Let's Not Go Back To Normal
It was just over 6 years ago when the world as we knew it was changed. COVID made its first major public appearance in the USA at an NBA game and before the end of the week businesses were closed, people were encouraged to stay home, and we were all vastly confused.
Many of us–including myself–spent the extra time at home and learned how to move slower, be more present with family, and how to live an “unhurried” lifestyle. And in the midst of significant difficulty (we, like some of you, lost a family member), God used that time to teach some of us a new way of living.
We all knew we were too busy to begin with and when society re-emerged a few months later we all made declarations, “Let’s not go back to normal! Let’s keep life at this pace.”
Unfortunately, we did in fact go back to normal.
Roughly 2000 years ago the world experienced a far greater shift.
It started with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and it ended with a bloody cross and ultimately an empty tomb. Nothing was normal.
Two earthquakes in three days. (Matthew 24:51; 28:2)
The sun failed. (Luke 23:44-45)
The Temple curtain being torn from top to bottom. (Matthew 24:51)
Dead people rising to life. (Matthew 27:53)
A bloody cross.
An empty tomb.
A resurrected Messiah.
Nothing was normal. The world was upside down and overwhelmed at the arrival of a brand new reality. It’s a lived reality. God’s Kingdom had been established and nothing would ever be the same again.
My fear is that we have in fact gone back to normal.
Do we talk about the death and resurrection of our Messiah the same way we talk about life-changing events like COVID? Is it a thing of the past that we marvel at but has no significance in our daily lives?
We looked at Colossians 1:12-14 in Chapel on Tuesday.
“...Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
–Colossians 1:12-14
In the middle of Paul’s prayer for the Colossians he gives us only a snippet of the reality of the resurrection on our lives.
There’s three:
1. Because of our trusting faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have been qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints.
Everything blessing that God the Father pours out on Jesus Christ for His faithfulness, we also get. Ephesians 1:3–”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…”
But we don’t come with our own qualifications. Who can approach the throne of God with justifications from our own good deeds? No one. We are qualified by the blood of Jesus Christ. We’re covered in the blood of Christ and it’s the blood that is our stamp of approval for all of eternity. The blood cries out on our behalf, not our own abilities.
2. Because of our trusting faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of God’s beloved Son, Jesus.
We are doomed. We are dominated, controlled, and submitted to the darkness in every way and, you know what? We love it. Our sinful and corrupt hearts love the darkness until God Himself wakes up our spiritual eyes and we see our sin for what it is. When we call out to Him God rescues us from the darkness and transfers us into the Kingdom of Light.
We’ve entered into a new domain. A new reality. A reality that can be lived and carried out in our daily lives. A reality fueled by grace in the blood of Christ and the power of the resurrected King. The same Spirit that resurrected Christ from the dead has indeed resurrected us from the dead. We can live now as new creations, looking to a quickly approaching new creation, living the way we were created to live.
3. Because of our trusting faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.
The understanding here on redemption for Paul would have been this: redemption means to purchase something and restore it for its original purpose. Quite literally, with the Cross of Christ, we have been purchased and restored for our original purpose–to know God and enjoy Him.
One of my daughters stood on a random scale at a family member's house. Her weight popped up on the screen (she can’t read) but when she saw the numbers she asked, “Is that what I cost?” The only times she sees numbers pop up on a screen like that is at the grocery store.
I said, “Sweetie, it’s hard to understand right now but we can’t even measure what you “cost.” Jesus went to the cross and died because of how valuable you are to Him.”
Many of us have stopped asking that question but it’s not because we’ve settled our worth in our hearts–we’ve stopped asking that question because we’ve come to the conclusion that we in fact do “cost” what we can bring to the table. We think our worth is in the stuff we produce or our ability to do spiritual things.
But God says, “No my child, you’re worth the blood of my beloved Son.”
Jesus took on flesh and endured the Cross for the sake of redeeming His people and forgiving them of their sins. That’s a reality you and I can enjoy today and it impacts every corner of our lives–it’s not just a ticket into heaven.
So let’s not reduce Easter to a memorial we celebrate with candy, family time, and eggs.
At Christmas, Jesus enters into creation.
At Easter, Jesus establishes a new creation.
Let’s not “go back to normal.” Let’s enjoy that resurrection reality this week, too.
From this time forth, and forevermore, praise the Lord!
Brandon Moore, Dean of Spiritual Development