Has there ever been a word that just its mention made your heart do a happy little leap? The word resurrection does that for me. I hear it or read it, and my spirit connects with this sense of joyful recognition.
I love the whole concept of resurrection because I have experienced it! I know the feeling of light and life and joy dancing within a heart that was once empty and spiritually dead.
It is resurrection that has increasingly endeared the Easter season to me. The Savior made a way for us to join Him in communion for eternity – and He did it through resurrection.
For Christians – especially those who grew up in church-going households – celebrating Easter is second nature. We love the pastels, the flowy new dresses, and the yummy Easter luncheons with family and friends. But hopefully, above all else, we celebrate the breathtaking wonder of resurrection.
Earlier this week, I started an Easter devotional that began with the triumphal entry in Matthew 21. To gather context, I skipped back a few verses into chapter 20, and I found myself reading about an incident that happened before Jesus entered Jerusalem.
Two blind men were sitting beside the road as Jesus was leaving Jericho with an entourage of followers. They couldn’t see to know what was happening, but they could hear the commotion, and they could tell it was something exciting. Then the news reached their ears: Jesus was passing by, the Prophet everyone was talking about, the One who many said was the Messiah.
Hope and longing welled in their chests. It might be grasping at straws, but this could be their chance – maybe the only one they’d ever have: a chance to experience their own resurrection of sorts, a miracle of healing and wholeness and new life.
At first, the passing crowd didn’t even notice these two outcasts of society. But when the men began to cry out to Jesus for mercy, the multitude rebuked them.
“Are you out of your minds? Show some respect!”
“How presumptuous of you to call out to the Master!”
“What are you thinking? Jesus doesn’t have time for you!”
But something within these men knew this was their moment, probably the only one they’d ever have, and with heart-wrenching desperation, they cried all the more: “Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!”
And the Bible says that Jesus, the Creator of the universe, the God of resurrection, stood still.
With the multitude pressing all around, amidst the noise and distraction and all the remainder of the day’s plans, Jesus stopped and addressed these two men who were being heard, truly heard, for perhaps the first time in their lives.
“What do you want Me to do for you?”
Can you imagine the joy these men felt when their eyes were opened, and for all intents and purposes, they were raised to new life? Maybe, for the first time, they could have jobs and families and a decent social standing. Maybe now they could live days full of meaning and purpose!
All things new.
The heartbeat of God.
Resurrection.
As I moved back into Matthew 21 to read about the triumphal entry, and as I came to the end of my devotional that day, the final journaling question asked which character of the passage I identified with most. But in the moment, I couldn't connect with a character from the triumphal entry account. With tears in my eyes, my mind kept going back to the two blind men in the story previous -- the two men who, until Jesus came into the picture, were living aimless, emotionally bankrupt existences, just trying to make it through another day.
I could identify with them because Jesus, too, met me on a long and dusty road. It was a road in West Texas, not in Israel, but in my pathetic condition I cried out to Him just the same: “Lord, have mercy on me!”
And Jesus stopped and stood still and listened.
He healed me, and on that day, the One who gave me my first breath also resurrected me to renewed life in the Spirit.
Whether in Israel or Texas or the city where you live, Jesus is in the business of resurrection. And maybe right now as you're reading this, you’re remembering your own resurrection experience! So as we move into the Easter holiday, let’s celebrate together. Jesus is alive! He was dead but for a moment, and then He triumphed in victorious resurrection. And to those who cry out for mercy, He stops, He stands still, and He offers resurrection -- for today and for eternity.
Photo credit: Pisit Heng via Unsplash
