So, that's Easter done for another year.
I wonder whether that's how you're left feeling now that the celebrations of Easter Sunday have passed, the public holidays are finished and even the school holidays are drawing to a close?
I know that for a lot of people who work in children's ministry the time leading up to Easter is a crazy dash from one Scripture Assembly to the next at all the local primary schools, the challenge of finding a new way to make an empty tomb out of cardboard and a few pipecleaners and the need to summon the energy for a kids talk on Sunday morning to a group of children who woke up too early and have eaten far too much chocolate!
Who wouldn't be relieved that Easter is over?
The good news however is that Easter has only just begun! For those who pay attention to the church calendar you'll know that 'Eastertide' continues for 40 days through to Ascension Day (marking Jesus' 40 days of post-resurrection appearances, Acts 1:3). Which doesn't mean more chocolate, but that we get to continue reflecting in a focussed way on the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection for another few weeks.
The encouragement to not rush too quickly from Easter is the encouragement to consider the daily blessing of the resurrection of Jesus.
I suspect that most Christians know that if Christ was not raised from the dead Christian faith is meaningless, afterall Paul said so in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19.
But if Paul hadn't written that verse, then would there be any reason to hang on to the doctrine of the resurrection? If you weren't able to appeal to 1 Corinthians 15:14-19, what would we say to answer the question, "why is Jesus' resurrection so important?"
One answer to the question is that the resurrection inaugurates the beginning of the new creation. Our salvation is essentially the gift of life through union with Christ. As Christ has been raised from death, so we 'in Christ' have been raised (Eph 2:5-6). By being united with the risen Christ we have become part of God's new creation (2 Cor 5:17). The wonderful news is that this new creation life is our present experience not just a future hope.
This is good news for anyone, but I think it's particularly important good news for teenagers wrestling with adolescence and the storms of life in a world that is toxic to Christian faith. The message, trust in Jesus and you'll go to heaven when you die can lose a lot of it's appeal when your culture is saying you're immortal and your brain is wired to think the same way (incomplete development of the frontal lobe is thought to inhibit long term planning in adolescents).
When the day-to-day reality of living as a Christian is experienced as missing out on the fun now with the promise of better fun later (which doesn't actually sound that fun, but at least it's better than hell), it's no wonder that many teenagers decide to give up on that sort of Jesus.
Easter life says otherwise. Yes, Easter life is about life after you die; but more than that it is about life before you die.
The power for holiness at work in God's people is nothing less than the power that was exerted in raising Jesus from the dead (Eph 1:19-20).
The reality of the Easter life is that the power of the risen Christ enables us now to live as members of the Kingdom of God and bring his rule to bear in the world. No longer part of the problem, in Christ and by the power of his resurrection we're set free to be those who live to bring God glory! Now that is something that actually deserves to be described as “Awesome!”
Our young people need to hear the good news that now, by the resurrection of Jesus, they are offered the gift of life as it was always meant to be lived. Yes it will be a life of self-denial (Mark 8:34) and a life of suffering (Philippians 1:29), the resurrected one is also the crucified; but his life shows that here is joy (Romans 5:3), and life itself (John 10:10).
Keep preaching Easter"”for the sake of our young people, and for the glory of Jesus.
