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This week is called “Passion Week.” This is the week the Lord was not only preparing His disciples for what was about to happen, but Himself as well. Jesus had already ridden a donkey into Jerusalem with cheers and shouts of joy. Now, He must face the day in which His betrayal will happen, and then His crucifixion. This has been known as “Good Friday” in Christian circles for a very long time. The question is asked, and rightly so, “What makes the death of someone innocent so good?” Well, if we just focused on that day, I would say absolutely nothing. That was Friday, but Sunday is coming.

It is on that beautiful Sunday morning that women came to anoint the body of the One who was killed just days before, but what they found was a stone that had been rolled away and an empty tomb. We all know of this supernatural event; in fact, many who hardly ever come to church will dust off their best suit and their bible and will enter a church building to hear of this event one more time. Oh, sure, on the surface, the message of the resurrection of Christ makes us feel good for about a day. But sadly, many have lost the true message of the resurrection. I Corinthians 15:54-57, “But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You see, when Jesus came back from the grave alive, He put death in His place. Jesus died, and arose, and in doing so put death in its grave. For those of us who have accepted the gift of salvation, knowing that death no longer has a hold on us is an amazing and powerful gift. Death lost its sting, its power over the believer. Because of that, we no longer must fear death but look at it like a mode of transportation to get to our Jesus.    

The truth is this: if you have given your life to Jesus, death is no longer a factor in your life. But if you have never given your life to Jesus, you should be very afraid because death still has a hold on you. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus can come life, an abundant, overflowing life. All one has to do is recognize their need for forgiveness of the sin that has entered all our lives, ask for that forgiveness, and accept Jesus as their Lord. Then and only then can one truly celebrate resurrection Sunday, the day death died.