Making All Things New...

The timing is always perfect. Just as trees and flowers begin to bud, plants begin to grow, and the grip of a Minnesota winter finally breaks, we celebrate life: Easter! The Resurrection of Jesus! Here’s what Easter is not: It is not an observance of some mystical “spiritual” renewal. It is not a [politically correct] “Spring Holiday.” It is a First-Century historical event, but the reason we celebrate Easter is because Jesus proclaims, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25)

The cross is a widely held symbol of Easter. Churches of all denominations draw on it’s meaning. The cross is where Jesus was put to death. His hands and feet nailed to it. People actually watched as he slowly suffered and finally died there. And to make sure He was indeed dead, the executioners sliced open His side with a spear. Convinced, they allowed friends to take his body down from the cross and bury it. And everyone thought the whole ordeal was over.

But the cross was just the preface. The transforming power of the Christian Faith is not in the crucifixion, but in Christ’s glorious resurrection! The cross has such significance because it is so closely related to the resurrection. The cross destroyed the penalty for sin – but the resurrection destroyed the power of sin. When Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished,” it was God’s final word on the old creation: a creation swarming with the weight and despair and power of sin – a creation interrupted with cancer and car accidents and divorce and depression and terrorism and arson fires and old age and death. All the things that seemingly have power over us.

When Mary arrived at the tomb that first Easter morning, she found it empty. Jesus had come out. He came out of that tomb so that He could come into our hearts and give us power over the old creation. Here’s the tragedy: The tomb is empty… but so are many people’s hearts. The Christ who came forth from the tomb has not been invited in….

If you’re not connected to the resurrected Jesus, the sense of powerlessness over the old creation is well founded. Paul understood this himself knowing he was “dead in sin” (Eph. 2:1) before Jesus entered his life. If you feel enslaved to the “old,” perhaps you haven’t encountered the resurrected Jesus.

The same passage of scripture (Revelation 21) that assures us that God is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” also promises us, “Behold, I am making all things new.” It is that wonderful mix of assurance and promise that greets each of us personally this Easter. Each spring here in Minnesota, we yearn for the newness of “all things” in nature. What a wonderful opportunity for all things to be made new in our individual lives as well…

- Pastor Mark & Esthermay Goossen