Today is the day we celebrate the crux of Christianity, that Jesus is risen! I've been trying to get around to writing a blog on this topic all day, but I've simultaneously been sicker than a dog so I've mostly stayed in bed all day and felt sorry for myself. To give you an idea of just how sick I've been, I've lost 6 pounds in 24 hours so far, and that's without a special diet! It seems like it's malaria flaring up again, which isn't cool at all but oh well. Some people have pinched nerves that flare up every once in a while, others of us have malaria. What are you going to do?
Anyways, back to reflections on Easter. This is the day that we celebrate the rising of Jesus from the dead. Sometimes I struggle with this concept. Some people say you just need to have faith. There are several books defending the resurrection, some of which I've read and some I haven't, but they do help with certain doubts that I've had in the past. At some point, though, it is a step of faith. This is where atheists say we're way off base, but I would argue it takes just as much faith to say we came from monkeys or fish or whatever the newest thing they're going to say we came from happens to be at any given time. Everyone has faith in something, I would just rather put my faith in a Creator God who knows infinitely more than I do.
What difference does the resurrection make today? If it's true, than it changes everything. If it's untrue, than we're all hopeless and might as well give up now. God has placed eternity into the hearts of man. That thing that longs for something more within you? That still small voice that says there has to be more to life than what you're currently experiencing? What do you think that's from? You just came up with it on your own? I dare say that is the Holy Spirit whispering to you that you're right, there is more that this life has to offer. That there is a better way, one that involves losing your life to gain it.
We are fallen creatures, to be sure. Even atheists and agnostics will acknowledge that there is something terribly wrong in today's world. Something I've never understood before is how my non-believing friends can pour their hearts into some work in one field or another. If it truly doesn't matter what you do in this life since there is no life afterwards, than why put forth so much effort in this one?
Mother Theresa is quoted as saying something along the lines of 'in the faces of the poor is where we see Jesus in His most distressing disguises.' With this in mind, I'm pretty sure I saw Jesus a while back. He was disguised as a homeless woman who approached me at Walmart and wanted to talk about Christians. It rattled me to the core. She was saying how some people just want to worship but what about taking in your brothers and sisters in Christ into your home to help them get back on their feet? I remember coming up with some lame answer as to why I couldn't host her that night. It has stuck with me ever since. Jesus in His most distressing disguises, to be sure. She asked me that if we were to go to heaven eventually and worship together for eternity, why didn't fellow believers even acknowledge her existence on earth, in the right here and now? Ouch, right?
So, why'd Jesus bother dying on a Christ, and then rose again? Why was it necessary for an innocent man to die a criminal's death? In my limited understanding of the subject, His death was offered as a substitute for the penalty that we all owe God for our sin. One of my favorite arguments is from people who say they're a good person, so they don't need Christ. You're a good person, according to whom and compared to whom? Well, I'm not Hitler. Well, you're not Mother Theresa or Nelson Mandela either, are you? No one will be able to stand before a righteous God when it's all said and done without a substitute to stand in their place. If God is infinitely holy and pure, than He cannot stand sin in His sight. That's why Jesus came, to cover our sin and iniquity so that God views us as holy and blameless when He sees us because we're covered by the blood of the lamb.
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