A crucial assumption of the New Testament is that the ministry of Jesus makes sense only as we read it “backward.”  God’s vindication of Jesus in the resurrection is an act so bold and drastic that everything prior must be understood in a new way.  Since the New Testament documents were all written in the light of the resurrection, they already incorporate this radical reinterpretation.  But if we naively read them as straightforward narrative history (as often we do) we are thereby robbed of this necessary insight. . . . The theological point is this: Except when read in the light of the end of the story, the deeds of Jesus would incorrectly identify him as a worker of wonders, a kind of religious magician with which the world of his day abounded. Only after the resurrection can his mighty acts be seen as signs of the new creation that he has come to inaugurate; only after the resurrection can his followers have appropriate, rather than misguided, faith.

—Laurence Hull Stookey, Eucharist: Christ’s Feast with the Church, 22

Christian hope is a confident assurance (act), grounded in God’s promise and faithfulness as revealed in the Scriptures in general and in Christ in particular (grounds), that the triune God (agency) will bring about the “resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come” (object) at Christ’s appearing (time), making heaven and earth new and one (space), by means of what has already been accomplished  at the resurrection of Jesus (pathway).  To put it another way: the who is the triune God; the what is the resurrection of the dead and the world to come; the how is the resurrection of Christ; the why is the faithfulness of God in Christ; the where is both heaven and earth, made new; the when is to come and yet already.

—Glenn Packiam, Worship and the World to Come: Exploring Christian Hope in Contemporary Worship, 85

Scrupulous care must be taken not to set cross and resurrection against each other in some kind of “balance.”  Too often we encounter the view that the cross was in some manner cancelled by the resurrection: “The cross was the bad news but, thankfully, God pulled off a victory on the third day.”  The New Testament writers never affirm this.  The apostle Paul brings things to a head in this respect.  For him the victory over the principalities and powers has been won at Golgotha (Col. 2:15).  Easter announces to the world God’s victory over evil; it is God’s great yes to what has happened in Jesus, supremely at the cross; it is the pronouncement that evil has been decisively dealt with—the defeat of death confirming the defeat of sin and evil at Calvary (1 Cor. 15:17).  And precisely because it is that, the resurrection is also a promise that God will one day renew all that has been spoiled by evil—a pledge to his people that he will transform their bodies, in the manner of Jesus’ own body, and a pledge that he will re-create the entire cosmos (Rom. 8:19-22; 1 Cor. 15:35-49).  The stunning and stupendous Easter hope is possible only because of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.

—Jeremy S. Begbie, Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music, 259

The resurrection was a kind of cosmic explosion that reverberated in all directions. It gave the followers of Jesus a new understanding of the present, but also of the past and of the future. Through the resurrection (and that alone) the cross, that instrument of capital punishment by the hated Romans, ceased to be an enigmatic embarrassment and became the central symbol of the faith.

—Laurence Hull Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church, 37

What has God done in raising Jesus from the dead? Here are a few biblical answers.

Because of the resurrection of Jesus, death will never have any dominion over him again.

Romans 6:9: “We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.”

Acts 13:34: “He raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption.”

Because of the resurrection, Jesus intercedes for us in heaven before God.

Romans 8:34: “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

Jesus’ resurrection was the beginning and guarantee of our resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:20: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

2 Corinthians 4:14: “He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.”

We were raised with Jesus so that our true life is hidden now in him.

Ephesians 2:6: “[God] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Colossians 3:1-4: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. . . . Your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we are born again to a living hope.

1 Peter 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Because of the resurrection of Jesus, we now enjoy his personal fellowship with us always.

Matthew 28:20: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Because of the resurrection of Jesus, he has a name above every name and every knee will bow to him.

Philippians 2:9-10: “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”

The resurrection of Jesus means that Jesus kept his word.

Matthew 17:22: “Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.’”

The resurrection of Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures and the promises of God.

1 Corinthians 15:4: “He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

Acts 13:32-33: “We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus.”

Because Jesus was raised, he has received the promise of the Spirit and poured out the Spirit on us.

Acts 2:33: “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.”

Because Jesus is raised, he can still heal the way he did on earth.

Acts 4:10: “Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.”

Because of the resurrection, he gives repentance and forgiveness of sins.

