Easter Morning

Happy Easter.

Good morning or good day on the most important day in all of Christendom. 

This Easter the murder of  Christians around the world at the hands of terrorists is in the news. They are martyrs in the truest sense of the word, killed only because of their belief in the risen Son of God. 

I know this a downer for the celebration of Easter. But is is happening with ever increasing frequency. I am appalled that the news media continues to refer to the murders as executions--there is a huge difference between an execution as the result of a legal process conducted by a government and the indiscriminate murder of people on a college campus. The use of the word execution almost gives the sense of the result of a legal process rather than the appalling murders that are the reality. 

I draw consolation, however, from knowing that as believers in the Risen Lord of Easter those martyrs are in the presence of God today praying for those of us left behind to deal with the forces of darkness that are rampant in the world. That is not comforting to the families and friends left behind--for their loved ones have been violently ripped away from them, but it is the promise of Easter and belief in the risen Jesus.

During the Good Friday services I attended, I made note of an interesting statement from Mark 15:39, "Now when the centurion, who stood in front of him, saw how he died, he said, 'Truly this man was God’s Son!'" (NET Bible) The centurion was present likely throughout the crucifixion of Jesus. But I noted the word, "was." He said "this man WAS God's Son." 

The hope of the world today, the hope that comes because of that first Easter morning two millennium ago, is that is is wrong to say  He WAS God's Son, because He IS God's Son. We know something that at that moment the centurion could not know.

Jesus IS the Son of God--yesterday, today, and tomorrow and because He is risen and alive, we have hope.

Be joyful as you repeat the ancient phrase of victory over death today,

He is Risen
He is Risen indeed!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD