This year is different. It is the first time that I’ve prepared to celebrate Easter when the foundations of “normal” are lying in ruins and the future feels ominous and threatening. How do we celebrate in the midst of chaos when it feels more like Good Friday? How do Palestinian Christians celebrate resurrection when their homes are destroyed, their families have been killed and the bombs continue to drop? They pray for deliverance and survival. How do families declare ‘He is risen!’ while their loved ones are taken away in chains and locked away in dungeons? They hold one another close and light candles. Easter does not remove grief and pain. Easter begins in the early morning while it is still dark. Others have navigated this difficult terrain and climbed this mountain, but it is new territory for me.
What I’ve learned from others is that this Easter does not change our circumstances. There may be a 30-hour ceasefire in Ukraine for Easter but the weapons of war are armed and ready for deployment at midnight. (What a travesty!) The Empire is still the Empire. The powers and principalities are still conspiring to destroy all that is good and right. The forces of evil are still at work in the world, delivering death and destruction.
Easter does not change our reality, but it has the power shift our focus. Resurrection morning reminds us that God will not allow evil and empire to have the final word. It shows us that God will not abandon us to the principalities and powers.. It demonstrates that God’s “new day” has broken through the darkness and that the seed of the new creation has taken root. One day, all things will be made new. One day, the glory will come and we will be free. One day, God’s justice will reign forever and ever. This is our statement of faith–declared boldly and courageously in the face all that is unholy and unjust.
This resurrection focus–this resurrection hope–gives us the resilience to stand firm and not give up. Jesus told his disciples, “In this world, we have trials and tribulations, but take heart, I have overcome the world.” And we shall overcome by faith.
I leave you with a sermon, preached by S. M. Lockridge, who served as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, CA, from 1953 to 1993.
It’s Friday
Jesus is praying
Peter’s a sleeping
Judas is betraying
But Sunday’s comin’!
It’s Friday
Pilate’s struggling
The council is conspiring
The crowd is vilifying
They don’t even know
That Sunday’s comin’!
It’s Friday
The disciples are running
Like sheep without a shepherd
Mary’s crying
Peter is denying
But they don’t know
That Sunday’s a comin’!
It’s Friday
The Romans beat my Jesus
They robe him in scarlet
They crown him with thorns
But they don’t know
That Sunday’s comin’!
It’s Friday
See Jesus walking to Calvary
His blood dripping
His body stumbling
And his spirit’s burdened
But you see, it’s only Friday
Sunday’s comin’!
It’s Friday
The world’s winning
People are sinning
And evil’s grinning.
It’s Friday
The soldiers nail my Savior’s hands
To the cross
They nail my Savior’s feet
To the cross
And then they raise him up
Next to criminals.
It’s Friday
But let me tell you something
Sunday’s comin’!
It’s Friday
The disciples are questioning
What has happened to their King
And the Pharisees are celebrating
That their scheming
Has been achieved
But they don’t know
It’s only Friday
Sunday’s comin’!
It’s Friday
He’s hanging on the cross
Feeling forsaken by his Father
Left alone and dying
Can nobody save him?
Ooooh It’s Friday
But Sunday’s comin’!
It’s Friday
The earth trembles
The sky grows dark
My King yields his spirit.
It’s Friday
Hope is lost
Death has won
Sin has conquered
and Satan’s just a laughin’.
It’s Friday
Jesus is buried
A soldier stands guard
And a rock is rolled into place.
But it’s Friday, It is only Friday.
Sunday is a comin’!
We are living in Friday, but Sunday is a comin’! Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer (Roman 12:12) SUNDAY IS COMING. SUNDAY HAS DAWNED.
Tongue on Fire 