April 20: Easter Sunday

One of the most intriguing ways to read the Bible is to look closely at how the lives of everyday people changed (and changed dramatically in some cases) after they had encountered Jesus of Nazareth.

Think about how, before meeting Him, they never would have expected to find an empty tomb after He died. They never would have expected to find Life when they had seen death. But that’s the way it had been since they had met Him and since He had asked them to follow Him. In fact, He had asked them to walk away from their past and their old way of life – and begin to walk in a new way. One surprise after another kept them together with Jesus, who had entered their lives and who had shared the Father’s love with them.

Some of those first-followers had expected a political revolution, and some of them were slow to give up on that. They never expected to hear about a Kingdom that was “not of this world.” How could they have expected to see lame people get up and walk, blind people begin to see, and a young girl and an old friend be awakened from death? How could they have expected to see 5,000 people fed on five loaves and two fish? How could they have expected to see Samaritans, tax collectors, and sinners embraced as friends and included among the chosen?

Do we count ourselves among the “everyday people” of our own generation? Are we willing to let Jesus change us, even dramatically, after having experienced the Lenten journey this year and now celebrating the joy of Easter?