Across the Pastor’s Desk by James Rushton

“What good is Easter?”

It’s certainly a fair question. What good is Easter?

Well, we know Jesus rising from the dead certainly won’t help us with our bills or help us deal with our lousy neighbor — or will it?

Come to think of it, we might be hard pressed to think of things that Easter does not touch.

No, Easter won’t help you pay your bills, but it will help you with your spirit so that you won’t be overwhelmed.

After all, the apostle Paul says in Romans 8 that the Father, who gave his only son, will also give us all things with him — like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.

Yes, believing that Christ has bested all the powers that would take away from life might also help you deal with your lousy neighbor, believing that he too is a child of God and perhaps would change if he received the same good news of God’s love that has changed your life — indeed, God’s love that has given you life.

So, what good is Easter?

Easter is God’s most dramatic way of saying no to everything that would weigh us down and take away from the abundant life with which our Lord and Savior has gifted us.

Easter declares a resounding yes to our merciful and loving God, who grants us not only daily bread, but the bread of life himself — Jesus Christ our Lord, who died and rose again that our sins would be forgiven, and that we would live as a redeemed people, strengthened to meet the days ahead in the sure and certain hope of what it means to have an ever-present and living Go who declares “lo, I am with you till the end of the ages.”

 

The Rev. James Rushton is pastor of First Lutheran Church in Glenville.