Once a year, the church was packed—even at seven in the morning.
The first church I pastored had an Easter tradition. Sunrise service at the crack of dawn, breakfast, Sunday school, and then nothing for the rest of the day. Sunrise services are for the brave at heart. But things were different here. Almost everyone in the community attended, including Moms and Dads with small children. They had shopped the previous day, and all the little ones were dressed in their Easter finery.
Decades later, things have changed a little. One year, I attended a community sunrise service. Most who came were middle-aged and senior adults. Very few kids. But the dressing up hadn’t changed. It was evident that some had shopped for clothes for themselves and their children.
I thought about how different this must be from the first Easter. It was a grueling time. Jesus had been betrayed by those who once had sung His praises. After a series of illegal trials, He was taken before Pilate, the Roman ruler, who had to give the Jews authority to crucify Him. After being sent to Herod, He was returned to Pilate, who finally gave in to their demands.
Mockers and followers watched as Jesus hung on the cross and then died. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, the nocturnal visitor, asked for His body and placed it in a tomb. But on the first day of the week, when some women returned to finish preparing His body for its final resting, the tomb was empty (Luke 24:3). The one they looked for was gone.
Easter isn’t about buying new clothes, getting together with family, or making an annual trip to church. It is about some cardinal truths. The apostle Paul says our faith hinges on the validity of the empty tomb. Easter is about the Resurrection.
It was the Resurrection that convinced atheist reporter Lee Strobel to become a Christian. Easter is about a death—a special death. The death of a sinless person who paid the world’s sin debt. Easter is about the burial of a dead person, not a fainting one. And Easter is about an empty tomb. Not because someone had stolen Jesus’ body, but because He accomplished what He said He would: rose from the grave.
Let the message of Easter change your life.
Martin Wiles lives in Greenwood, SC, and is the founder of the internationally recognized website, Love Lines from God. He is a freelance editor, English teacher, pastor, and author. He serves as Managing Editor for both Christian Devotions and Vinewords.net and is an instructor for the Christian PEN (professional editors’ network). Wiles is a multi-published author. His most recent book, Hurt, Hope and Healing: 52 Devotions That Will Lead to Spiritual Health, is available on Amazon. He and his wife are parents of two and grandparents of seven. He can be contacted at [email protected].