Known for resurrection
I watched Thor: Love and Thunder last week with my daughter. The soundtrack is excellent–a lot of Guns N’ Roses songs! An underlying theme of the movie is that most gods don’t care about their worshippers and are hiding away from the suffering of this world. In my favorite show, Ted Lasso, there’s a scene in which one coach tells another he wants to pray. Ted asks, “But for what and to which God?” Both of these stories get at our underlying wrestle: Is God hiding? Can God be known? Does God care?
Easter is the historical event that answers these questions with a resounding yes! Jesus’ death and resurrection tell us that God cares, can be known, and is known for resurrection.
God has a personal history
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one who Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” (John 20:1-2)
To know someone is to know their story. That’s what family, friends, and lovers do–they share their stories. The closer we are to someone, the more of their history we know.
God has a personal history in the person of Christ. God is not hiding or removed. Instead, as we see in the Easter story, God has entered history and has a personal history, just like you and me. In Christ, God has a personal history of being a person who has healed (Mary), taught (Peter), loved (John), been betrayed, accused, killed, and resurrected (empty tomb).
God can be known because, in the person of Christ, we come to know the personal history of God. Jesus is who God is.
God knows us by name
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). (John 20:15-16)
Mary is grieving and doesn’t recognize Jesus until he uses her name. When you meet someone, you ask for their name because it’s one of the ways we are known. In Jesus, God is a person who is named and knows the names of others. God knows you by name, and nothing can separate you from the love of God, not even death.
God is known for resurrection
Easter is the celebration of the highly believable, unbelievable reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It’s highly believable because it happened in history. Jesus’ life and crucifixion are historical realities, just as Abraham Lincoln’s life and assassination are. The empty tomb is also a known historical reality. Hundreds of people proclaimed they saw the resurrected Jesus. For me, the disciples and early church’s willingness to die for this belief and to serve the world in love is the strongest testament to their witness.
The resurrection of Jesus and God’s promise to restore the whole world is great news because it affirms the good we experience, condemns the evil that mars life, and the message of hope is existence is renewed, not erased.
God is known for Resurrection, so we live in light of that reality, pursuing resurrection in the world around us. How do we do this? By celebrating the good, mourning and fighting the bad, and bringing renewing life to the world around us. Why? Because in Jesus, we have come to know a personal God whose personal history is tied up in saving the world so that the creation God loves might be renewed.
