The Miracle of Easter
This Sunday is Easter, the day of the year we most intentionally celebrate and remember Christ’s resurrection. We will be taking a break from our series on Proverbs to focus on the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The word “gospel” means “good news”, and as Tim Keller has said, the story of Jesus is not good advice, but good news first and foremost. We talk about Christ’s death and resurrection all the time, even while studying a book of the Bible in the Old Testament. But when we focus on the message of the gospel, like at Easter, one of my favorite passages that most clearly expresses the essence of this good news (and also uses the word ‘gospel’ to do so) is in 1 Corinthians 15:1-10. Just a few lines from those verses summarize the essence of Paul’s message: “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you…that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day… and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter] then to the twelve. Then… to more than five hundred brothers at one time.”
The reason we are still talking about Jesus in 2025 is because He really did exist in year zero. He really did die and come back to life and there were many witnesses to testify to this good news. Those that struggle to believe in Jesus often get hung up on the resurrection. They often are willing to acknowledge He was a good guy with good ideas (i.e. “advice”) but dying and then coming back to life? That is often too much to accept.
However I heard a Papyri Expert (yes that is such a thing and I think I missed my calling) Wes Huff say recently that many who so quickly dismiss the miraculous, like the virgin birth of Christ, have no problem believing in the virgin birth of the universe (i.e., believing the universe somehow came about on its own without God). It seems like it would be a much easier sell to believe that one man came back to life versus all of existence somehow creating itself.
When we gather this Sunday, and every Sunday for that matter, we come to worship the God of the universe: The One who sent his Son to die and come back to life to pay the penalty for our sin so that we might have life, true life, in Christ. I thank God every day for giving me life and peace and hope and joy and meaning and purpose, for life abundant (John 10:10). Without Him I would be such a miserable wreck of a mess and unbearable to be around.
Thank you Jesus for being good news for our souls. Pray that many come to churches all over Louisville this weekend. Pray that many come hungry to meet Jesus and follow Him. I’m praying God would direct you to the people you can invite this weekend. Pray that God would be stirring in their hearts before you even approach them. Our prayer is for the South End of Louisville to be transformed by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!