Passive resurrection

It is proper to believe that Jesus did not raise himself from the grave, but that he was raised by God the Father. While it may appear to be a minor detail in the grand scheme of life, it is a rather important one if you are to get the idea of what is happening here.

It is important because it speaks to Jesus' nature. As Christians we believe that while He was God, He gave up the independent use of his innate God abilities. Thus, we believe that when He healed people, it was the Holy Spirit doing the healing... etc. etc. You get my point, the conversation can be confusing very quickly, but you get the basic idea. 

We believe that Jesus was killed because he was being faithful to His Father's will. Or he was being himself. Jesus was teaching a new way, and then while living this new way, he was killed in the most shameful way possible. This death is the utter rejection of Jesus by the Jews. They wanted to make a statement about what they thought about Jesus...and they picked the cross.

As Christians we believe that God has the final say in our lives. Thus we believe that when God raised Jesus from the grave he was vindicating the life that Jesus lived, "This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased." This means that the way God has ordained for us to live is the life that Jesus lived. That the way the world finds detestable, is really the way that we are to live. We are to subvert the ways of the world around us, because we find our honor in ways the world finds shame.

First Day of a NEW week!

John 20.1 says that on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb. Look at John's clever writing he's putting this little hint in his text for us all to read...Easter Sunday was the first day of a NEW week ... well duh its Sunday. Yes this is obvious, but there is something just a little deeper going on...its the first day of a NEW week.

Think about it this way, God created the world in 6 days, and on the 7th he rested; this was our reality, the 7th day. God's work was finished on earth. Then Jesus comes, lives, dies, and is resurrected. Christians believe that through his acts a NEW reality was fashioned; a new week was started. No longer are we living in the OLD week, but a NEW one. A NEW reality that dawned on that Easter Sunday all those years ago!! A reality that has been defined by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 

He has Risen!!! Welcome to the NEW week!