Easter is the perfect time to reflect on God’s love – Carlsbad Current Argus

Rev. David Wilson Rogers| Carlsbad Current-Argus

Today is Easter SundayIt is a day filled with memories of empty tombs, shouts of He is risen! worshipful parents, family gatherings, searching for hidden treasures, and time-honored traditions which many people love. For all the beauty, memory, pageantry, and tradition surrounding the day, it is important that Christians take a moment and put the day in perspective.

Arguably, Easter is the heart of the Christian faith. Without the Empty Tomb, Jesus is nothing more than a miracle-working, inspirational-preaching, radical Jewish martyr. Christs triumph over death marks the fundamental premise of Christianity. Far from being a simple miracle of resurrectionwhich, in-and-of-itself is incredibly significantthe resurrection is a fundamental premise of why Christianity matters.

Easter reminds us that even though our human mortality is something none of us can escape in this life, our inevitable death and the death of those whom we love, has no ultimate claim on our eternal relevance. The Psalmist in Psalm 146 states that the ambitions of people fade into oblivion when they breathe their last. Yet the miracle of Easter reminds us that death has no permanence. Resurrection not only matters, but it also defines the critical significance of the Christian life.

In the early decades of the United States of America, two ideologically opposed debaters famously debated the merits of Christian faith versus the increasing popularity of Atheism. Acknowledging the rational relevance of the Atheists argument that God does not exist and that the Christian claim on everlasting life was meaningless, the Christian in this debate asked the Atheist a question. Assuming you are right and I am wrong, what will happen to you and I when we die? the Christian asked. Everything that we are would cease to exist, the Atheist confidently answered. Understandably so. Now, may I also ask, if I am right, what would happen to you and I when we die? Respectfully, the Atheist answered that if Christian doctrine were actually correct, the Christian would have everlasting life and the Atheists future would likely be oblivion at best, and eternal condemnation at worst. In response to the Atheists confident answer, the Christian then challenged the Atheist with the their mutually established assumption that if one was to wager on the future knowing that if Atheism is correct and everyone ends up in the same place or that if Christianity was right, the Atheist would absolutely lose, the only safe bet would be on Christianity.

Easter reminds us thatright or wrongChristians have a degree of hope that non-Christians do not have. That is not to say that God does not save people who have not ascribed to the doctrinal decrees of the Church. Certainty Christs compassionate judgment evaluates the heart and not ones religious practices. Yet, the miracle of the resurrection reminds the world that there is more to this life than the finite years by which ones biological existence is present on the planet we call Earth. We are fundamentally spiritual beings that may live beyond biology and know a reality defined in love.

It is that love that ultimately defines the reality of Easter. Johns gospel famously reminds Christians that God loved the world so much that Christ was sent to the Earth that Gods love may be manifest through Jesus. The Resurrection celebrated at Easter is fundamental proof that Gods love is our shared hope that we are all more than our momentary life, our biological existence on this planet, or our religious doctrinal beliefs. We are spiritual beings who can live and love today and beyond this life into an eternity defined by Gods love.

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Easter is the perfect time to reflect on God's love - Carlsbad Current Argus