Beginnings
An Easter Reflection
For those of us who live in a place with all four seasons, spring is the most volatile. Sure, it’s the cold winters we complain about; but it’s in the spring when one day we are flooded with joy as we open the sunroof for the first time, and then the next day we rage incredulously when the temperature drops and we find ourselves staring out the window at April snowflakes.
Last week, it was still cold enough to need a coat, but wanting to force spring into existence, I decided to go for a walk at one of my favorite places in the Chicago area: the Morton Arboretum. I love walking in the Arboretum. I should qualify that. I love walking alone among the trees in the woods, lost in thought with my senses fully alive to nature. But, as I tell my friends, I just figure an ax murderer isn’t going to pay the $15 entrance fee to terrorize these woods, so I feel like I can let my guard down in the Arboretum in a way that’s harder to do in a Forest Preserve. I know. I’ve watched too many episodes of Forensic Files.
Anyway, as I walked on this day, at some point along the trails, my eyes caught sight of some tiny purple flowers springing up among the sticks and wood chips under a tree. I stopped. And I smiled. These are the moments those of us who endure long, cold winters treasure. The first signs of what is to come. As I continued on my walk, I began to look for more signs of hope. New buds. Fresh sprigs. And I felt the Spirit whisper to my heart: “Beginnings.”
One of the things I love about Jesus is that he is really the personification of spring. He is the author of beginnings. With him, everything is new.
This coming weekend, we will celebrate Easter, the ultimate beginning. I think sometimes we see Easter as the ending of a three act play that started in the gutter of Good Friday, lost the plot during an uneventful Saturday, but culminated in a surprising twist that “Christ is Risen!” That is the story, but the ending is actually the beginning.
Easter is the spring of eternity.
What we celebrate, what we remember on Easter, is a beginning. When Jesus rose from the dead, it was the dawn of eternal life. Too often, I think we see our lives as if we’re still living on the Holy Saturday of Easter weekend. We stumble around because we have lost the plot. We forget that the climax of the story already happened, and we are living in the ending, which is really the beginning.
But that’s why it is so important to celebrate Easter every year. It reminds us of where we are in the story. Easter is the spring of eternity.
And when I say “eternity,” don’t think I’m talking about some far off place that we will only experience after we die. That’s not the way the biblical writers understood eternity. It’s not the way Jesus talked about it himself. In fact, Jesus defines eternal life in the prayer he prays to the Father in John 17.
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” -John 17:3
Eternal life isn’t so much about a when; it’s about a who and a how. It’s a life lived in an intimate, ever-deepening, experiential knowledge of the Father and the Son. And it’s available to us now. Maybe today you need to be reminded that you are living in an Easter world. Spring has arrived. The beginning has begun.
Of course, right now all of it is still a little fuzzy to us. The reality is life can often feel more like the grief of Good Friday or the confusion of Holy Saturday. That is why Easter is so important. Easter is not only a beginning, but also a reminder that there is an ending. All of history will culminate in Jesus’ return.
You do remember he’s coming back, right?
It’s funny how much we are like the first disciples. If you read through the Gospels, over and over again Jesus tells his disciples plainly that he will be killed, and after three days rise again (see Mark 8:31, Mark 9:31, Mark 10:33-34). These are not cryptic passages. Jesus tells them straight what is about to happen. Still, on Holy Saturday, none of them are anticipating a resurrection. They are full of fear. Locked up in a room of despair. They’ve lost the plot.
So what about us? In the closing chapter of the Bible, Jesus tells us repeatedly what is going to happen.
“Look, I am coming soon!” -Revelation 22:7
“Look, I am coming soon!” -Revelation 22:12
“Yes, I am coming soon.” -Revelation 22:20
Sometimes I think about how surprised I’d be if Jesus came back today. The fact that most of the time I’m not anticipating it makes me realize that I, too, often lose the plot.
But he is coming. And when he does, all the grief of Good Friday and the confusion of Holy Saturday will cease. There will be “no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:4). The eternal life that began at Easter will culminate in a glorious moment when we will see him face-to-face. And then, as the Apostle Paul tells us, we shall know fully, even as we are fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12).
It will be another ending that is really a beginning as all the barriers that stand between heaven and earth are removed. God will dwell with us in a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1-3). His voice will boom across all creation:
“Look, I am making everything new!” -Revelation 21:5
Beginnings. That is what we celebrate at Easter. The beginning that happened 2000 years ago, and the beginning that is to come.
This Easter, may we take hold of the beginning that is ours because “Christ is risen!”
And, may we also look forward to the beginning that is to come. As we remember Jesus’ words, “Yes, I am coming soon,” let the prayer on our lips be, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20)
