The other side of Easter

The Celebration is over, the fanfare, the buildup, the special music, the joy of sharing the Resurrection with other believers. Now what? Seems to be back to business as usual. Back to work, back to school. Even Peter went back to fishing. 

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will also come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing. John 21:3

Everything had changed for those first century believers. And yet they didn’t seem to know it yet. It’s much the same for us at times. We know the reality of the resurrection, we live it out each day, but there is work, kids, dishes, life. 

I always liked the story of the two believers on the road to Emmaus. When the stranger approached they couldn’t believe he didn’t know the events of Jerusalem. It would be much like living in America the day after 9/11 and not knowing what just happened. 

Afterward, at the table when Jesus broke the bread, their eyes (and hearts) were opened and Jesus disappeared from their sight. “They asked each other, “Were our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 

Maybe, just maybe they knew but were afraid to hope. Like them, maybe hope seems too good to be true in your circumstances right now. But when everything is darkest around us, it’s easier to see the Light as well. We just have to know and believe He’s there. Believe me, I have faced death down and found comfort in the midst of it. Impossible peace is what He’s best at.

Remember friends, even as the celebrations die down, each day they start anew, for each day is our own Resurrection Day with a capital R. All of life has changed for the better forever. Illness, heartaches, grief and all our uncertainties about the future can’t change that, Praise God, the empty tomb means the Comforter has come for us just as He said.  Everything else is but a shadow that can’t touch us.

Hope is found even in the midst of the cemetery I went to yesterday, new life through the most boring mundane job in the world. (I’ve been there too) With the Holy Spirit the flame of Hope is kindled anew, in the center of right where we are, right now. 

1 Corinthians 15:57: “ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”