My Favorite Part About Easter

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What's your favorite part about Easter Sunday? I've seen talk on Facebook about new clothes, about dying Easter eggs, about re-enactments at church, and about Easter Egg Hunts. For me, the best part about Easter Sunday is when I see people for the first time that day and I get to say "He is risen!" and then they respond, "Hallelujah!" or "He is risen indeed!" Before the days of Facebook, I would text all my believing friends with this message and then over the next few hours I enjoyed the "beeps" that came back to me with the beautiful answers. My heart is full and I feel even a bit of excitement, like, "Wow, He really is risen! This is big! This is worth celebrating!"

This morning, as I read the Resurrection Story in Luke, I was struck by the timing of events. The first thing that happens is "very early in the morning" (v.1), then "when they came back from the tomb," (v. 9) and then "that same day" (v. 13) and when the day was "almost over" (v. 29). All day long the believers struggled. "They were wondering" (v. 4, 12), "they did not believe" (v. 11), their faces were "downcast" (v. 17) and "they talked and discussed these things with each other," (v. 15). It wasn't until Easter night that there was any real celebrating.

The two men who walked 7 miles to Emmaus arrived when the day was nearing its end. They ate dinner but then immediately returned to Jerusalem. That would have taken them a couple of hours. So it had to be the evening by the time they joined the eleven apostles and the others who were with them. Even then, when Jesus appeared and said, "Peace be with you," it took them a few minutes to receive that peace. They jumped in fear. They thought He was a ghost! Jesus showed them His hands and feet. And guess what, they still did not believe "because of joy and amazement." Those poor disciples had such a roller coaster day!

The disciples' sadness and then confusion and their struggle to believe something way too amazing to dare to believe, did not change the truth: Jesus was risen from the grave. That confusing First Easter is like our lives. Jesus has redeemed us, and we spend our days happy, sad, confused, we struggle with unbelief, we don't dare to believe something so joyful, so amazing, but all along the way it doesn't change the fact: Jesus is Risen. He has conquered the worst that can happen to us. How can we not trust Him with all the lesser things along the way?

Today I am so happy to smile and say, "He is risen" and I get excited all over again when I hear the response. But today I also remember that it wasn't until Easter Evening that Jesus' disciples really "got it." They wrestled with the facts, but it never changed the truth. And at the end of the day, Jesus Himself brought them peace. What a wonderful reason to celebrate.

He is risen indeed!