Defy the world with its “oughts” and “shoulds,” for in Christ, it is finished.

This is the prelude of Easter. Is a dead Jesus still resting in the tomb? No!

A set of Holy Week poems written and published first by Tanner Olson on his website, writtentospeak.com.

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.

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.

Like the women who came despite their questions, your hearers will gather despite their uncertainties, and they will be looking for a word of honest hope.

In the resurrection Jesus transcended time, space, and death; those things which limit human existence. So, the stone was not rolled away for Jesus, but for the disciples and for us.