No One Came Back from the Cross

By Sarah Whitman

On the third day, He rose.

Year after year, these words are repeated worldwide on Easter Sunday.

On the third day, He rose.

If you say it enough times, the words can become tradition. They can take on an almost abstract idea. They can loose meaning.

On the third day, He rose.

Two-thousand years ago, many men were crucified. It wasn’t uncommon. The brutal practice was intended to punish to the fullest extent.

The crucified did not rise.

There was no coming back from the cross.

When the Romans saw that Christ’s tomb no longer contained a lifeless and drained body – that, in fact, it was empty – the occurrence was a first.

Imagine having watched a man suffer and die, then visiting his well-guarded grave site and finding only cloth.

Imagine being a disciple of this man. You believe the one you followed has gone. You feel defeated, lost. Then, He appears again.

You might think yourself mad with grief. Only, your friends see Him too. He can be heard and seen by many.

This wasn’t just another day. It wasn’t just a tale to be passed down in tradition. It was a moment when mass understanding of life and death was interrupted. It was a moment of questions.

Those who wrote and shared the Gospel risked capture. They risked capture, torture and humiliating ends. Still, they wrote. For years, they sat and put words to paper.

There is a difference in saying, ‘On the third day, He rose,’ and accepting it as truth.

Accepting it as truth means there is more to the story.

It means there is more to you and I than a series of breaths strung together by ticking clocks.

It means the burdens we carry are not our own.

It means the stains of time can be washed clean.

It means everything we are fighting against was long since defeated.

It means we are free – to live, to love, to believe.

Yes. On the third day, He rose. And He is still very much alive.

He is alive in every voice raised in worship, every act of compassion and every whisper of hope.

Speak His name. Call out to Him. Your life will change.

On the third day, He rose.