Deal or No Deal

Easter is my third favorite holiday.  It’s not that I dislike Easter, but it’s hard to compete with two holidays that center around belt-loosening eating, football, and free stuff.  That said, this year I caught myself wondering why the story of Easter has become so boring to me.  To a Christian minister, “Easter apathy” is a bigger problem than food preference and presents.

Easter Sunday 2012 looked exactly like it did in 1988, 2011, and all of the years in between.  I woke up, put on my seer sucker and tore off to church.  Armed with my dapper wardrobe, Sunday smile, and leather bound Bible, I fit the part.  You would’ve never guessed it, but sitting in the pew that Sunday I wondered, “Do I really believe this stuff?”

That was really scary for me. 

For those of us who like a southern, buffet-style religion, the life of Jesus seems pretty palatable.  Yeah, he certainly said some difficult things, but weren’t those comments always directed towards the rich and proud?  He seemed to like the poor, weak, and insecure.  Don’t all of us connect with that?  In fact, when I think about it, I’m pretty thankful for Jesus.  He lived for our success, right?  I browse the buffet of his teachings and pick out the pieces that I like best.  Yep, he taught us a lot of good lessons – and we’re pretty thankful for those.

But wait, there’s more! Not only does he seem like a savvy fellow, history also tells us that Jesus died for something he believed.  We place Jesus somewhere between William Wallace, Maximus Decimus Meridius, and Dumbledore.  All of these guys died for something they believed in – and all of them were awesome.  To most of us, that’s a great stopping point for our spirituality: a man lived, he believed in something, he died, and now he’s famous. 

But the Bible doesn’t stop there.  It tells us that Jesus rose from the dead. 

Hold on.  We just crossed over from Braveheart to Dawn of the Dead. 

Now, I’ll certainly “smile and nod” at the general idea of the resurrection.  I might even dress up for it, but I’m not sure that I really, practically, believe it.  I’m not sure if I can stake my life, my passions, my Friday nights, and 4^th period English on this “zombie story.”

Believe it or not, you and I aren’t the first people to ever wrestle with this question.  The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15 explains the importance of the resurrection.  In verse 4, Paul basically tells the Church in Corinth, “If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, go ahead and disregard everything else we’ve said about him.”  Regardless, shut down the buffet and take away the menus.  According to Paul, there is only one option. Take it or leave it.  Deal or no deal.

See, the actual, historical, resurrection is pivotal to Christianity.  It absolutely is not a few fairy tales with a moral lesson.  Believe it or not, Jesus wasn’t focused on my personal success.

If all of this is really true - if a God-man really did condescend to our tiny planet in order that he might do what we couldn’t – shouldn’t that change my life?  And if we really believe this Jesus literally rose from the dead - if we believe he defied physics, anatomy, and time - doesn’t that change everything?  Logically, wouldn’t true belief in this create in me an unquenchable, irresistible, eternal passion? 

Real belief in Jesus changes my Easter, but it also changes everything about the other 364 days of the year.  Like a contact lens over a clouded eye, the implications of Easter shift our focus.  Life now has purpose, and death loses its sting.  Our quest to appease others, ourselves and the Almighty concludes in the resurrection of Jesus.  It’s much greater, much more filling than a religious buffet.  Real resurrection inspires real belief.  Real, vibrant, Biblical-based Christianity doesn’t suck the life out of people- it gives them life.  Christianity is not a formula for success.  Those never work.  Rather, the Christian's life is compelled by the resurrection of Jesus like a river is constrained by the towering canyon around it.  The river is simply being what it is.  It is the force of the canyon that transforms a current-less flow into an overwhelming rapid.  So, my question is simple - do you really believe in Easter?  Does your belief compel your life?  It’s a good question - really.