Easter Reflections: A look inside that changed the outside – Forever!

By Jim Kirchner, Campus Pastor and Interim Head of School

It did not start out as an ordinary day. After all, they were going to the tomb carrying the spices prepared for Jesus’ burial. But that day, and the message that followed, would change everything. Prophesized in the Old Testament and lived out in the New, Jesus was not there when they showed up.

The Gospel of Luke tells the story of Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and a number of other women who were the first to the tomb after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. A good title for that book I would think is The Day That Changed My Life (and the World) Forever!

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” said the two men whose clothes gleamed like lightning standing next to them – angels. At this moment, the women remembered what Jesus said in Galilee, “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners; be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”

The others, who were still back in the meeting place, (including Peter and the other disciples) didn’t believe the women when they came back with news that the tomb was empty. The Gospel of John chapter 20 tells us that Peter and John both raced to the tomb to verify for themselves. 

Have you ever told a true story from your life that was so unbelievable that those hearing it had a hard time believing it? The resurrection story is one of those stories -- absolutely true with no exaggeration. Theologians and ancients reference the resurrection as one of, if not the most established facts of history.

God in His goodness changed the world and many lives that day. And He still does to this day. The day those women made their way to the tomb was an unusual day to be sure. But who of them thought as they walked together early in that morning to the place of burial, that they would find it empty and the world changed forever?

Here at Valor, it is our heart’s desire for all of us (students, families, faculty, and staff) to honor the risen Lord Jesus Christ by living out the two greatest commandments: Love the (Risen) Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and loving our neighbor as ourselves!

Does God still have room in your heart to do that which is life-changing? Do you have an expectancy of extraordinary work that God wants to do through you, for you, and in you? Is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ so infused into your life that you were changed, are being changed, and forever will be changed? Has the trajectory of your life been altered because of this fact?

Jesus is alive and that changes everything! And because He is alive it motivates us to do just that which is written above. There really are no ordinary days that follow. Everything is new; for He is risen. He has risen indeed!