…or so we thought.
He even said it: “It is finished”.
We buried Him in a borrowed tomb,
Sealed it with immovable stone.
Dead is dead.

Right?

But wait! Some say the tomb is empty.
Angels tell us that He's not here.
How can that be?

Who is this Man, 
Who walks out of His grave?

I mean, wasn’t it a little strange,
This Savior of ours talking about
Dying and rising from the dead,
Warning us that we would mourn
While the world rejoices, but then
Our grief would turn to joy?
Was He our Sacrificial Lamb of God,
Pulling our sins from the depths so
He could take our punishment, or
Judah’s Lion, roaring unafraid 
In evil’s face, defeating death and hell and
Our addictions?

What does He mean, Light in the darkness,
The Bread of Life,
Wellspring of Living Water, quenching all thirst?

Yeah, not everything He says and does
Makes sense.

Even so,
We celebrate Him who
   Taught us to love others by
      Returning to us who abandoned Him,
      Making us breakfast in the midst of our hopelessness,
      Restoring the one who denied knowing Him.
   Taught us to love God by
      Revealing His glory through surrender,
      Convincing us that even death obeys our Father,
      Showing us that resurrection is God’s answer to loss,suffering.
      Taught us to love ourselves by
            Giving us grace before we cleaned up,
            Naming us brothers and sisters, not traitors,
            Giving us new life and purpose beyond our failures.
      Has overcome my brokenness,
      Is overcoming my brokenness,
      Will always overcome our brokenness.`

No, none of this makes sense,
But here we are.
Truth rarely fits in a box.
It is finished, and yet
We’re just getting started.
Somehow, He is risen!
Through God’s power to make all things new, 
He is risen indeed!
And because of that—
So are we.

David K. Carpenter
Copyright © April 20, 2025