Hope and Transformation: an Easter Devotional

One thing I love about children is the way they show their emotions. Whenever my children are sad, happy or angry, it’s very easy to tell what’s going on inside. As a parent, I’ve found it so helpful to notice and name their emotions when we are together, and it’s also made me better at noticing and naming my own.

In the story of Easter, we observe that emotions are running wild! Jesus’ beloved disciples and friends are experiencing all kinds of feelings as they grieve over him. For example, in Luke 24:

• The women experience confusion at not finding Jesus (Luke 24:4).
• The women experience fear at the sight of the angels (24:5).
• The disciples experience doubt when first hearing of the empty tomb (24:11).
• Peter experiences hope and wondering (24:12).
• The two disciples walking to Emmaus are feeling downcast (24:17), then they recall feeling excited as they became more aware of Jesus with these beautiful words: “Were not our hearts burning within us?” (24:35).

Within this swirl of emotions, Jesus returns, resurrected, and speaks lovingly to them, no shame or blame. He begins with a blessing, “Peace be with you” (24:36). While the disciples continue to feel fear, he invites them to touch him — he even gently makes light of their worry that he’s come back as a ghost.

The longer the disciples are with Jesus, the more their feelings of fear, confusion, sadness and doubt turn to “joy and amazement” (24:41).

While they watched Jesus die and plunged into grief, there was one possibility that Jesus’ followers hardly dared to hope for: that death may not be the end of him. But their seemingly impossible desire came true! Praise be to God that death is not the end. We and our loved ones can experience peace, joy and amazement because of Christ’s death and resurrection. As it says in scripture:

At Compassion, we have the honor of seeing a child’s grief turned to joy and amazement every day. Participants in Compassion programs get a taste of resurrection life through the ministry of their local church and the encouragement of sponsors. Being surrounded by caring adults, having basic needs met and getting to know their sponsor transforms a child’s emotional, physical and spiritual well-being. Participants have a chance to meet Jesus, learn all he has done for them at the cross and the empty tomb and begin an eternal relationship with Christ.

This Easter, we celebrate the transformative hope and resurrection life Jesus gave to us each one of us — and we feel joy that he lets us share it through our ministry together.