He Lives!

This is the week. Holy Week. Passion Week. It is the week that we remember all that Jesus did in the final week of His life that makes it possible for us to enjoy eternal life. It is the week that we celebrate the greatest event in all of human history.

On Monday of the week of His death, we believe that Jesus cleared the Temple of those selling and trading animals for sacrifices. On Tuesday and Wednesday Jesus spent much time teaching His closest followers. On Thursday the Lord ate dinner with those same disciples, instituted the Lord’s’ Supper, went to the garden to pray, and was arrested.

And thus began the whirlwind of events that would lead to this day of celebration for us. He was tried, convicted, and put to death on the cross. His body was placed in a borrowed tomb, and His followers slinked away in despair. Jesus had talked to them about what was going to happen. But they simply did not believe. Their hope was gone.

But on Sunday morning, some of the women went to the gravesite to more properly prepare Jesus’ body for burial. And that’s when the fun began. His body was gone. Angels encountered the women and told them to go and tell the disciples what they had seen.

Then Peter and John went to the tomb and discovered the same thing. The body of Jesus was gone.

Soon Jesus would appear to them. Over the next 50 days He appeared to more than 500 different people (1 Corinthians 15:5). It was clear. The Lord and Savior who had died on the cross on Calvary’s hill was alive again.

There are those for whom this story seems far-fetched. I get it. It’s not every day a dead person wakes up. But I will say this as boldly and as carefully as I can. Jesus is alive, and if that is not true, then all of Christianity is a lie. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, and if He is not alive today, then our entire faith is a hoax. Again, Paul said so much in 1 Corinthians 15. But then he said, “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.”

And that is why we sing. That is why we celebrate. That is why we believe. “I serve a risen Savior. He’s in the world today.” And for that we give thanks and celebrate.