Resurrection

John 20:1-20
Gospel Reading for the Resurrection of the Lord (Year B)

Note: This is from the 2021 Youth Lent Devotional that our ministry published. You can check out all of the devotionals (in square and swipe form) on our Woodmont Youth Instagram page

When a Woodmont group went to Guatemala in 2019, we visited a massive local cemetery on All Saints Day. In the early morning hours, the place was filled with people there to lay flowers at tombs, sing songs, and remember their loved ones who were no longer there. It was a reminder that life is short, that—as we hear on Ash Wednesday at the beginning of Lent—you and I are dust and to dust we will return.

As we tried to make our way out through crowded corridors, the morning son peaked over the mountain. And silly as it is, I thought about a scene from Avengers: Endgame. I totally knew it was coming and it still completely knocked the wind out of me.

At the end of the previous movie, an intergalactic villain known as Thanos wiped out half of the living beings in the universe. So the whole premise of Endgame was the remaining heroes desperately trying to find a way to bring back all of those lost lives. We knew that they would succeed. Spider-Man had been turned to dust, but he had a movie coming out later in the summer so we knew that he would somehow be resurrected.

Because this is a superhero blockbuster, the third act is a ginormous fight scene. And just when it looks like all hope is lost, portals of golden light appear everywhere and through them walks every last one of the heroes who had been lost; resurrected and here to help save the day.

When the movie theater saw this mass resurrection, a victorious roar rose through the room. People were cheering and rejoicing. And this involuntary heave came from deep down in my body and my hand covered my mouth. This superhero movie somehow hit all of us in that theater somewhere deep.

I think we all just really want to see resurrection.

In this world where there often seems to be so much darkness, we just desperately want to see that Hail Mary of Hope succeed. We want to know that the end is not the end. We want to believe that somehow, someway God is going to make all things right, that goodness triumphs, and that resurrection is real.

Walking through that crowded cemetery, I imagined what it would be like to see such a mass resurrection. To watch women, men, and children reunited with their loved ones. To hear the squeals of laughter and the sobs of joy. To see people realize that resurrection is real. I thought about Easter and Mary Magdalene discovering that Jesus was alive and about Peter and John sprinting through a graveyard in furious wonder. I thought about the fact that somehow, someway, because of Jesus, we are going to get to see resurrection not on a movie screen or in our imaginations, but for real.

This is the hope that we profess as followers of Jesus Christ: that resurrection is real. That Jesus is the beginning of the renewal of all things: lives, broken systems, relationships, everything. That God’s goodness will save the day. That new life is possible and it has already begun. That not even death can keep us from God’s resurrecting love.

Easter, as N. T. Wright said, is about the wild delight of God’s creative power. Honestly, the resurrection is a moment worthy of cathartic roars and tears of joy. It is a celebration worthy of marching bands booming through sanctuaries and fireworks lighting up the sky above steeples. You know Easter is coming—we celebrate it every year—but I hope that it hits you somewhere deep. I hope that it helps you see resurrection around you and live in hope of the resurrection to come.