Heading Off For Easter?

Written by Anthony Douglas | 01 April 2010

If you open a Bible to Luke 24, chances are you’ll find the chapter headed ‘The Resurrection’. That’s fair enough: it names the major event within the chapter. But I’m not sure Luke would have chosen the same heading.

You’d think that Jesus’ resurrection would be pretty big news, enough to push everything else off to the side. But Luke flatly refuses to keep quiet about Jesus’ death on the cross. Every single time there’s some reference to Jesus rising, it’s keeping company with a reminder of why it is that he was dead. The angels remind the women that Jesus predicted his own death; the men on the Emmaus road are taught about Jesus’ suffering as well as his glory; when Jesus proves his vitality to his disciples, he gets them to touch his hands and feet – where the nails had gone in.

Luke doesn’t leave the cross behind because it’s the key. Without the cross, the resurrection would be absurd – it would make no sense, and leave us wondering to ourselves like Peter. It is only when the cross is brought to mind that we can understand what took place that first Easter – as the two men in Emmaus show us. It is when Jesus re-enacts the Last Supper, reminding them of his body broken for all, that the penny finally drops.

Crucified, Yet Resurrected: That’s the heading the chapter should have had. May your Good Friday make sense of Easter Sunday.