“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” Luke 24:5b-6a ESV1
Life after death is usually in reference to where one will spend eternity. But in the context of Easter, it takes on a little different meaning. Easter is the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection–His return to life after His death–to a restored human body that walked again on Earth for a short time and then ascended into Heaven in bodily form.2
As we approach the Easter season, we are reminded of Jesus’ death. The horror of crucifixion becomes more vivid in our imaginations. And the enormity of our sin and the greatness of God’s gift is refreshed in our memories. Taking time to remember Jesus, His sacrifice, and His conquering of sin for our sake is a significant part of this season. Likewise, rejoicing over the fact that death could not keep Jesus’ body in the grave and that Satan has lost his power over humanity is of utmost importance. But we will miss the full extent of this celebration if we never consider our own personal Easter stories. But I must ask: Do you have an Easter story?
Jesus said, “‘If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me’” (Luke 9:23). Even though the Easter season causes us to remember afresh the consequences of Jesus taking up His cross, it may not awaken to us how this command applies to us personally. We have become so accustomed to adorning ourselves with cross jewelry and decorating our homes with cross accents that the cross is frequently seen as an ornament. And often, when we speak of bearing a cross, we only mean that we are enduring some unpleasant circumstances.
When we do begin to realize what Jesus meant when He said we must take up our crosses, we may recoil at the thought when, in actuality, bearing a cross is the easy part. Crosses aren’t meant to be a burden to be carried for a while. Crosses are instruments of death, when after they are carried, the burden bearers are nailed to and die upon them. Choosing to be Jesus’ disciple is optional, but if we wish to truly follow Him, we must go where He goes. We all know what happened to Jesus after He took up His cross.
Taking up one’s cross daily is a reference to the continual practice of self-denial, or what the Bible calls, death of self. As humans, self-preservation is ingrained in our make-up. The idea of dying to oneself is counterintuitive, but, whether we realize it or not, that is precisely that to which we committed when we chose to follow Jesus. When we decided to be His disciples, we gave up our claims on our lives. We allowed Him to be our Leader, and we promised to go wherever He directs. In all reality, we allowed ourselves to be “crucified with Christ. It is no longer [we] who live, but Christ who lives in [us]. And the life [we] now live in the flesh [we] live by faith in the Son of God, who loved [us] and gave Himself for [us]” (Galatians 2:20).
In His command that we die to ourselves, Jesus is not asking of us anything He has not already done Himself for us. He did not count His life or His position too precious to sacrifice for us. “Christ Jesus … though He was … God, did not count equality with God a thing to be [held on to] but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6-8). Just as Jesus gave His body and His blood for our salvation, to take part in that salvation, we must give our bodies and our blood for Him.
We normally think of death in terms of finality, but Easter proclaims otherwise and so does nature. “‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit’” (John 12:24). When we take up our crosses and follow Jesus wherever He goes, whatever that might entail, we, like Jesus, don’t have to stay lifeless in the grave! We too can experience a resurrection. Like grains of wheat buried in the ground, our deaths of self should become whole new lives full of fruit.
Our crosses provide the opportunity for the deaths of ourselves, and in the process, they open the door to the possibility of renewed lives—vibrant lives here on Earth now that will continue into Heaven upon our physical deaths. Our crosses, those instruments of death, are actually the means for our regeneration, transformation, and metamorphosis into a life God intended for us in the first place.
Because Jesus denied Himself and died the death we deserved, we can deny ourselves to live the life Jesus displayed. When we follow Christ to death, we must also follow Him to life. “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in [us], He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to [our] mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in [us]” (Romans 8:11). Over and over again in Scripture, this regeneration is pictured in the image of “[putting] off [our] former way of life, [our] old self, which is … corrupted by its deceitful desires … and [putting] on the new self, [which is being] created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22 & 24). As Believers, what we are to “consider [ourselves] dead to [is] sin and alive to [is] God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:11).
The Apostle Paul explained this joining of Jesus in His crucifixion so we can accompany Him in a resurrection like this: “In [Christ], … you have been filled … by putting off the body of the flesh, … having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses …, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross … If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 2:9-14 & 3:1-4).
Easter is all about celebrating life after death—the life after death intended for all who have “humbled [themselves] by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8b) and all who God has “made … alive together with Christ … and raised … up with Him and seated … with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5b-6). Is that you? Have died to self and been resurrected in Christ?
Have you experienced your own Good Friday? Have you daily taken up your cross and, on it, have you denied yourself? If you haven’t, you may not be a Christ-follower. Why not take up your cross and die to yourself today?
And, have you had your own Easter? If you have died to yourself, but you have never allowed yourself to come out of the grave, you may be a Christian but you are not living the Christian life. God has already rolled away the stone, why not come out and experience life the way He intended?
If you can truthfully say you have died to self and have been resurrected into a new life in Christ, you have your own personal Easter. Why not make this the year you begin to celebrate both Christ’s resurrection and yours? Happy Easter.
1 Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scriptures are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.
2 For more on this, check out: https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-physical-body.html