From Forward Day by Day
Luke 24:11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
We might scoff at the apostles for thinking Jesus’ resurrection was an “idle tale.” Once people die, they stay dead. That’s how the world works. So if someone told me that a dead person had come to life again, I’d think they were crazy.
The radical claim of Easter is sometimes lost amidst all the flowers, the dresses, the beloved hymns, the family rituals, and the thrill of a full church. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, but it obscures the thing we celebrate. Jesus was dead, stone-cold dead. Heart stopped. No breathing. And then he was alive again, showing forth God’s love in new ways.
If we aren’t overwhelmed by Easter, we aren’t taking it seriously. If we take Easter seriously, it will rattle our very understanding of reality. Easter celebrates the astounding claim that God’s love is stronger than the power of empire, stronger than heavy stones, stronger than our greatest fears, and stronger even than death.
