Easter- what it means

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Good morning and welcome to the Easter celebration of Valley View Community Church! We're so glad you're hear today as Christ followers all over the world gather to celebrate that the tomb is empty, Jesus is alive, and God's dream to rescue this world, reverse the curse and make all things new has already begun. This is a great day!

Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ who miraculously came back to life from the dead. He was executed on a Roman cross, buried in a borrowed tomb, and three days later he was seen walking and talking and eating with his friends with a heartbeat and pulse very much alive.

This week I read about a pastor who was really concerned that the kids in his church didn't know what Easter was about so he went into the fourth grade classroom and asked a girl named Susie, "When's Easter and what happens on that day?"

And Susie said, "Well, Easter's in the fall and that's when we dress up in costumes and go out trick-or-treating."

And he thought to himself, "Oh no, we've got a problem." So he went to another child named Jimmy and asked him the same question. And Jimmy said, "Well, Easter's in the winter and we put up a tree and decorate it and get lots of presents." Then he said, "Why are you asking me? You should know when Easter is you're the pastor!"

Well now he was really worried so he went up to Bobby and he thought if anyone's going to know when Easter is it's going to be Bobby. So he prayed and said, "Bobby, when's Easter and what happens on that day?" Bobby said, "Oh, that's easy. Easter is in the spring and that's when Jesus came out of the grave."

And the pastor said, "Yes! Thank you God, at least somebody gets it." And as he was turning around to leave the room Bobby said, "Yea, and if hesees his shadow, he goes back, and we have another six more weeks of winter!"

Read my lips. Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's always in the spring and he never went back into the tomb! But Easter is more than that. It's more than a historical event that we look back to. It's also a future event that we look forward to.

Easter is about the resurrection of our bodies someday and of all those who believe that Jesus is the rescuer, the savior of this world, the hero of God's great story, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In other words, what happened to Jesus 2,000 years ago will one day happen to all of us who believe in him. We will come back to life again from the dead. We will be resurrected like Jesus and receive a glorified body like he had after he came out of the tomb. That's the hope we cherish as Christ followers. But Easter is more than that.

Easter is about the resurrection of the entire universe that one day will be set free from the bondage of sin and suffering and sickness and death and poverty and pollution and prejudice and hatred and war and AIDS and injustice and tornados and floods and tsunamis and terrorism and random acts of violence and all the other expressions of evil in this world that grieve us every single day.

And our resurrection and the resurrection of all creation will happen when the risen Christ returns to set up his kingdom on this earth that will last forever.

But believe it or not Easter means more than even that. Easter is more than a historical event that we look back to and more than a future event that we look forward to. The impact of Easter is happening all around us and inside us right now.

Easter is about the transformation of our lives and that is an ongoing process that God is up to every single day.

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old is gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17

When we put our faith in the risen Christ we become new creations of God and the transformation process begins. We don't get our resurrection body right away. That will come later. But we do get the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that that body is on its way. And the Holy Spirit is in the process of transforming us into men and women who think and act and live like Jesus. And none of that would be possible apart from Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. A dead Jesus couldn't pull that off, but living one can.

By Bruce Carter