Easter people in a Good Friday world.

From After Easter by Scott Savage on Youversion

Have you ever noticed that Christmas is a much bigger deal than Easter? It feels like it’s the Christmas season for weeks and weeks. For months, our energy and preparation carried us towards this celebration.

However, Easter can feel like just a day. Without the same preparation and expectation, Easter cannot compete with Christmas. When Easter is over, I sometimes ask myself, “Is that it? I thought there was going to be more.”

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

‭John 20:1-9 ESV‬

Easter is over. So, now what?

The first disciples of Jesus also experienced an expectation gap. Yet, their gap is far different than ours. While we expected a big deal from Easter Sunday, the disciples didn’t expect anything. A few women went to the tomb to finish caring for the dead body of Jesus, and the 11 apostles didn’t even go anywhere near it, still reeling with grief and disappointment.

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

‭Matthew 16:21 ESV‬

The first followers of Jesus didn’t expect resurrection, but they should have. Jesus told them in Matthew 16 that He must go to Jerusalem, be killed and raised on the third day. However, because they didn’t expect it, they didn’t go to the tomb looking to experience it.

Now, you might go to church on Easter Sunday or open up this reading plan, expecting to find someone talking about resurrection. But, do you expect resurrection when you go to work?When you sit down with a friend? When you get out of bed in the morning? Many of us believe in Jesus’ resurrection, but we don’t believe that power is still at work in the world today.

What does it look like to expect resurrection? Resurrection is the hope that out of death, life can emerge.

If you’ve experienced betrayal or relationship wounds, expecting resurrection might look like trusting someone enough to let them in. If you’ve lost a job, a business, or a dream, expecting resurrection is choosing to get your hopes up and dreaming again. If you’ve written someone off because they’ve disappointed you, been stubborn, not got it, or ridiculed you for your perspective, expecting resurrection is watching them change their perspective and posture towards you.

If you’ve encountered a broken, twisted, and heart-wrenching corner of the world, what if you kept believing in life and working for beauty, justice, and love?

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

‭Romans 8:11 ESV‬

When we experience resurrection, we can become resurrection people. We can become people who believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Because we have experienced resurrection personally, we should now live looking for and working towards resurrection.

The Apostle Paul went even further than just working towards resurrection. He said that the same power that resurrected Jesus is now at work in us. You are probably aware of blood pumping through your veins and arteries. But have you considered that resurrection power is also at work in you?

Years ago, Barbara Johnson wrote that “we are Easter people in a Good Friday world.” In a world marked by death and darkness, hate and anger, and disappointment and grief, we can live as resurrection people. We can be people of life and light who respond with love and peace. We can be people who’ve been healed and made whole.

Over the next few days, I will help you discover how to live as a resurrection person by following the pattern of the first disciples of Jesus. Easter may be over, but we’re just beginning to understand and experience the power of the resurrection of Jesus.