Grace Notes // Easter Sunday

Peace Over Fear

Written By Margeaux Lawson

“On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord”. 

John 20:19 (NIV) 

A Holy Celebration

First off, what a cause for holy celebration. Death was no match for Jesus Christ. The tomb, the grave, the place for dry bones and graveclothes could not contain Jesus. 

Peace over fear

In these two verses we see a situation of fear and uncertainty shift to a situation of joy and hope. I love that in a moment’s notice, Jesus can change everything. The disciples viewed the future as bleak and were distraught over the thought that their savior was gone. But as we see through the sovereignty of God, sin has no match with the resurrection power. Jesus isn’t offering us just a moment of fleeting peace or flickering joy, in Ephesians 2:14, it reads, “For he himself is our peace”. 

For the everyday 

The story of the resurrection isn’t just for Easter, it’s the everyday reality for Christians. Jesus invites us into a beautiful truth that he is for us, our everlasting peace in the every day - celebration and sorrow, pain and joy, weeping and laughter, and weakness and strength. Jesus is the most holy offering from God and truthfully, that leaves me pretty wrecked. Our God would send his son, turn away from him as he collapsed at the weight of all humanity’s sin, just so we could be free? 

Yes, absolutely. God really did that--because He wins the war. He has the final say. 

Death Could Not Hold Jesus

“Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen”. 

John 20: 6-7

Burial linens, or graveclothes, were meant to hold the dead in place. This account of two of the disciples running into the tomb, bewildered by what they found, is significant. These linens lay limp and powerless, because the body they were wrapped around was not intended for death. Jesus was the death of death itself. 

“The resurrection of Jesus changes the face of death for all His people. Death is no longer a prison, but a passage into God’s presence. Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there. You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in winding sheets and shut it up in a tomb, but it will rise!” 

-Clarence W. Hall 

Comfort and Disruption

Jesus, being the beautiful mosaic that he is, is our comfort yet has a disruptive nature. Our lives ought to be turned upside down by the Gospel. We can be equally comforted by Jesus Christ while also being convicted, refined and sanctified. Sanctification is no quick fix and the Gospel isn’t instant gratification. As the title of one of my favorite books says it most eloquently, following Christ is, “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction”. (Eugene H. Peterson). The intimacy that comes with a deeply rooted and obedient faith is one of sweet joy, no matter our circumstances.

Ponderings: 

I admit that the current state of our world has permeated my thoughts and at times made me fearful and uncertain. But as I choose to look to Jesus and the hope of the resurrection, I have comfort that Jesus is my peace. 

In seasons of darkness, it can be a default to live in hopelessness, but as it says in Genesis 1: 2-3, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light”.  My hope for you is that you will choose to live in the light and hope of Jesus. 

Processing:

What does it look like for the resurrection power to be the reality of your everyday? 

Where do you find yourself placing your hope? If not Jesus, how can you practice tuning your hope towards him? 

What parts of your life need disrupting and refining? 

What would it look like to allow joy to overflow your life?

In The Word: 

John 20: 1-23

Romans 12: 1-21

Isaiah 40: 1-5