Acts 5:31: “God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

Because Jesus was raised, he is now appointed by God to judge the living and the dead.

Acts 10:42: “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.”

Acts 17:31: “He has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

God secured our justification by raising Jesus from the dead.

Romans 4:25: “He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”

The risen Christ takes the place for us that the law once had so that we can bear fruit for God.

Romans 7:4: “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”

Because of Jesus’ resurrection, he now has the glory for which we were made. Our ultimate destiny is to see him as he is.

1 Peter 1:21: “God . . . raised him from the dead and gave him glory.”

John 17:5, 24: “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. . . . Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

May the risen Lord Jesus himself arouse your sincere mind to new depths of worship and allegiance and joy.

—John Piper

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise
Without delays,
Who takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
With him mayst rise:
That, as his death calcined thee to dust,
His life may make thee gold, and much more just.

Awake, my lute, and struggle for thy part
With all thy art.
The cross taught all wood to resound his name,
Who bore the same.
His stretched sinews taught all strings, what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.

Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song
Pleasant and long:
Or since all music is but three parts vied
And multiplied;
O let thy blessed Spirit bear a part,
And make up our defects with his sweet art.

—George Herbert, “Easter” (1633)

Laurence Stookey reminds us that our common Easter images of springtime, blooming flowers, eggs, etc., are totally Northern-Hemisphere in their orientation: south of the equator Easter falls in the autumn!

—Laurence Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church, 53

For Christians Sunday is the chief festival occasion of the faith. About this there is much misunderstanding. Many active Christians would say that Christmas is their chief festival. Closer to the mark, but still missing it, are those who would say that Easter Day is the principal feast of the church. What is amiss about such assessments? Simply this: No observance that occurs only once a year can connote the continuing work of God in daily life. Therefore the chief festival occurs weekly, and from it all else is derived, including those annual festivities that may be more visible and certainly are the more popular cultural occasions. . . . It has become a maxim of late that “every Sunday is a little Easter.” But it would be more accurate to say that “every Easter is a great Sunday.”

—Laurence Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church, 44, 54

“Easter” is the period of eight Sundays [until Pentecost], comprising fifty days, often called as a unit “the Great Fifty Days.” For the explosive force of the resurrection of the Lord is too vast to be contained within a celebration of one day.  

The recovery of Easter as “the Great Fifty Days” of the year can move the church along toward a fuller understanding of what the resurrection of its Lord implies. Easter is not one closing day at the end of a lengthy period of Lent. Easter is one extended rejoicing in the resurrection that more than exceeds in length the Lenten disciplines. The first day of the season, Easter Day, is the opening of a protracted celebration, even as the Resurrection is itself the opening to a vast new reality. 

“The First Sunday After Easter” implies Easter is over, having lasted only one day. But “the Second Sunday of Easter” (for the same date) indicates that Easter is an extended season, whose essential character is shared by all of its parts. The careful use of “Easter Day” rather than “Easter” for the opening occasion further presses this point. 

Once Easter is seen as a season, congregations can work at distinctive worship practices throughout the Great Fifty Days in order to tie the weeks together more clearly in the hearts of worshipers. For example, on Sundays Two through Seven, one stanza of a hymn used on Easter Day might be sung as an acclamation (“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” is one possibility). 

—Laurence Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church, 54, 56-7

****Believers in Eastern Europe greet one another, at church and on the street, with “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” throughout the fifty days of Easter. It is not just a day!

Today a grave holds him
who holds creation in the palm of his hand.
A stone covers him
who covers with glory the heavens.
Life is asleep and hell trembles,
and Adam is freed from his chains.
Glory to your saving work,
by which you have done all things!
You have given us eternal rest,
Your holy resurrection from the dead.

—Orthodox Church, The Matins of Holy Saturday (excerpt)

On the Great Sabbath of Holy Saturday, the pangs of death were birth pains, portending Easter Sunday as the first day of the new creation, as Jesus would soon be the firstborn from the dead (Col. 1:18, Rev. 1:5).

—Gerrit Dawson, Raising Adam: Why Jesus Descended Into Hell, 25

O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the
crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and
rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the
coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of
life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

—Book of Common Prayer, Liturgy for Holy Saturday