THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS, THE MESSIAH, DIDN’T HAPPEN in the heavenlies, or on top of Mount Olympus, or in some sacred sepulcher in a candle-lit sanctuary, but in the midst of a very ordinary graveyard. It didn’t take place on some high holy day, but on the first day of the week. A normal workday for the local society. An ordinary place, on an ordinary day, but with extra-ordinary ramifications for all of us ordinary people.
Truly, the life-bringing death and resurrection of the Lord of lords was glorious beyond description. It forever changed how we relate to God and how He relates to us. Jesus’ powerful resurrection was the declarative statement that God accepted the sacrifice that Jesus had provided on the cross in our place, and on our behalf. This ordinary life shall never be the same.
The resurrection matters, not just for the future promise of heaven in the “sweet by and by,” but it matters right now. Part of the hope-bringing reality of the resurrection is that it took place in the ordinary world. Not separated from us, but in the midst of us. The resurrection changes the ordinary world in which you and I find ourselves. The power of our Lord’s resurrection intersects in the everydayness of our lives. The truth of the Scripture’s statement, in John 14:19 “Because I live, you too shall live,” has bearing upon our everyday life, as well as our eternal one.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ did happen. It took place in our ordinary world to forever change our ordinary lives into something extra-ordinary. All because He is risen! He is risen, indeed! So shall we live!