Our spiritual father Brennan Manning told us this: “We are Easter people.” We who follow the risen Savior today live forever in the light of resurrection!
And what does this do for us? It makes us rejoice.
As always I am way behind in my Bible reading plan — the YouVersion Easter plan “For the Joy Set Before Him” in this case. For Easter Sunday I was supposed to be reading Matthew 28. When I got to it, this is what stood out to me:
Jesus sees His friends and without so much as a by your leave or a “Here I am, alive again,” commands, “Rejoice!”
And why not, why the heck not? Why not rejoice? In one amazing stroke of love, He has turned their mourning into dancing, their heartbreak into joy. And for you and me today, if we can but experience the risen Savior, we will discover all our heartbreak is turned to joy, too. We are Easter people now and forever!
The empty tomb was a good omen that joy was at hand; but an intellectual apprehension of the idea that Jesus is no longer in the grave will only carry you so far. It takes the personal experience of meeting the Lord, experiencing His love, and hearing His voice — of somehow stumbling into authentic, intimate communion with Him — to feel for sure that He is alive, He is in charge, and it is time to rejoice!
That time is here — I pray you are experiencing it — and joining in the ranks of the forever-partying Easter people. Rejoice!
