A New World is Opening Up

One of my favorite plants is the crocus.  If you don’t know about crocuses, you should.  They are the first flowering plant to pop out of the ground in the late winter/early spring.  We have several cute little bunches of white crocuses in our front yard.  It never fails.  Right about this time every year, somebody in the family bursts into the house with a grand announcement. “The crocuses are blooming!”  Confused looks shoot across the room from person to person.  I ask myself, “How can it be possible that the crocuses are up already?  We just melted off a big snowstorm and it hasn’t warmed up that much.”  Every year I take the skeptical walk to the front of the house only to find the tiny beautiful white buds bursting from the cold ground and greeting the sky above.  It never fails.  Upon seeing the first color of spring, my heart is filled with hope and joy.  There’s an extra spring in my step.  My cheeks don’t seem so heavy anymore.  It’s like a new world is opening up.

The loosening grip of the coronavirus on our society has coincided with the blooming of the crocus.  The cold, hard winter of Delta and Omicron has thawed.  I don’t hear anyone talking about smiling with their eyes anymore.  No, smiles burst forth only to be returned with more smiles, handshakes and hugs.  Long overdue conversations about the ups and downs of life spring up all over the place.  People are emerging from their homes and returning to worship, Bible classes and mealtime gatherings.  While all is certainly not well in our world and there is no certainty that coronavirus is done, we have a newfound appreciation for this season.  It’s like a new world is opening up.

None of you will be surprised that my next thought is Easter.  However, I must go there via Vacation Bible School.  Let me explain.  It’s easy for those of us who have heard the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection to lose the emotional shock value.  How would you react if you heard the news for the first time that Jesus physically rose from the dead and that all who believe will also rise to eternal life?  I have the pleasure of teaching the Bible lessons for VBS.  It never fails.  Every year I tell the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, and it’s clear that many children have never heard it before.  They descend with me on the emotional road through Jesus’ suffering and death, only to be shocked when I tell them that, on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead.  Confused looks shoot across the room from person to person.  I can see their minds working, trying to comprehend such a reality.  The awkwardness quickly transitions to unbounded joy.  There’s an extra spring in their steps, more than that, hopping, jumping and dancing!  It’s like a new world is opening up.  

Believers in the resurrection have a different perspective on life.  If you don’t know about it, you should.  Resurrection people see God opening up new life all over the place.  It’s what God does.  He shines light in the darkness and works good out of evil.  That’s what he did with Jesus.  Through Jesus, our sins are forgiven and we are taught how to forgive others.  Forgiveness opens up new life for relationships.  Selfless love reigns in our hearts.  Even in the midst of such great turmoil in our world, we have a strange and beautiful peace.  It’s God’s new life strengthening us from within.  It’s the confidence that comes from knowing that good wins, that truth triumphs and that love never fails.   Just as Jesus rose from the dead, so also we will rise.  When our eyes open up to new life, we will burst forth from the cold ground and greet the sky above, now a new heavens and a new earth.  On that day, death is dead and sin is silenced.  Only good remains.  It makes me smile.  It’s the new world opening up, never to close again.