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Wednesday, March 5
Now I want to remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, and on which you have taken your stand (1 Corinthians 15:1)
On average, they stand 13 feet high and weigh 14 tons. The largest of them weighs as much as 165 tons. There are 887 of them on the island. And no one is sure why.
In 1722 a Dutch explorer discovered their island. It happened to be Easter Sunday, so he named his discovery Easter Island. Here the explorer found the famous "moai" of Easter Island, giant statues which guard the beach and dot the island. You've undoubtedly seen them in pictures—huge stone gures, mostly faces, standing mute and stoic for centuries. We're not sure how the people of Easter Island made them, or how they moved them. Theories abound, but no one is certain. Easter Island is, in a sense, a fascinating miracle.
Easter Day can be like Easter Island for us—a miracle, but an island, isolated from the continent of life. An annual religious observance and little more. The last church I pastored typically experienced a 50% decline in worship attendance from Easter Sunday to the next week. Other churches in our community experienced the same decline. Clearly, many people see Easter as an island, unconnected to the rest of the year. A religious event with little relevance to our daily lives.
But our lives and souls need more. We need a transforming daily experience with the Christ who rose on Easter Sunday. This Lenten guide is intended to help you encounter the rising and living Christ every day.
Is Easter an island you visit or a home where you live?
What God's word means
1 Corinthians 15 is the third-longest chapter in the New Testament (after Luke 1 and 22). It is probably the earliest written record of Jesus' resurrection, likely predating the Gospel records. Paul wrote it to brothers, men and women who had made Christ their Lord and now constituted the church in Corinth. However, some were confused. Their Greek culture viewed the body as the "prison house" of the soul and rejected the concept of its resurrection. As a result, these readers believed that "there is no resurrection of the dead" (v. 12).
In response, Paul sought to remind ("make known so that you remember and understand") them of the gospel ("good news, glad tidings," a word Paul apparently coined) he preached ("proclaimed, heralded") to them when he established their church (Acts 18:1-18). They had received ("taken as a personal possession") this message when they heard it, and now have taken your stand ("have stood in the past and now stand today") on its truth. Like trees planted in fertile soil, they have found stability here in an ever-shifting world.
Why Easter matters
While 73 percent of Americans say they are Christians, just 41 percent plan to attend Easter worship services. Only 42 percent of us believe that the meaning of Easter is the resurrection of Jesus. A mere two percent of Americans describe Easter as the most important holiday of the year.
Like the Corinthian Christians, many of us need to be reminded that Easter is good news. It is "news"—a factual report about an event that has occurred in history. As Paul will prove shortly, Jesus Christ really died on a Roman cross and really rose on the third day from a borrowed tomb. This news is "good"—because Jesus rose, we will rise. Because he lives, we will live.
How to respond
Because of Easter, my parents rose from their grave and are in heaven today. So are your loved ones who died in Christ. Will you join them one day? If you're not sure, ask Jesus to forgive your sins and invite him to become your Lord and King, then tell a Christian what you've done. If you know you'll be in heaven, thank the risen Christ for your eternal life.
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