As a pastor, the Monday after Easter is a time of recovery for me. Resurrection Sunday is filled with high energy, excitement, stress, and incredible spiritual investment that often leaves me tired and exhausted. I need the Monday after Easter to allow my physical body to recuperate. It is an exciting time of the year, but there is a let down when it is all over.
I wonder if that is the challenge for other Christians as well. Through Lent we prepare our lives and our spirits to receive the power of the resurrection. Through Lent we repent of our sins and we invite God to restore us to a new relationship with Him. Easter is a celebration of this new life that only Jesus Christ can bring! But, when the day of celebration is over, there is a let down in spirit and focus and intentional living. The power of Easter comes in the way we live our lives after the resurrection, not just on Easter Sunday!
Luke 24:35-48 gives us a glimpse into the challenge that faced the disciples after the resurrection. They had met Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They actually saw the risen Christ!!! As they spoke of the Emmaus experience, Jesus came to them again. Remember, they had already seen Christ, yet they were frightened upon seeing Him again. They thought He was a ghost. Jesus challenged the doubts in their hearts and showed them His hands and feet again and proved His bodily resurrection when He ate some food they gave Him.
These disciples had witnessed the resurrection of Jesus first hand and still had doubts. They still had an Easter let down and did not fully understand and embrace what the resurrection meant for their lives. Then, Jesus opened their hearts and their understanding that they may come to know the Scriptures. After doing so, Jesus reminds them that they were witnesses to the life and purpose of Jesus.
Being a witness held certain responsibilities...to testify and continue to witness to the fact that Jesus was to suffer, rise from the dead, call others to repentance and remission of sins, and to share it with all nations. There is no let down to Easter. Easter gears us up, lifts us up, and strengthens us to share the good news of Jesus' life and message! It restores in us hope and courage to live our lives in such a way that we proclaim the power of Jesus' resurrection.
We can walk away from Easter with renewed peace, joy, hope and a firm sense of mission, which can affect our entire outlook on life. We become purpose-driven to win our world for Christ. Our whole image, how we appear and talk, our outlook and reaction to life will all be different and when people ask what's happened to us, we can answer: "Easter happened, that's what!"
Holy God, in the days after Easter, reveal Yourself to me. Embolden me to live my life with the power of resurrection flowing through my heart and manifesting itself in the way I serve You. May my life be a testimony, a witness, to the way You have raised my life to live in a hope, peace, and grace that is beyond compare. In the name of Jesus, the risen Christ! Amen.
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