Today is Easter Sunday; the Sunday of all Sundays. The joy of this day is not just that Christ rose from the dead. Rather, it takes its full force from the fact that Christ was crucified and died. Without Good Friday, Easter Sunday will not be as powerful an event in history as it is. Such is life! Life comes with a combo of sorrow and joy like a bed of roses that is full of thorns and yet colorful and beautiful. Unfortunately, our need for comfort usually resents the thorns that adorn the roses.
Life would likely be very boring if there were no struggles and challenges to deal with, and obstacles to overcome. Carl Jung, a renowned psychologist, once observed that “Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness”. I believe that the winter season is what makes the summer season desirable, and if we have never tasted adversity it is difficult to appreciate prosperity.
So, the resurrection of Christ, seen in the context of His Crucifixion, holds a powerful message for us—how to look at and understand trials and tribulations. Many a time, we are tempted to deal with suffering with an attitude of apathy—a defeated acceptance of tribulations as God’s will. This kind of attitude stultifies initiative, kills creativity, and defeats hope. It is also not uncommon for us to encounter human suffering with an attitude of self-pity, as though our situation is the worse in the world. This type of attitude leads to anger and resentment. We miss out on the teachable moments in human tribulations, for it is through the experience of adversity that the soul is educated, will is strengthened, ambition is inspired, and success is achieved. As Scripture says, “Nothing has come upon you that is not common to the human race”. It is also not uncommon for many people to believe, like the friends of Job did, that our hardship is due to some sin that we have committed against God, thereby insinuating that past blessings were due to our good and holy behavior. This attitude minimizes the grace of God and leads to unnecessary self-recrimination and the development of an unholy and unworthy sense of self. Moreover, it disposes the mind, soul, and heart to feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and despair.
My friends the resurrection of Christ is an assurance that God’s hand will never cause His children a needless tear. It is God’s way of saying to us, that He has the power to counter the efforts of the devil to destroy our dreams, abort our anointing, pollute our blessings, and debase our being. It is God’s way of saying to me, that even if I should fall, He, God, will lend me a hand to help me stand up again, and therefore, that I should never lose hope, no matter how dark the road may seem, for there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Remember when the women were on their way to anoint the body of Jesus and they were wondering how the huge and heavy stone, that sealed the tomb of Jesus, would be moved, only for them to get there and the stone was already rolled over by two angels. Overcoming human adversity “is not by human power or might, but by the Spirit of the Lord.” Scripture says, “Cursed is the man whose hope is in the flesh, who finds strength in human beings. But blessed is the man whose hope is in the Lord.” The resurrection of Christ is God’s way of inviting us to trust that He is greater than our tribulation, if only we can believe and trust in Him. God is mine and I am His! Please repeat that to yourself and may you have a blessed Easter!
