Trending
More than two millennia ago, many were spreading the alleged "fake news" that Jesus Christ was not the son of God, sent to save sinners. Christ was no more than a political troublemaker, a social revolutionary, claimed those in power. He was not the promised Messiah, they insisted.
So they put an end to the revolution -- or so they thought. They crucified Christ. They had his body sealed securely in a tomb. They even posted a guard.
It was all for naught. Jesus arose on the third day. He left that tomb. Christianity as we know it today was born.
It is Easter Sunday, the most joyful day in the calendar for hundreds of millions of people throughout the world. It is a day in which we should remember what truly is important -- and it's not this nonsense we've allowed to take over our lives. What's important is the message Christ left for us -- to love one another, to respect one another. In Mark 12:30-31, Jesus says, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. …'"
Those are words we should all remember.
Christ rose from the dead, walking and talking for a time among those who had seen him hanging on a cross. Their faith, which his arrest and crucifixion had shaken, was renewed and made stronger than any power on earth.
Faith remains a critical aspect of the Christian religion. But it is supported by the knowledge of what happened so long ago and so far away, in an event that, though documented thoroughly, still is questioned by some.
No matter.
Christians know that Christ kept His promise. He arose. He showed the way. In doing so, he laid the foundation on which a mighty way of life -- more than a system of values -- is based.
It was good news, the best humankind has ever heard. Happy Easter.
"Easter was when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming forward from the future into the present."
-- English theologian N.T. Wright
"Easter is the soul's first taste of spring."
-- Author Richelle E. Goodrich