Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
What does this mean for us? Today? We know it means that we will have eternal life with God. That death is not the victor! We know it means our sins are forgiven and we are cleansed in the blood of the lamb. It means we mere humans are important to God who created us and who now redeems us.
It means that each of us, regardless of our human condition, is a person of worth and value. When a child is born, God breathes the breath of life into the child and in doing so declares that child is of value! Christ died for us because our lives have inherent value. We are worth dying for. You are worth dying for.
As we age, many of us discover we are unable to do some of the things we used to do. Sight, hearing, muscles, joints, body organs give way to the stressors of living. We have to adjust and adapt. We find it disconcerting, frustrating and annoying. At times we may feel isolated and alone. We may begin to question our worth, our value to the world. But the Easter message is that regardless of our physical condition, we have inherent value and worth. Societal messages may sometimes suggest otherwise, but we can ignore those messages because they are not from God.
Some people are born with physical/medical conditions that set them apart from others or they suffer neglect or abuse as children which causes lifelong mental health issues. We refer to those children as special needs children and they may have a life long struggle of coping with feeling worthlessness or being of little or no value. Sometimes, through no fault of our own, some develop serious mental health issues. At times their coping leads them to strike out against society and the people around them in hurtful and harmful ways. Sometimes events in life seem to conspire to interfere with our sense of identity, and we question our self worth. Societal and cultural messages may suggest that those who struggle with such issues are of little or no value. Again, the Easter message is that we all have inherent value and worth . We do not need to prove ourselves for God has already proven that we are important.
The message of Easter may be that Christ died for our sins and rose again so that we might have eternal life but the underlying message and therefore the significant message for today is that each of us is a child of God and because of that and that alone each of us has inherent value and worth! Thanks be to God!