The implications of Easter

And a happy Easter Sunday to you all!

In many Christian circles (particularly of the evangelical variety), the resurrection of Jesus means one thing and one thing only: that we can have hope that we'll live again after we die. Jesus, the thinking goes, defeated death by rising again, so death isn't the end.

I believe this to be true -- and, this year, I'm particularly glad for that reality. God knows I've spent more than enough time in funeral homes this year; death has touched not only my family (twice), but the families of at least three good friends during the first four months of this year. We should celebrate today because we know that life doesn't end when we take our last breath.

But that's not our only cause for celebration.

I recently had the chance to go hear Brian McLaren speak at Western Kentucky University. Brian is one of my heroes, someone whose work has deeply impacted my faith and given voice to things I've long believed but couldn't articulate. His lecture at WKU was based on his book "Everything Must Change." He spoke of churches being more concerned with an "evacuation plan" than with actually changing anything on earth. He noted that this was not what Jesus had in mind. In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus prays, "Your Kingdom come," then explains what that means -- "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Brian noted that the prayer is not, "May we go to your Kingdom when we die, where, unlike on earth, your will is done."

This is the kind of thinking that comes from our preoccupation with death and the afterlife. It's a mentality that has given us dozens of songs about seeing our loved ones again in the sweet bye and bye, but relatively few songs about working to ensure that God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

The resurrection absolutely means that life defeated death ... but that's not all.

It means that good defeated evil. It means that love defeated hate.

Whatever you see around you -- whatever injustice is evident, whatever greed and callousness runs rampant, whatever pain and suffering visits you or those you love -- doesn't have the last word. Life wins. Good wins. Love wins.