Suffering, resurrection and Christian love – day 5

Easter starts with Good Friday and Easter Sunday, and lasts until Ascension Day. This is the time of year when Christians reflect on the resurrection and the impact it has on their lives. The resurrection is the birth of Christianity.

“The gospel of Jesus Christ is a resurrection gospel. The resurrection is the heart of the Christian creed, faith, life and theology.” (Dirkie Smit). The resurrection makes Christianity unique. It is what distinguishes Christianity from other religions. Without the resurrection, Christianity is merely another religion or philosophy with a lot of teachings and high moral values. It is the resurrection of Christ that gives each one of us a life-changing power. To believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, means that believers have a new outlook and a new future in life.

It means that believers have a different outlook on life to non-believers. This does not mean that this new life is free from suffering, pain and sadness, but it gives life more meaning. It means that death is no longer the end of the road, but a new beginning. Jesus is truly risen! He has gone ahead to prepare a place for us in a new world that awaits us!

If you do not believe in the resurrection, your life ends in this world with all its suffering and sadness! There is no life for you after this. It is the resurrection that makes Christianity so incredibly unique and exciting! Praise Jesus for this!

Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week (Sunday). After this, Christians gathered on the first day of the week before they started work and praised God through prayer, singing and studying the Scriptures. Originally, Sunday (first day of the week) was a normal workday. It was only in Constantine’s time (321 AD) that Sunday officially became a spiritual day on which people did not have to work. Now they were able to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus together throughout the day.