was alive were gone. They were neither organized, ministering, praying or planning. Simply stated, the crucifixion killed Jesus physically and the disciples emotionally.

Just a few days before his death, Jesus told his disciples they must give up everything in order to follow him. If you looked at those eleven men after the crucifixion and before the resurrection, you would have thought the memory of Jesus would die with him. The disciples obviously didn't give up much to follow him. The sheep had lost their shepherd. But, let's not condemn the disciples before taking a look at ourselves.

The death of Jesus drove a emotional stake into the heart of the disciples, but the resurrection turned everything around. When they thought Jesus was dead, they were afraid to mention his name in public. Afterward, all they could do was preach and write about what he said and did. They did it boldly everywhere - all the time - to everyone.

After the crucifixion and before the resurrection, the disciples were afraid to be seen in public. Afterwards, every one og them dedicated their life to perpetuate the life and teaching of Jesus. Every one was killed for his faith except for John (When they couldn't kill him, they put him in isolation on an island called Patmos). After the crucifixion, all the disciples lacked passion, but after the resurrection, their passion ignited the world and we're still talking about their witness.

Was the resurrection real? It was unless you can convince me eleven scared men conspired to become martyrs in order to prosper a lie. I mean, come on. That's not even a good excuse! Anyone who doesn't believe Jesus is alive should look at the evidence of the disciples' lives after the resurrection.

He is Risen! So tell me, how has the resurrection changed you?