Resurrection Day
By David Wright

Today, April 12, 2009, is Resurrection Day. It is, inarguably, the most important day in Christendom.
Christ’s human journey began with His birth. We do not really know the exact date, for it is not THAT important. The important fact is that of His birth and the events surrounding it. His humanity and what He gave up to achieve it. I would guess that He put aside a whole LOT of things to fit into His HUMAN body, for we all are too aware that, while God is unlimited, WE are extremely limited and Jesus became like US, which He had to do in order to SAVE us from our well-deserved taste of the Father’s wrath. What memories, what things He must have put aside, put on hold, in order to come down to OUR level we cannot even guess at. However, what we know for sure is that God became flesh and dwelt among us.
Then, at the peak of His life, the apex of His ministry, He was denounced, dragged off to be tortured and killed. He knew it was coming, He knew it was part of the plan of Salvation that He and His Father had long ago laid out. He had to die for us. To become the blood sacrifice God demanded in atonement for our sins. How great is THAT?
Yet, His death had before and has yet today many parallels. As a retired United States Marine, I often think of the sacrifices made on the battlefield by young men who unhesitatingly put themselves between the enemy and their comrades. I ponder in awe the courage it takes to die for another’s sake. It’s humbling indeed to think of these marvelous youngsters and what they gave up for their buddies to be able to live on. So, as I said, Christ’s death does have precedent, which, I think, not only does not diminish it one iota, but raises up the OTHER sacrifices almost (but never quite there) to His level.
There is, though, the ONE THING that transcends anything else throughout history (which, as we all know, is HIS Story, after all), one thing that only God as man could possibly ever do. In His Resurrection AS A HUMAN, Jesus declared, proved and gave us VICTORY OVER DEATH.
That one thing, that we could never do were we to live a million years, is what sets Christ apart from us all: HE ROSE AGAIN. He DIED and then gained the victory over death. That is what Resurrection day is all about, that is His crowning achievement and that is the promise He gave us: we, through Him, now have victory over death.
So from me to each and every one of my brothers and sisters in Christ, Happy Resurrection Day.