Most Glorious and Risen King, the best three words I can hear on Easter morning is “He is Risen”. To the witnesses of the miraculous sight of an empty tomb on Easter Sunday morning, it was an amazing and wondrous thing to behold. The horror of Friday’s scourging and painful death upon a cross was replaced by the joy of knowing that death had no longer had a hold on You … and us as Your benefactors. The realization that You had made a new way forward for all of mankind is overwhelming. Death, my greatest enemy, had been defeated. I’ve been presented with a future filled with hope and blessings … and no end. Truly this is an event to be celebrated by every Christian. There is every reason to believe that, like You, I have been made an overcomer in this world as well as the next. I am no longer a slave to sin, the grave and death … for You have made me a free man.
Now, the scripture means so much to me, as I reflect on Your words in the book of John where You said “destroy this temple and I will raise it again in three days.” The impossibility of tearing down and rebuilding the literal temple in three days has been given new possibility in the events of Your death, burial and resurrection. Through the miracle that occurred on Easter morning, You’ve shown the whole world that You are greater than the temple. Because You so perfectly fulfilled the prophesy, it confirms Your claim to be the Son of God. And, when the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the spiritual wall separating You from mankind, which came about through “original sin”, was obliterated. The tearing of the curtain is symbolic of the fact that by Your death, paying the price for my sins, a new way was created for me to approach the throne of The Almighty.
Your eternal sacrifice is made even more special through my participation with You in Holy Communion. When You took the bread into Your hands and said “This is my body, which was given up for you; take this and eat of it in remembrance of me” … and, “This cup is the cup of the new covenant in my blood; whenever you drink it, do it in remembrance of me” … You are offering me a special way to join in oneness with You. You used the bread and wine to explain the significance of close relationship with You. Whenever I participate in Holy Communion, I am proclaiming my identification with Your death and the new path to life that it provided. I acknowledge that when I am joined with You in Holy Communion, I am strengthened in my faith and desire to be more like You. Because of the special gift You’ve given to me, I bask in the joy of Easter. And it’s in Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!!
I Corinthians 11:26 Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, You proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes again.