Easter is Revolutionary

I’m a practical theologian, not a systematic or academic theologian. I chose those route because I love being with people in their daily lives. And I want theology to emerge from the margins, the trenches, the road.

Each year, I struggle with the messages I hear on an Easter morning. Not because they’re bad. But mainly because the message of Easter is too big to hold it all in a 25 or 45 minute sermon. The breadth and depth of Easter cannot be contained to a Sunday morning sermon.

This is why I lean into academic theologians like NT Wright. He has an ability to take very complex ideas and make them accessible.

This year, it was the quote above that grabbed my attention. It created more freedom within to lean into the revolution of becoming part of God’s plan to put the world right. And we’re each doing our part in God’s kingdom.

Death could not contain the life of Christ.

Christ, on the cross, overcame the POWERS of sin and death, of evil itself. Not because God was angry and his wrath was going to annihilate us. That is too narrow of a view of the life of Christ.

The resurrecting power in Christ has overcome the wrongs, injustices, and sins of the world SO THAT we might be liberated into a new way of life…found in Christ.

Post resurrection, Jesus appeared to people and said things like:

• Greetings
• What are you discussing
• Why are you weeping
• Don’t be afraid
• …how foolish and slow of heart you are

Christ’s resurrecting life met his disciples where they were, not where they were supposed to be.

And Christ takes the time to explain to them the significance of his life, death, and resurrection. God is generous and generative.

May God meet us in our journey towards making the world right through our acts of service and care, prayer and vocation, relationships and repair.