Easter Is Not Cancelled

All across the globe people are feeling the crunch of quarantine. For our good, we have to be apart from one another. This means in restaurants, stores, businesses, & and yes, even churches, we can’t be together. Some people are taking this better than others. For some, it’s inconvenient, to some, it’s total galactic devastation. I see both sides. But let’s focus in close for a minute on Easter.

Christ was perfect. He didn’t cheat anybody, lie, cuss, show jealousy, favoritism, or even have one sinful thought. He had to perfect, or his sacrifice wouldn’t work. Gods wrath demanded righteousness and we could not make the cut. So Jesus would be the one. 2 Cor. 5:21 “For he made him who knew no sin to be made sin for us that we might become the righteous of God in him.”

So he willingly went to the cross while almost everybody around him left. He died alone. Nobody else could do this, only Jesus. He knew the grave was his destiny, yet he washed his follower’s feet, taught them, loved them, forgave them, knowing they would never be able to return the favor. But these acts of love and leadership were not favors, they were gifts.

So like the old hymn, “low in the grave he lay, Jesus my savior, waiting the coming day, Jesus my lord.” Then on the first Easter Sunday morning, with no pretty dresses or hats, no handsome boys with bow ties or suspenders, no chocolate bunny’s or little yellow chicks, not even a basket with Easter eggs to hunt, and yes, with no elaborately planned Easter church services, “Up from the grave He arose! With a mighty triumph o’re his foes! He arose the victor o’re the dark domain, and He lives for ever with the saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose!” No, Easter is not canceled! No, April 12, 2020 will not go down as the same old Easter that we all remember from our childhood. No, this will never be normal, but yes, God so loved the world enough that He would send His only son, John 3:16. Yes, Jesus loved you enough to give His life for yours, 2 Cor. 5:21. Yes, He rose again on the first Easter Sunday morning. Yes, though it will be different this year, Easter is not cancelled! Yes, his grave is still empty, and yes Jesus is alive!