He is Risen!
By Brent Davis, Campus Ministry Coordinator
This Sunday we celebrate Easter, the most exciting day of the year. What makes this day more exciting than getting married, having a baby, Mother’s Day, election day, the Super Bowl, or my birthday? What makes a day special? When there is an important change, or we recognize someone’s contribution/existence that is special. On Easter, there was an important change; someone made an important contribution! Spoiler alert: it was not the Easter Bunny delivering colored eggs.
On Easter, we celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection. St. Paul explained to the Corinthians the significance of this event:
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.
21 So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. 22 Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. 23 But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.
24 After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. 25 For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. 26 And the last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For the Scriptures say, “God has put all things under his authority.”[e] (Of course, when it says “all things are under his authority,” that does not include God himself, who gave Christ his authority.) 28 Then, when all things are under his authority, the Son will put himself under God’s authority, so that God, who gave his Son authority over all things, will be utterly supreme over everything everywhere. (1 Corinthians 15)
Your sins forgiven, and new life in the Kingdom of God. What more could you ask for? This is better than winning a bazillion dollars in the lottery! This is better than being elected President of the World. This is better than …. That’s why Easter is the most exciting day, ever.
