Christ's Influence on the World via St. Patrick

Resurrection: The Dramatic Difference

3/27/2013

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03-28-13 Resurrection: The Dramatic Difference

I often wonder about death. This could be that an end to any part of the prototypical man, death, was not on the board. Death was given as a release from the bondage of the physical due to the sin of the spirit. We believe, based on the Bible, that trust in Christ sets both spirit and flesh on the course of total redemption of body, soul and spirit as per numerous passages, most prominent to me 1 Corinthians 15.

The resurrection body of Christ is of flesh and bone as He said, Luke 24:39, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”

Commenting on Christ’s resurrection Augustine wrote, “I don’t care to inquire why they cannot believe an earthly body can be in heaven, while the whole earth is suspended on nothing.”

Phillips Brookes, who gave us O Little Town of Bethlehem, also blessed us with this piece:

“Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;
Death is strong, but Life is stronger;
Stronger than the dark, the light;
Stronger than the wrong, the right...”
~Phillips Brooks, An Easter Carol

When the resurrection of Christ breaks in all its truth upon our stony heart, we are flooded with a courage that cannot be stifled. You may have your Easter Bunnies, I will take Christ walking out of the tomb.

Copyright © 2013 Larry Lilly

2 Comments

Oral Deckard link

3/27/2013 10:53:12 pm

That sounds a lot like "As for me and my house, we shall serve The Lord."

That's rational. But to the contemporary mind, who need eternal life when you can have bunnies and candy eggs instead?

But as successful as the enemies of Christ have been co-opting the holey days and providing our children with fun and sweet counterfeits, what have we provided at the children's level?

Telling a child about eternal life, when they already think that 60 years is forever anyway, may not be very captivating. The story of the resurrection is a very serious subject, not really comprehensible to the adult mind. But fun and candy are readily comprehensible to a child.

And so we co-opt back, providing the children an Easter Egg hunt at church. And that usually consists of them being taken out to hung the eggs so they don't have to sit through the resurrection story.

The co-opting back might be an excellent plan, if it included re-establishing the resurrection as the central purpose of Easter. But instead churches usually leave the two presentations of Easter as oil and water, simply because that is the path of least resistance, requiring minimal effort.

Seeing Easter converted to rabbits and eggs is rather repulsive. But to many children, they still know about Easter because of it, where they might not otherwise, so it is not totally counterproductive.

But given a little more time, we may soon hear of The Spring Holiday, as Christ Mas has become known as The Winter Holiday.

NOW try to reach a child growing up in that culture. Anyone want to bring The Spring Holiday into the church?

Last Sunday the children at my church were involved in the Easter story, hearing it from their Sunday School teachers, then handing out palm fronds to the adults in the sanctuary. It was beautiful!

Easter will mean more to these children than just the co-opted secular view. And all it took was caring enough to try.

I don't mind of churches incorporate rabbits and eggs, as long as they do something to seriously connect Christ's resurrection to Easter on a level that children can comprehend.

David link

3/28/2013 02:59:50 am

Thanks for another fantastic article that causes us to think. This is a missing art in today's society. We want the easy road. Christ did not take the easy road when He went to the cross and died in my (our) place and I need not think that I will get the easy road either. Oh, I want the easy road; but, as someone said, "If the mountain was smooth you could not climb it."

Resurrection: The Dramatic Difference

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