Where Is Easter?

My cousin’s daughter was recently diagnosed with cancer weeks after she received a heart transplant. Wildfires burn in South Georgia. The war in Ukraine is in its fourth year. The conflict and uncertainty in Iran and the Middle East continue to have a global impact. Political division and violence fill the headlines. Over 25 million people in Sudan are facing crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity. And the list goes on and on…If you are anything like me, you may be wondering, “Where is Easter when we need it?” WARNING: You might not like what’s about to follow.

Stay with me for a second… many theologians describe our current period of salvation history as the “already not yet.” Put simply, the kingdom of God has “already” come through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but it has “not yet” fully come (and won’t until Christ comes again). We live in the in-between when all that is broken, evil, and sinful is colliding with all that is right, whole, and good.

Our world is convinced we can fix every headline if we have the right power: political, religious, financial, medical, technological, ideological, or militaristic. Surely, we can vote, believe, pay, inject, innovate, think, or bomb our way into a better world?

The hard truth… there is no Easter without emptiness, humility, suffering, and sacrifice. Tombs can’t become empty if they aren’t first occupied, and tombs can’t be occupied unless someone is willing to lay down their life.

The first Easter came because Jesus “did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross (Phil 2:6-8). And our world cannot experience other Easters unless we, the body of Christ are willing to do the same.

Our hearts, our families, our community, our nation, and our world need another Easter. The question Jesus is asking you and me, “Will you follow me from the manger, to the cross, and through the tomb?”

This fourth week of Eastertide it is my prayer that regardless of the cost we will each reply, “Wherever you lead I’ll go.”

Pastor Allen