Resurrection and Rest
The implications of rest in the Resurrection of Christ
This week is one of my favorite weeks, yet it’s one of my most anxious weeks. Culturally, Easter has a lot of pomp and activity around it. Whether people realize it or not, there’s a lot of pressure on pastors to make the most of it.
While I was in college at Troy, I was about to give a talk on the Gospel to the football team and a sorority. It was a big event and I was really nervous. I had a linebacker come up to me that I had befriended and spent a lot of time with studying the Bible. He asked me what my talk was about, then with a super straight face, deadpan emotion and dry tone said, “Well, don’t blow it.” Not exactly the pep talk I wanted in the moment. Sometimes those words still ring in my head on Easter morning before a big service. If I’m honest though, they ring through my head every Sunday before a sermon. At some point in every conversation I have with someone, I feel some version of that script of “Don’t blow it” run through my head.
Your script may be different, but I am willing to bet you can relate. We live in a product-oriented culture. We live in a success-driven society. We live as a people who struggle to be. We feel like our worth is tied up in our production, in our doing. And that creates cycles of anxiety instead of rest. Our bodies and mind stay in a sort of high alert, high vigilance to make sure our identity isn’t attacked by being consumed with productivity. We are scared to death to blow it.
We talked a few weeks ago about the message of creation was that rest comes before work. That message of the Creation story in Gen. 1-2 is meant to help God’s people (especially as it was originally given to Israel coming out of slavery in Egypt) to know you are defined not by your productivity but by being God’s.
The resurrection of Jesus preaches a similar message. This week it has been a sweet meditation to think about the rest promised in the resurrection. As I’ve considered my own internal narrative that produces anxiety and weariness, I have considered what message the resurrection means. Truly Jesus has given His people new life in Him. That message of creation is found complete in Jesus, to be a people who are able to find a rest that would precede their work and productivity. For those who are Christ, they are new creations, the Apostle Paul would say. (2 Cor. 5:17)
When Jesus rose from the dead, He didn’t just show the world He was who He said He was. He accomplished something. He rose from the dead and was glorified. The body He has is the New Creation. He made it possible for His people to experience newness of life now and one day experience a physically glorified body that resembles His. But for us to be made new, we had to be set free from the bondage of the old. That’s what Jesus did in his death and resurrection. He conquered sin and death itself to free us. He broke the chains that enslaved us.
That freedom means there indeed will be times we blow it, but we aren’t defined by those mistakes. There will be times our best efforts will still yield a failure in the world’s economy. There will be times that our own internal working will still struggle with the presence of a product-driven life. Yet, the chains have been broken and I’m new. I’m new in the sense that God is changing me and progressively leading me away from that life of finding my worth in my work. It doesn’t just happen over night. But as I abide in Jesus, as I draw near to Him in relationship and dependency, He exposes those lies of productivity that I may find rest in His finished work. You see, I’m ok in Jesus. That seems over-simplified. But really, I’m ok. It means if I don’t hit a home-run with Sunday’s sermon, I’m ok with Jesus. His love for me isn’t threatened. My status in His family is secure.
Sometimes we view the resurrection like it means we are supposed to blow it out as new creations exhausting ourselves. I don’t see that from the pattern of Jesus’s life and the rhythms of the Kingdom He expresses in word and in action. Rather, there is a unique rest. It’s a rest that comes by drawing close to God and knowing you are in need of His grace, love and care moment by moment. It’s a rest that comes by chosing to believe God’s story for your life. It’s a rest that comes from knowing God is in control over a world that seems out of control. It’s a rest that means we can
It’s a rest that comes in looking at the resurrection of Jesus and as Tim Keller says, “If Jesus was actually raised from the dead…then you know what? Everything is going to be alright. Everything you are worried about, everything you are concerned about, it’s going to be alright…We aren’t just talking about a resurrected people, but a resurrected world.” You see, the resurrection of Jesus was the firstfruits of a New Creation work God is doing and will bring to completion when Jesus comes again and brings His New Heavens and New Earth. But it isn’t merely that we are waiting with our golden ticket (for you Willy Wonka fans) to heaven and nothing matters. No, actually God is actively making all things new and working resurrection, working redemption and one day it will come in its fullest expression.
Until then, I rest in the surety of a God who conquers sin and death. I rest in the reality of a God who holds me even when I feel to weak to hold tight to Him. The resurrection is a reality that His love is boundless and will work new life in His people. There is a rest for you today as you celebrate the Resurrection. May it give you peace.