As we approach Easter, we can only imagine what that first Easter must have been like. The shock, the surprise, the unbelievable joy, and the restoration of trust in the faithfulness of God and the truth of Jesus—all of this must have been the experiences of those who first met the Risen Christ. Once again God demonstrated that surprise was the divine middle name. That first Easter morning things were revealed to be not as they seemed—ultimately not as we fear—and often not as we suspect.
After the initial shock and surprise, the early church had to determine what Jesus’ resurrection meant for them and the world. His resurrection did not just mean hope for them beyond the grave. Later the church did focus on that aspect of the resurrection, but at first such was not the emphasis. In fact, if you read the resurrection accounts of the four Gospel, you will not find any mention of how Jesus’ resurrection points to our own post-mortem existence. “Pie in the sky” survival after death was never the emphasis of the earliest church regarding the resurrection. One reason for this lack of emphasis was that as Jews of religious faith (and almost all of the early Christians were Jews, something anti-Semitic bigots forget), they already believed in their own resurrection at the end of time. That was a secure and widespread belief among almost all Jews. What no one expected was the resurrection of one person before that distant event. That is another reason the raising of Jesus by God was such a surprise. (In I Corinthians 15 we see Paul trying to make sense of this unexpected and “untimely” act of God within history instead of at the end of history.)
The significance of God’s raising Jesus from the dead became quite apparent to that little flock of joyful witnesses. Jesus’ resurrection meant that Jesus was Lord. “Jesus is Lord” was the first faith affirmation of the church. The resurrection of Jesus demonstrated the sovereignty of this Carpenter from Nazareth. In a world that had many lords and even more trying to become lords, Jesus was understood by his handful of followers to be THE LORD, the only legitimate Master of the universe and of their lives.
However, if he is Lord, he is a most unusual sovereign. The lords of the world as we experience them are prone to throw their weight around. They have and seek more power and wealth. They manipulate and intimidate. They desire to be served. They require our obedience in ways which affirm and magnify them and diminish us.
But what about this Jesus, this peasant who would be king? He enters our world and our lives in humility and peace. He girds himself with a towel to wash the dirty feet of proud men (something a Jewish master could not even require a Jewish servant to do). By his own admission, he has no place to lay his head. He turns the other cheek. He gives his life for the sake of all humankind, even those who will not recognize him. He rules through sacrificial love, and even raised from the dead, he bears the scars of one who gives and gives until it hurts. A STRANGE LORD, INDEED! Let’s be honest. In our world of practical realism and self-centered politics, Jesus would scarcely be elected dogcatcher, much less King of the universe. But that first Easter says, “Surprise, He is Lord! God has raised him from the dead and has given him all power, the final word in heaven and on earth.” (Read Matthew 28:18. The “Great Commission” of verses 19-20 which many of us had to memorize in Sunday school assumes verse 18. Ignoring that verse removes from the Great Commission its very foundation.)
Now we can see why the early church, reflecting on the event of Easter, did not center on their destinies beyond the grave as the primary meaning of Easter They did not gravitate toward what the resurrection said about their ultimate future. Instead, they focused on what the resurrection said about Jesus. And what it said was obvious: Jesus is Lord. And if he is Lord, then he is our Lord. And then the early church made a remarkable discovery. For all practical purposes, Jesus is Lord in our world and in our time so far as, and only as far as, his sacrificial love and service pass through us to others. As far as we and our world are concerned (at least for the present), Jesus is Lord to the extent he lives in our hearts, in our words, and in our deeds. His Lordship becomes evident as we live out of the power of his resurrection in that new, transformed life made possible by the faithfulness of God.
Easter is indeed a time for joy, celebration, and dancing in the resurrection light. But more importantly, it is a time to meet this strange king from the itsy-bitsy hamlet of Nazareth and in commitment confess with Thomas of old: “My Lord and my God!”
