Resurrection Sunday

A Reflection

On the cross,
Jesus yields up his spirit;
even in Satan's only victory,
Jesus will not give him any satisfaction.

The earth groans;
creation left without its creator,
ripping apart at its seams
with the death of the One who held it all together.

Three days of silence:
No hope.
No joy.
No peace.
Only fear,
anguish,
despair.

But then...

The earth groans again—
not from the loss of its maker,
but from His glorious return—
as the stone rolls away.

This is not just an individual victory,
not just a personal victory;
Jesus did not die and rise
just so some of us could go to heaven when we die
as we try to be "better people" on our way there.

This is a cosmic victory:
An end to sin's reign of terror
which infected the whole cosmos,
a crushing of Satan's regime
which oppressed all of creation,
a grand reversal of Death itself,
who is no longer to be feared.

Christ is the victor,
his hand raised
as a boxer in a ring.
Victor over
sin
satan
death
and hell.
Claiming all of creation back for Himself
from the weakened grip of Satan's claw.
"Behold, I am making all things new!"

Three days prior,
those who crucified him called out,
"Let his blood be on us and on our children!"
Oh, irony of ironies!

Let his blood be on us all.