Ah, Easter—bunny rabbits, lots of candy, children happily hunting eggs. 

If you’re philosophically inclined, maybe a few reflections on the beauty of spring (especially if you live where the winter season is frozen). A time for chocolate makers and retailers to budget for increased seasonal sales.

But it is (or should be) different for people who believe in Jesus. 

“One of the unique aspects of Christianity compared to other faith movements is that it actually traces its origin to one particular event in one moment on one day in history. This is not true for Judaism or Buddhism or Islam or atheism. But one day there was no such thing as a church, and then suddenly overnight there was.” (Ortberg, John. Who Is This Man?: The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus (p. 186). HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

And those who wrote the story of Jesus knew this. The four Biblical gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) told Jesus’ story in varying ways, each writer bringing a particular perspective that adds richness to our understanding of Jesus. But, unlike conventional biographies, all four of the gospels gave roughly one-third of their total space to the one week of Jesus’ life that began on what we now call Palm Sunday, led to Jesus’ condemnation and crucifixion by his enemies, and ended with his resurrection from the dead two days later.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a colt, an Israelite symbol of a king coming in peace (cf. Zechariah 9:9). 

Seeing a corrupt trade ripping off Passover pilgrims, he overturned the highly profitable tables of Temple moneychangers. He taught in the Temple each of the next three days, fielding questions from his enemies designed to trip him up and alienate the common people. On Thursday, he celebrated the Passover seder with his disciples, and gave it a new, “Lord’s Supper” meaning to mark his self-giving to redeem the world. He was arrested and tried in the darkness of that Thursday night, with the verdict already pre-determined. On Friday morning the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, seeing that this man obviously posed no military threat, tried to free him. But he reluctantly yielded to the religious leaders’ political pressure and ordered Jesus crucified.

Jesus’ followers were devastated when he died. 

It seemed to end all their hopes and show that they had followed just another fallible mortal. But very early Sunday morning, his devoted followers Mary Magdalene, Peter and John found his tomb empty. Their puzzlement gave way to astonished joy as Jesus, mysteriously transformed yet clearly fully alive, appeared to them in various settings and commissioned them to carry on his work after he left the earth. Those events were central and decisive in God’s mission to set the broken world right. When Jesus rose from the dead, God’s eventual final victory over evil, hatred and death was sealed.

The gospel of John, which echoed Genesis by starting with the words “In the beginning,” used the symbolism of a garden to underline Jesus’ mission to redeem and restore the brokenness that blighted human life. Jesus and his disciples went to pray in a garden just before he was arrested (John 18:1). There was a garden where he was crucified and buried (John 19:41). After he rose from the dead, Mary of Magdala initially mistook him for the gardener (John 20:15). And as Jesus commissioned his disciples to carry on his mission on earth, he “breathed on them” (John 20:22—a clear echo of God breathing life into the first human in Genesis 2).

Jesus’ death on the cross and his victorious resurrection opened the door for people from all nations to share in the power of love, hope, peace and reconciliation. 

Even in what appear to be the most irredeemable, hopeless situations and circumstances, (e.g., violence, hatred, alienation), the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus offer the Good News that God’s mission to restore the world to its intended wholeness goes on, and all people are invited to join in that mission. There is a profound, divine mystery about exactly how Jesus’ death and resurrection opened salvation to all humanity. C. S. Lewis, in his fantasy book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, may have captured it as well as any when Aslan the Lion (his Christ figure) said it was “a magic deeper still” than any that evil knew. (Lewis, C.S.. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The Chronicles of Narnia (p. 163). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.)

During his ministry, before his death and resurrection, Jesus taught his disciples to pray like this: 

“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. [For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen].’” 

(Matthew 6:9-13

That prayer shapes the Christian view of God’s Kingdom. If we choose to pray that prayer we are asking God to use us to make God’s Kingdom dream for all of creation a reality, to use us to set the world right. 

If we pray “thy kingdom come” we are offering ourselves to Jesus as the King of our life and promising God, ourselves and others that we will live as though Jesus is King. 

The phrase “on earth as it is in heaven” simply means that God wants us to live in a way that transforms the world from a place of brokenness to one of wholeness. “On earth as it is in heaven” means that life on earth will become more like heaven—that it will be marked by peace, righteousness, and justice. Jesus’ resurrection reveals that Jesus defeated death and sin, that life, love, and hope will have the final word. For Christians, death has lost its sting and God’s Kingdom life defines the future.