The weeks leading up to Easter can be a special, if not hectic, time for believers (and especially for churches).  There is something incredibly sweet about meditating on our celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection.  We are reminded of our need for a Savior, as well as how that Savior was the Second Person on the Trinity who stepped out of eternity and into human flesh.  We reflect on how we cannot do what is necessary to affect our own salvation, but even more than that, we contemplate how the only One who could do what was necessary is God Himself.  The words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:8 become even more amazing to us in this light:  “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  This is the reason why we, as a church, prepare so much for Easter – why we gather early that morning to celebrate the resurrection, why we are filled with so much joy, why we offer the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ to those who may come during a regular service time because it’s a “tradition,” why the words “He is risen…He is risen indeed!” bring a smile to our faces.

With all the preparation that goes on before Easter (and I’ve only touched on the church-related prep; there’s also all the prep for family events and meals, as well), it can be natural to experience a bit of a letdown after our celebration on Sunday is complete.  Monday can seem a bit anticlimactic, after what we experienced on Sunday.  All of the challenges of life reappear:  deadlines at work, challenges with the kids, bills, responsibilities…the battles.  None of these things disappeared just because the tomb was empty.

Yet it is precisely because of that empty tomb that you and I can face all of those challenges with joy and strength.  If the resurrection never occurred or if it was merely a “spiritual” resurrection (as those on the theological left are apt to assert), then what real hope do we have?  Would death really be defeated in such a scenario?  And if death is not defeated, how can sin be defeated?  It’s no wonder that Paul would write to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”

Praise God, there is no need for that pity, because He is risen indeed!  The Monday after Easter provides each of us with the first chance to declare to the world, “What I celebrated on Sunday is absolutely true, and it changes everything – including me.”  We have the opportunity to live out the life-changing reality of the resurrection in our lives such that people look at us the same way they looked at the apostles in those first days after the first Easter.  Just consider their example:  on Saturday, they were in hiding, terrified they would be the next to be crucified; on Monday, their joy and boldness grew such that it would only be a matter of days before they were proclaiming the grace of God no matter the consequence!  The Holy Spirit who empowered the apostles on Pentecost is the very same Spirit who resides in you today.  You possess, through Him, the very same power that can embolden you and give you a joy that is both incomprehensible to this world and unshakeable by your circumstances.  Live, then, in the glorious light of the resurrection, knowing that because of the empty tomb we have the power of the resurrection in us, through the Holy Spirit, so that we might accomplish the task of making disciples that Jesus gave us in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20; cf. Acts 1:8).  It is for that reason Jesus told His disciples in John 20:21 (when He appeared to the disciples after the resurrection), “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  Just something to not only think about, but to live out…