One of the things I love about living in the age that we do is the sheer amount of information that’s available to us. We’re blessed to have centuries of information available to us to educate us and inform us about how things work. We know exactly what goes on each Spring as new life bursts out around us. We know how to make planes fly and cars run. We have coaches for every field under the sun and people who can analyze your performance and tell you exactly what you can do to improve. We have restaurants that create dishes that you wouldn’t be able to come up with in your wildest dreams let alone create. We have multiple technologies that let us see inside the earth to discover parts of history that were long lost and people who know just enough to be able to piece together what they find with what they know about history in order to give us a fuller understanding of what happened.
So when it comes to things like the first Easter (or even the first Christmas) we’re almost appalled at how few details are really available to us. It’s pretty clear that people knew this was a big deal when it happened, so why don’t they have more details shared and written down? As I was thinking about this again this past week one reason came to me: because it was just as simple as it reads. Jesus was dead and now He’s alive. It’s just that simple. But, but, but, but… we say. Don’t we need to know if it really was three days or when it really happened or who was there or what happened to the people who were there in the days that followed and what happened to all their stories and all the other stories of people who were alive in the time of Jesus? Can’t we have more?
Sometimes the answer is yes, but often God just asks us to trust Him that it is that simple or that He will work it out as long as we keep pushing ahead like He’s told us to. Sometimes the details actually end up getting in the way of the truth, which certainly could be the case for the first Easter. If we knew more would we focus less on the fact that He rose and why He rose? Context is awesome for a reason, but what if it’s not always necessary or right?
Sometimes we let the details of our lives get in the way of who we are or what we do. I was reminded by someone this week that we don’t need to focus on all our other labels when it comes to our relationship with God (if we have one), we just need to remember that we’re sons and daughters of God. It’s that simple. Yes, we love our layers and labels because those things bring richness to our lives. We love being parents and lovers and siblings and caretakers and bosses and coworkers and gardeners and gamers and readers and bakers and so many other things. But sometimes it’s OK to let all those layers go and embrace simplicity accepting who we are at our core, how we’re feeling, what we need or to just be without any of that other stuff. So yes, celebrate Easter in whatever ways you do with family and friends or faith, or just enjoy and celebrate another Sunday that you’re alive and breathing in air because maybe the secret to really living life is just that simple.