Many years ago, Christian recording artist Don Francisco recorded a powerful resurrection song, He’s Alive. I can remember the goose-bumps popping up on the back of my neck anytime I heard the song. It is a ballet about the last hours of the life of Jesus as viewed through the eyes of the Apostle Peter. The chorus goes something like this, “He’s alive and I’m forgiven, heaven’s gates are open wide.”
Fast forward to 2021 and I am amazed how few people are talking about the resurrection of Jesus. Retail stores display the bunny, while Easter baskets and Spring ensembles line the isles. Candy eggs and chocolate Easter bunnies fill the shelves; it is a wonderful time of the year.
However, there is no mention of Jesus. Over the weekend I observed people lining the street corners near the shopping mall with raised Bibles and placards stating, Heaven or Hell, turn or burn. Some could be heard shouting other condemning verses of scripture into the air.
Honestly, given the above choices, which would be more appealing? Sin is sin, in fact in one place in the Bible it states that whoever lacks faith sins! Sin isn’t the issue, forgiveness is. Jesus paid a horrible price to offer humanity the forgiveness of sin. The old country preacher once said that even a pig has the better sense to come to the feeding trough when it knows it will be beaten over the head with a bat!
The Bible tells a story of Jesus sitting at a well in the middle of a hot afternoon when a woman arrives to draw water. The custom was to draw water in the cool of the morning, or early evening, but she comes in the middle of the day because she is a sinner, an outcast within the village. Knowing this, Jesus asks if she would give him a drink from the well, a conversation ensues.
As the disciples return from the village, they inquire as to why Jesus is talking with such a woman. They—as did the villagers—had nothing nice to say to or about the woman. The woman abruptly left the well running into the village to tell everyone she saw about this man at the well. Why? The words of Jesus did not condemn the woman for her sins but rather offered her hope her life could be changed, and her sins forgiven.
The Don Francisco song says that Heaven’s gates are opened wide, implying that many can enter because Jesus is alive. The resurrection of Christ offers hope, both now and eternally. This hope has nothing to do with candy eggs, chocolate bunnies, or words of condemnation. This hope has everything to do with one simply powerful fact, He’s Alive!
It grieves my heart that this Easter holiday, especially after the past year, is almost silent with the awesome news that Jesus is alive. Hope is alive because some two thousand years ago, a brutally beaten corpse walked out from a stone and mortar sealed cave, alive.
He’s alive, and I’m forgiven, Heaven’s gates are opened wide. Happy resurrection day. Celebrate it with someone in your world who is teetering on hopelessness.