Today we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus with joyous shouts of "He is Risen!" But have you ever given much thought to what that fully means? We often talk about Jesus' death on the Cross and what that means. We say that He died to take away our sins or that He died to give us eternal life or He died to satisfy to be a sacrifice in our place. He can name a number of things that Jesus died to do, but what does He live to do?
The Easter hymn, "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" lists a number of things that Jesus lives to do: He lives "to bless me with His love," "to help in time of need," to wipe away my tears," "to calm my troubled heart," etc. All these things sound good to us — and they are exceedingly good! — but none of them explain why Jesus lives again. These are all things that God could do and was doing apart from sending His Son into human flesh and dying on the Cross. Our celebration today is not that Jesus lives, but that He lives again after dying on the Cross and winning the victory over sin, death, and the devil for us. He is risen! He lives again! But what does He live again to do?
"He lives triumphant from the grave; He lives eternally to save," the hymn proclaims. Here is the answer to why Jesus lives again. When He lived before the Cross He loved, cared for, comforted, and helped His people in times of need. But it took His death to save us. By His own plan crafted in His unspeakable love, only God's blood shed for the sins of the world would be a sufficient payment. But His death alone was not enough. He would have to live again if His payment would bring life to the world. For three days the fate of the world hung in the balance as Christ laid in the tomb. If He did not live again then His death on the Cross would be of no value to us — we would still be lost in our sins.
We know — and today we celebrate — that the tomb is empty because Jesus lives again. He lives again to love us, to comfort us, to help us in times of need, but above all else He lives again to bring us the eternal life He won for us on the Cross and sealed for us by His rising to live again.
