Life Abundant!
Easter has come, and Easter has gone!
Through six weeks of Lent and through the services of Holy Week, we finally arrived at Easter morning, rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus! Easter is, after all, the high point of the church year, the foundation for our faith in Christ, the reason why we believe what we believe. Easter is why we rejoice as Christians. Jesus has risen from the dead, and we are forgiven and too will rise!
But now … Easter is over. Life has returned to normal. We have returned back to our regular routines and rhythms, back to school, back to work, back to everyday family life. Easter has come, and Easter has gone. While Easter is exciting and full of joy, it is hard to maintain that joy and excitement when we return to the mundane tasks, chores, and errands of our busy lives.
Yet the reality of Easter-Jesus’ resurrection-continues to be present with us even when we are no longer experiencing the joy of Easter Sunday. For Christ does not just come to us in the joys of life. He comes to in the lows of life, and He comes to us in the everyday things of life.
Jesus declared in John 10:10 that He came to give His disciples life that they may life it abundantly. Jesus has given us His resurrected life. By faith, we have Jesus’ life and the forgiveness and salvation that comes from it. This means we still have the joy of Easter even when Easter Sunday has passed us by, even when we experience the hardships of this life, even when we return to the routines of schedules, homework, commutes, and so on. And the thing is, we still have Jesus’ abundant life in even in the regular and mundane tasks of life.
Jesus has given us His abundant life. Therefore, the forgiveness and salvation and eternal life that Jesus has given us gives shape to how we engage the everyday things of life! We have Jesus’ abundant life, even when we are driving to work. We have Jesus’ resurrected life, even when we are sitting in the classroom. We have the life of Christ within us, even when we are preparing (again) dinner for our families. Jesus’s abundant and resurrected life is with us each and every day. And because of that, even in mundane life, we can rejoice.
More than that, because He has given us His abundant life through faith in Him, He, in turn, can give that abundant life to others, as we give our faith away! How does that gift to others happen? Well, actually as we tell the others the Good News about Jesus, His perfect life, suffering, death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit can work that faith and abundant life to those who listen and by the Spirit’s working believe in Jesus! As the evangelism leaders of the LCMS have said it, “We get to tell them!” With John 10:10 and the abundant life of Easter in mind, I might add, “We get to give His life away!”
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
