Resurrection Sunday Hope for a Tuesday Afternoon
Easter Sunday has a special vibe about it. The church is fuller than normal. Everyone is dressed a little fancier. Voices have more oomph than they do during a typical worship service. The pastor gives his sermon an extra coat of polish. Families gather together for a special meal. The kids get hopped up on chocolate and jelly beans and then tear the yard apart looking for hidden eggs.
In the midst of all this “extra,” we also likely take a little more time than usual to stand at the empty tomb and hear the words of the angel: “He is not here, but he has risen!” (Luke 24:6). Our hearts rejoice at the hope found in the resurrection. Death has been defeated! The grave has lost its sting! Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!
But then tomorrow comes. And the next day.
Pretty soon we’re back to the routine of our daily schedule. Back to school. Back to work. Back to reality. The tomb is still empty, of course. We haven’t forgotten that—well, not exactly. We just aren’t basking in the glow of the resurrection like we were forty-eight hours earlier. Somehow Resurrection Sunday and Tuesday afternoon seem separated by a great gulf. While we can’t ride the Easter high every day of the year (the jelly bean supply just can’t keep up!), the hope of the resurrection never wanes. You can have hope, joy, and peace in the middle of your Tuesday doldrums or Thursday despair because Jesus is our risen Savior.
This Life Is Not All There Is
Picking up the same toys for the hundredth time today.
Folding yet another load of laundry.
Washing yet another batch of dirty dishes.
Fighting sleep while listening to someone drone on in a meeting.
Working the same job doing the same thing you’ve been doing for the past twenty years.
Maybe for you it’s one of these things or maybe you’ve got your own trigger. But at some point you’ve no doubt wondered: Is this it? What am I doing with my life?
When you’re bored with life’s monotony and mundanity, the resurrection gives hope.
Because Jesus has risen from the grave and guaranteed eternal life with Him, our here-and-now takes on a higher purpose. No longer am I merely matching tiny socks or scrubbing stubborn scrambled eggs off a cast-iron skillet; because Jesus is alive, I recognize that by serving my family I am storing up treasure in heaven (Matt. 6:20–21). I can set my affections on things above and not on things on the earth (Col. 3:2). I can go to work at a job that I don’t love but pays the bills because Jesus is alive and has purchased for me joy and hope that the world could never offer. Not only has death been defeated but the dead end has been vanquished as well.
When the drudgery of life pulls your thoughts down, remember the empty tomb. Remember that this life is not all there is, nor all that we live for. Because you have been “raised with Christ,” you can—and must—"seek the things above, where Christ is” (Col. 3:1, emphasis added).
You Can Say No to Temptation
Have you ever been on a camping trip or a picnic when the mosquitos just wouldn’t leave you alone? Impervious to your repellent, inoculated to your citronella, and adept at avoiding your hapless smacks, these winged sadists relentlessly swarm you until you eventually surrender and head indoors. Sometimes temptation can feel like that inescapable band of mosquitos.
Ten more minutes on social media . . . one more peek at that website . . . one more piece of dessert . . . one more text to that person . . . one more episode . . . one little “harmless” piece of gossip . . . whatever it may be for you, temptation just won’t let up.
But because the tomb is empty, temptations have lost their power. No longer are you and I helpless against the wiles of the enemy. Because Christ’s sacrifice was acceptable to the Father and He raised His Son from the grave, we have been clothed in Christ’s righteousness and made new creations in Him. In Christ—the living Lord—we can have victory over temptation.
No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13, emphasis added)
Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7, emphasis added)
Why would Satan run away from you when you resist him? John tells us it’s because the One indwelling us is greater than “the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). And the author of Hebrews explains that the ruler of death has been rendered powerless because of the resurrection (Heb. 2:14).
On Tuesday afternoon when you’re faced with temptation yet again, find hope that you can say no because Christ the Lord is risen today!
You Can Find Grace to Help in Your Time of Need
Do you remember dial-up internet? If you’re over thirty, you probably do. First you signed on, and then you watched a little figure move from one box on the screen to another as the computer went through the phases of connecting (or not connecting) to the internet.
The best part was the noise the modem made. Something like this: do-do-do, do-do-do, HISSSSSSS. If traffic was light on the information super-highway, you would connect to the World Wide Web, and AOL users (like yours truly) would hear “Welcome. You’ve got mail.” Other times, however, if it was internet rush hour, you might hear a busy signal and have to try again . . . and again . . . and again.
Thankfully internet connections have improved exponentially, and my guess is that you’re reading this on some device via WiFi and didn’t hear any obnoxious noises or encounter any busy signals while seamlessly connecting to the interwebs. We may not have to worry about getting a busy signal any more, but there are days when the internet (at least in our tiny pocket of the world) goes down. And then we’re stuck.
Aren’t you glad prayer isn’t like the finicky internet connections of the past, nor even the more reliable-but-still-fickle modern networks? Our access to God never shuts down, never returns a busy signal, never goes on the fritz, never has to update, and never turns us away. His children always hear “Welcome” when they enter the presence of their Heavenly Father.
Why? Because of the resurrection.
When some circumstance arises in the middle of your day and you hit your knees in desperate prayer, you know that you will be heard because the Great High Priest always lives to make intercession on your behalf (Heb. 7:25). Because He lives, you cannot merely face tomorrow but you can know that when you boldly approach the throne of grace today, you will receive mercy and find grace to help in your time of need (Heb. 4:16).
We need the resurrection and not just on Easter Sunday when we’re extra dolled up and primed for a message of hope. We need it on Monday morning when the kids start fighting over the last toaster pastry or Monday afternoon when the temptation arises to take a nap on company time. We need it Tuesday morning when we’d much rather stay in bed than get up to read God’s Word, and in the middle of Wednesday night when the life-changing phone call comes, and Thursday afternoon when life never seems to change at all.
The hope of the resurrection is enough to sustain you in your moments of discouragement, temptation, and despair.
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