Resurrection Matters
Photo Courtesy of Lewis Center for Church Leadership
Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen.
– Luke 24:5b (NRSVUE)
Beloved,
I greet you in the name and with the love of Jesus who is the Christ. On this holy day, we gather with millions around the world in celebrating the risen Savior. Today, we rejoice in the great reversal, where death did not have the final word, and what looked like the end was only the beginning. The same Jesus whom the powers of this world tried to silence, to crush, and to destroy, God raised up in power and in glory.
What we celebrate today is greater than a one-time miracle; it is a living hope. From that day until now, the power and grace of God have continued to move, bringing life from death, turning endings into beginnings, and lifting those crushed by life.
We need to reclaim that living hope. Today, we face challenges not unlike those faced by the disciples whom Jesus visited on that first Easter Sunday. Just like those first disciples, we too know what it means to be afraid. We know what it feels like to be shut in, to be uncertain, to be overwhelmed. We see violence, we hear the rumors of war, and we feel the weight of systems that seek to oppress and diminish.
On this holy day, we remember that what we see is not the whole story. Easter calls us to lift our eyes beyond what we see and to anchor ourselves in what God has already done. All that seeks to oppress, diminish, and destroy has already been defeated. Even in the midst of brokenness, there is a deeper wholeness that God is bringing forth.
The love and power of our Risen Lord will continue to do what it always does. Show up in locked rooms, speak peace to anxious hearts, and invite us to draw near and receive once more the Holy Spirit.
So my prayer for us today, on this Easter Sunday, is that we would receive the gift of resurrection once more. That we would come just as we are, with our fears, our doubts, our questions, even our cynicism and draw near to Christ, and receive both peace and the Holy Spirit.
And then, beloved, filled with the Holy Spirit, that we would go and love boldly, go and serve joyfully, go and lead courageously, in our local communities and to all the places to which Christ sends us.
Beloved, what we see is not the whole story. The same power that raised Jesus from the grave is alive in us, and that is good news.
Moore-Koikoi teaser
Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi leads the Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey Conferences of The United Methodist Church.