Easter Tide: God Reigns in the Public Square

I had such great plans of writing a few posts to commemorate Easter, to acknowledge and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The forty days of Lent seemed to have no end this year, and I looked forward to Easter morning. God had other plans this Easter and we ended up experiencing some of the hard realities of life now and clinging to the promise of God’s kingdom that has not yet fully arrived.

In the face of the ebb and flow of life’s realities, I wrestle with so.many.questions in my little brain that seem to have no answer. I wring my skinny, aging hands and wonder, “What am I to do?”

I have said this before and at the risk of sounding trite I say it again, I always seem to find my balance in the true story of the whole world. This week in particular, I am finding consolation afresh in the steady flow of the church calendar, a steady rhythm that keeps us mindful of God and the Scriptures.

I never realized until some years ago, that the church calendar marks more than Advent and Christmas, Good Friday and the Crucifixion, Easter and the Resurrection, but also calls us to hang on to the hope of the resurrection during Easter Tide. The church calendar sets aside fifty days to rejoice in the totality of the resurrection, by faith, as we look forward to remembering Jesus’s ascension and the coming of God’s Spirit at Pentecost.

Paul underscores the significance of the resurrection in his letter to the church in Corinth.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third days in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred people at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. (And Paul, who is writing, adds) Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me (1 Cor 15:1–9).

Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of David, defeated evil by doing the very things he called his disciples to do, but on a comprehensive and cosmic level. Jesus denied himself and carried a cross, not in surrender to Pilate or the Jewish council, but in absolute submission to the Father.

Pilate, (who we learn was afraid), said to Jesus: “Where are you from?”

Jesus:

Pilate: “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”

Jesus: “You would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above.”

Pilate, forever a politician, tries to wash his hands of this whole religious falderal, while Jesus went out bearing the weight of his own cross, laden with the sin of the whole world, to The Place of the Skull—Golgotha. He stretched out his arms, bore the excruciating pain of the nails and the contortion of his body, despaired in his forsaken soul, and allowed evil to do the worst to him.

 And at long last he declared “‘it finished,’ and bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30)

All this, Paul explains, happened according to the riches of God’s grace, according to God’s purpose, fulfilling God’s plan for the fullness of time. Through Jesus, God united all things in him, things in heaven and on earth (Eph 1:7–10).

Easter’s Message

Jesus was deemed a threat because he turned water into wine, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, cast out demons, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, knelt to wash dirty feet. Jesus claiming to be God preached a subversive message and introduced a revolutionary way of life and touched and transformed people who, until they met Jesus, had no choice but to succumb to the oppressive power of the empire.

Easter this year reminded me that Jesus, by his death and resurrection, frees the oppressed, liberates the prisoner, heals the wounded, loves the broken-hearted, and invites us to learn from him on the rugged road of suffering.

Easter Tide & The Public Square

Easter Tide reminds me that it was by God’s definite plan and foreknowledge that Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead. He now reigns over all things—despite how things appear.

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent (Col 1:16–18).

In an era where it appears as though the empire holds all the cards and exercises all the power. In an era where dominance is paramount and at such great cost. In an era where despotic rulers prevent access to even the most basic needs. In an era where we are led to believe that God needs our protection in the public square. May we apprehend this truth:

God reigns in every public square.