A Boring Easter Resurrection
Did any of you go to church for Easter? What was the message about? The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now I have a question for you. Were any of you bored by the message? Honestly, I was a little bored by the sermon. That shouldn’t be, right! Like, we’re talking about Jesus dying, and then coming to life again, which changes everything! And I was like, “Snore…” So today I want to talk about death and resurrection and hopefully today you won’t be, well, bored.
I’m going to read a passage to you today and this passage is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But this passage is really significant to me, really special. A year and a half ago my dad got Covid, and he went to the hospital, and he was bored at the hospital. But he told me earlier that year that the Lord had told him to read through the entire Bible as fast as he could, and so he was reading through the Bible.
So that month my dad spent a lot of time reading his Bible. But the last time my dad went to the hospital, he never came back. Jesus took him home. And when I opened his Bible, I discovered that the last passage my dad got to was the passage I’m going to read for you today, 1st Corinthians 15.
And do you know what 1st Corinthians 15 is all about? The resurrection of Jesus from the dead!
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 (NIV)
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
The Apostle Paul wrote this passage; telling how Jesus died on the cross, then rose from the grave, then appeared alive to Peter, and the twelve, and then more than 500 people, and even last of all, to him. And he’s telling this to a group of believers who never saw Jesus alive, and are struggling with their faith. But Paul says they can have confidence in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And that applies to you today, doesn’t it? You didn’t see Jesus rise from the dead, but you can have confidence because Jesus appeared alive to Paul and over 500 others.
When I listened to the sermon on Sunday about the resurrection I was bored, but I was sitting next to my mom, and I tried to hear it through her ears. She needed to know the resurrection was real because it meant one day, through trusting in Jesus, she’d get to see Paul again, my dad. The resurrection really matters.
Afterward, my mom said it was a great message. The resurrection matters when you or someone you love dies. That's when we need to know we will see them again one day. I will get to see my dad again, not because we’ll all float on, but because Jesus rose from the grave.
But the resurrection doesn’t just matter for the future, it matters for today. Resurrection confidence produces resurrection moments and ministries, and that's why I want to tell you about the place I work.
Providence Network
I work at Providence Network in Denver. Providence Network provides transitional and long-term housing for those coming out of homelessness, addiction to drugs and alcohol, and for women and children who have experienced trauma at home. We are a Christian organization but we serve everybody, no matter what you believe.
As part of Flatiron's Academy's Go Week, a group of high schoolers came and visited us and served for the day. Students drove down into Denver and visited Silver Lining House. Silver Lining House is one of our newer homes. It’s for young men, ages 18-25 who need some extra stability so they can rebuild their lives in a healthy way. We provide safety and a place to call home but they do all the hard work.
But here’s the crazy thing about Silver Lining House. It used to be a drug house where people bought, sold and did meth. For many years, Silver Lining House was not a place of life, but of brokenness and even death. When the man who lived there died, the owner of the building decided to sell the home; and we at Providence Network offered to buy it. He sold it to us at a discount because he heard what we wanted to do with it; turn it into a place of recovery, of healing, of life.
We bought the home, renamed it Silver Lining House, and it took us two years to mitigate all the meth out of the walls. But now a place of death has turned into a place of life. We believe in a God of resurrection!
One day God is going to raise my dad from the grave, and me too because I’m going to die one day. But the resurrection hope we have isn’t just for tomorrow, it’s for today. Jesus is turning a meth house in Denver into a recovery home. The resurrection is powerful and life-giving.
Jesus died for you so that you could live again, and so that we could taste the resurrection in this life too. The resurrection brings life out of death. The resurrection isn’t boring, it's amazing.
Jonathan Romig shared a version of this blog post as a chapel talk at Flatirons Academy in Westminster, following up with the students after their day of volunteering.
