Sometimes loss is gain. Sometimes defeat is victory. Sometimes weakness is strength. Sometimes death is life. Sometimes, that is, when Christ is at the center, on his cross and not in his tomb.

The gospel of Jesus’ coming out of death and the tomb alive so that we might be restored to our identity as God’s children establishes the most enduring reality there is.

Today, Maundy Thursday, we receive the feast of Christ’s true body and blood for us, for the forgiveness of our sins. All of them.

Obviously, the LORD has no intention of slapping a bandage on creation. He will completely restore—it will be made new.

Jesus died for the people who put Him to death. Jesus rose for the people whose minds rejected the idea of a resurrection.

The sacrifice of Jesus stands completed, once for all, and we believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Need a resurrection in your life? Listen to Ringside.

“Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it. He destroyed Hell when He descended into it. He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh. Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead!” - Chrysostom

Tomorrow Jesus will laugh his way out of the tomb, spit in the face of death, and kick the devil in the throat as he dances to the clapping glee of angelic masses. But today he just rests.