David Knapp- 2019

Easter is the time of the year we remember Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. This Easter will probably be the same as any other for most of you. You go to church and sing some hymns and songs. The pastor will go up to the pulpit and say a special Easter Sermon pulling from the familiar Easter passages.

But how can this year be different than all the rest? For some of you, this Easter may be different if you have come to believe in the resurrection, or the first time it is real to you. Maybe we need to take the story that is so familiar to us and build on it. What does it mean for us and where do we go with it. If it is true then we are saved by his death and resurrection, what then?

We know that Jesus was killed for us in a humiliating and painful way. How do we receive the story the tenth twentieth or thirtieth time? Do we still feel the same way as the first time? Or, is it just another Sunday and some time off from school and work? Will we greet it joyously or joylessly? If you believe the resurrection then, what effect should it have on your life? There are two ways that you can live your life.

You can either keep sinning because it doesn’t matter. Your sins are forgiven so why should you have to follow the law from the old testament, they don’t apply anymore. Jesus died now you have a free ticket to heaven that you can keep in your back pocket. Or it will radically change your entire life so that you will be living for Jesus glad hearted and free. Are you reaching out to others with the good news you have received that Christ has risen?

After all, He did give His son to die on a cross in our place so that all may live eternally with Christ in heaven. So do you believe that Jesus died for you? If the answer is yes then, which of the two people mentioned above are you? What do you need to do to be more like the later one? Lastly, how are you going to receive this year’s Easter service? Will it be the same old, same old, or something new, fresh and full of life?