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Easter has come and gone. The services are finished, the songs have been sung, and the empty tomb has been talked about. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ was never meant to be a once-a-year …
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Easter has come and gone. The services are finished, the songs have been sung, and the empty tomb has been talked about. But the resurrection of Jesus Christ was never meant to be a once-a-year moment. It was meant to confront every day that comes after it. “He is not here, but He has risen.” (Luke 24:6) That is not just something to celebrate. It is something to answer.
Scripture does not present the resurrection as a story to admire, but as truth that demands a response. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30–31) The resurrection is called proof. Proof that Jesus is who he said he is, proof that judgment is coming, and proof that repentance is not optional.
For many, nothing happens after Easter. Life goes on unchanged. The message is heard, but it is left behind with the holiday. Scripture does not allow that kind of response. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24) That is not about a moment on a calendar, but about a change of life.
The same power that raised Christ from the dead is not just something to believe in. It is something that transforms those who belong to him. “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead … so we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:4). The question is no longer whether the story is true, but whether it has changed you.
The crucifixion is over. The celebration of his resurrection has passed. The question now is simple. Did he die for you? Did he rise again for you? Is that something you acknowledge once a year, or something you live every day?
(Dean Butler is a faith-based writer and Bible teacher based in Newcastle.)
