The Hope of Easter

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.  For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him...for the The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. after that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the cloud to meet The Lord in the air.  And so we will be with The Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

The love Easter, I always have.  The resurrection and Christ's second coming is probably my most favorite thing to talk about and sing about.  Easter is what this whole Christian walk is all about.  It's where our human fraility meets our supernatural God.  That word, supernatural, sometimes scares church people, but no place more than Easter does that particular word more aptly describe God.  Webster's defines it this way:  departing from what is usual or normal, especially so as to appear to transcend the laws of nature.  Throughout the Bible, God gives us plenty of examples of this, creation, the flood, a talking donkey, parting of seas, fire from heaven, he even brought time to a stand still for a man named Joshua (Joshua 10:13) and turned back the clock for Hezekiah (2 King 20). Jesus turned water into wine, gave blind men sight, healed the sick, made the lame walk, and even raised people from the dead. He certainly "departed from what is usual or normal."  None more than at Easter do those supernatural acts of my supernatural God speak to my heart and all the more this year.  Everything, all my hope, hinges on that day, that event, that forever changed the sting and agony of death.
Losing Jake has been the hardest thing I have ever had to endure. It happened so very fast. One Sunday we were at church together and the next I was planning his funeral. The first month I was in a fog. I would not have gotten through without the help of my friends.  The nights remain the hardest.  Sobbing, alone into my pillow, there is very little comfort.  Nothing in life can prepare you for the lose of your child, it is not natural. It's the most horrific ache, deep down to the depths of your soul.  No words can soothe the pain.  Even knowing I will see Jake again, that he is safe in the arms of Christ does little to relieve the physical ache of missing him, hearing his voice, and seeing his infectious and contagious smile.  If not for Easter, I have no idea how I would go on.  I'm told by precious parents who have begun this journey ahead of me that the ache never goes away, but you learn to live with it.  That every moment is bittersweet, but laughter and happiness return.  I can already see glimmers of that even after only two months, so I believe them. Even on the hard days I still manage to find some joy.
A couple of years ago on Easter morning I sang with the choir at church the song "I Will Rise" by Chris Tomlin.  It was an amazing time of worship, one I will never forget.  Those words minister to me even more deeply now, as I can truly say, "there is a peace I've come to know, though my heart and flesh may fail.  There's an anchor for my soul, I can say it is well. Jesus has overcome and the grave is overwhelmed. The victory is won. He is risen from the dead. And I will rise when He calls my name. No more sorrow, no more pain. I will rise on eagles wings. Before my God fall on my knees. I will rise."
Another year I woke up early to have some quiet time before the chaos of having four little boys erupted. In the early morning hours of Easter, I was struck while reading the accounts of the resurrection that it was Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Solome, that were the first to encounter the empty tomb and to give testimony of the good news. I enjoyed all the more that year being able to share the words I have said on Easter's since I was a little girl, "He is risen!" Echoed back by "He is risen indeed, Hallelujah!"  It blesses my heart to see God's love for those women, for His provision and desire to comfort their broken hearts, to soothe the ache of their soul and give them the honor to be the first to witness His supernatural destruction and victory over death.  Women,especially moms, seem to empathize with one another over those deep loses.  I can imagine their conversations on the way to the tomb about how everyone was doing and feeling and then their eagerness to tell Jesus' family, especially His mother, that he was alive!
This year , added to my treasure box, are the words from Matthew 27:50-53.  "And when Jesus had cried out again, in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from the top to bottom.  The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  They came out of their tombs, and after Jesus's resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many people". I'm sure I have read and heard that section of scripture before, but having just witnessed so personally, death, those words seemed magnified to me.
Now that I have experienced and witnessed, first hand, that moment when the spirit and flesh separate, I stand in greater awe of this description of Jesus' death and the hope it embodies for all who believe and "sleep" in The Lord.  The amount of energy I felt as Jake's spirit separated from his body was tremendous.  My ear to his chest, I could hear the fibrillation of his heart and the surge of energy through his body as his spirit and flesh separated. I could physically feel his spirit leave.  I can only dared to imagine what that must have been like as the Spirit of God, himself, separated from the flesh and man of Jesus.  Fully God and fully man, enough force and power exerted to not only separate the two, but to course that energy down into the depths causing an earthquake powerful enough to tear the temple curtain in two, split rocks and shake the dead awake in their graves.  It hard to even fathom.
My hope does indeed hinge on the reality of Easter and the resurrection. "Where, O death is your victory?"  For those of us who live with the hope of Christ and who have endured loss from the death of a loved one, the victory of Christ is everything.  It is the hope and the promise that makes it possible for me to keep breathing in-spite of the pain. The sting of death will remain with me until that day that Christ calls me home and I can see Jake again. Sometime very soon, I believe, Christ will return and put an end to death once and for all. Until then I long for His coming and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.  The hope of Easter....He is risen, he is risen indeed! Hallelujah!