On this Easter morning, I’ve been up early as is my norm. Dawn is still several hours away. After walking into our living room, the first thing I did, was take communion. As I spoke to the Lord and prepared my heart to receive the bread and wine, I thanked Him for the hope of our faith – His resurrection. 

Those words “the hope of our faith” meant more to me this morning because I am a year older and a year closer to my departure from this good earth. Our faith and the eternal disposition of our lives can only have hope if we understand everything in this life and the life to come has been transformed from fear to hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Paul wrote “And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless” (I Corinthians 15:14). The resurrection is everything. It is core to all we believe. Without it our faith is worse than useless, it is an illusion, and as Eugene Peterson said in the Message Translation of this verse, “Everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors.”

It’s almost 4:00 am. As I sit in my writing chair, I am trying to imagine what it felt like very early that first Easter morning when the disciples realized the tomb was empty and Jesus had been resurrected. They were the first ones to realize the foundational hope of our faith is the resurrection. That hope has endured through the centuries against all opposing odds for everyone whose faith has been placed in the resurrected Lord.