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After the Resurrection

Yesterday the Christian world (in the broadest sense of the term) celebrated Easter, or “Resurrection Day” as it is commonly called. And while Biblically speaking every Sunday is “Resurrection Day,” it is commendable that so many wish to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, even if just once a year. I heard a statistic that church attendance jumps from about 43% of the general U.S. population on any given Sunday to 65% on Easter. I was surprised at the 43% figure more than the 65%. I didn’t think that many people went to church on a regular basis. But according to George Barna, who has been doing church participation surveys since 1984, such information is increasingly difficult to measure anyway, since there are so many ways people do “church” nowadays (e.g., conventional church, house churches, marketplace ministries, cyberchurches, etc). So I wonder how many of those just “went to church” via the internet. Regardless of the percentages, that such a large portion of the world focused on the resurrection of Jesus Christ for one brief day, and that so many people felt it was important enough to give up at least that one morning to express their faith in the living Christ, is significant. His death is what would draw all men to him (Jn 12.32-33), but his resurrection gives his death substance and meaning. It was the crowning miracle of his life, and it is the basis of our hope (1 Cor 15).

Ah, but that was yesterday, and today is Monday, the day after “Resurrection Day.” People are going on with their lives, and many of those in church yesterday will not darken the doors of a church building again for another year (except perhaps at Christmas). Jesus is already forgotten amidst the daily grind of life. Of all those who celebrated yesterday, was anyone truly transformed by the event? When we look at the Biblical account of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, what do we see afterward? After encountering Jesus Christ raised from the dead, what impact did it have on the who encountered him?

The list of those present in Acts 1.12-14, after the resurrected Jesus’ final days on earth, gives us a hint. There, for example, we see Peter who had earlier denied Jesus. There’s the skeptical Thomas who refused to believe until he saw with his own eyes. In fact, you have the entire twelve (minus Judas), all of whom had scattered. You also have the women, including Jesus’ mother. And perhaps most significant of all, you have his brothers who had shown only mocking disbelief prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection (Jn7.1-5). There are 120 present in all, which may well have included those such as the two despairing men Jesus met on the road to Emmaus. What is significant is not simply that these were all present at Jesus’ resurrection, but how they were all changed. Never again do you see the fear, the skeptical disbelief, or the sense of despair that was exhibited by them prior to witnessing Jesus raised. Nor do you see the bickering and childish maneuvering for position such as that seen earlier in the twelve. These men and women were transformed. They were changed. They were different. They saw Jesus raised, and they were never the same again. If you encountered the “resurrected Jesus” yesterday, how are you changed today? On the day after “resurrection day,” are you any different? If not, you need not wait an entire year for it come around again, for every Sunday is resurrection day. For that matter, the living Jesus can be encountered on any given day and every day, for he ever lives to forever change our lives.