Easter 2015

Easter 2014 (Mark 16:1-8)

“He is not here; he has been raised.”

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Christian Faith.  The resurrection is the key to understanding who we are, who God is and what God wants of us.

On the cross, Jesus died for human sin. He just didn’t die a tragic death as a martyr for a cause. He died as the one pure perfect and final sacrifice for sin. He died to transform sin back into virtue. He experienced the death of every human being who has ever lived and will ever live. He experienced the abomination of desolation which is final separation from light and life and love.

Jesus experienced sin and death so he could transform sin and death by the power of infinite and eternal love.

Because Jesus is fully human Jesus died for all of humanity, no one excluded. He died for you personally and individually. And, because Jesus is fully God he absorbed the pride and despair of humanity’s choice to separate from God so he could transform it back into the original pattern of humanity.

The original pattern of humanity is defined by the three fold pattern of love. That threefold pattern is love of God through worship on the seventh day, love of other people through acts of kindness and compassion, and love of self by walking through life in the transforming friendship of the Beloved Son of God.

In the resurrection God the Father resets the pattern of humanity in Jesus. In the resurrection God the Holy Spirit empowers all of us and each of us to reboot our basic patterns of existence into the new life of Jesus Christ.

The essence of that new life is abundance.

In the resurrection, Jesus does all of the work to transform sin and death back into virtue and life. He accomplishes this amazing act by love. Divine love. Infinite and eternal love. Unconditional love. Love is the meaning and purpose of human existence. Only love brings life. And, the life it brings is eternal.

Jesus died and rose again to give abundant life to everyone on this planet. The reason is his great love for us. The activating principle of love is choice. Will you today make a real choice to receive the gift of the risen Lord Jesus Christ?

Will you today make the real choice to live and move and have your being in friendship with Jesus Christ? Will you affirm you confidence and trust in Jesus as the personal real presence of God here and now, for everyone and for you in the Easter acclamation:

Alleluia Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.