The Resurrection is not the End
There is always more of the Lord.
It’s currently the Easter season. We made it through Lent and through the death and resurrection of Jesus, but it doesn’t end there.
I grew up celebrating Seder with my family. We would gather in a fancy banquet hall (there are a lot of us) and celebrate the passover service, the passover of Jesus who it the Lamb of God, the sacrifice of the unblemished Lamb for our salvation.
I admit that as a child most of the symbolism and prayers went over my head. I was there for my Grandmother’s Matzo and the Sparkling Grape Juice that we only ever had at that celebration. But as I grew older, I invested more time in understanding what we were celebrating. We were celebrating the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
In the ceremony we pray this prayer:
“Had he brought us out from Egypt, and not executed judgment against them
It would have been enough for us.
Had he executed judgment against them, and not divided the sea for us
It would have been enough for us.
Had he divided the sea for us, and not drowned our oppressors in it
It would have been enough for us.
Had he drowned our oppressors in it, and not helped us forty years in the desert
It would have been enough for us.
Had he helped us forty years in the desert, and not fed us manna
It would have been enough for us.
Had He fed us manna, and not brought us to Mount Sinai
It would have been enough for us.
Had he brought is to Mount Sinai, and not given us the law
It would have been enough for us.
Had he given us the law, and not brought us into the promised land
It would have been enough for us.
Had He brought us into the promised land, and not given us the temple
It would have been enough for us.
Had He given us the temple, and not sent us His son, the Messiah
It would have been enough for us.
Had He sent us His son, and not given Him up to die for our sins on the cross
It would have been enough for us.
Had He give up His son to die on the cross, and not raised Him from the dead in victory
It would have been enough for us.
Had He raised Him from the Dead, and not sent us His Holy Spirit,
It would have been enough for us.”
When I woke up on Easter Sunday this year and put on Praise and Worship at top volume, I had this prayer on my mind and the thought came to me,
“Today is the Resurrection, but there’s even more coming.”
This prayer from the Seder Meal encourages us to reflect on the goodness of God. To appreciate all the good he has done for us in the past, all the ways He saved His people even when we were undeserving. But I think this prayer also gives us a way to remember the good he will continue to do through the rest of our lives.
I often let myself settle for less than what the Lord wants for me. I grew up at Christ the King Catholic Church in Ann Arbor, MI which is a Charismatic parish. I grew up comfortable raising my hands in prayer, comfortable praising the Lord as loud as I could, and in college I lost a lot of that. I stopped praying “Come Holy Spirit.” throughout the day. I stopped going to praise and worship. I would sit to pray but I wouldn’t sit long enough to really let Him in, only long enough to check prayer off my to-do list.
The Lord had done good things in my life, but I wasn’t open to more.
I had settled for less than what the Lord wanted for me.
After I posted my last blog, my Grandmother texted me. She said,
“It does my heart good to see you responding to the Lord about very important things even at your young age. It’s taken me SO long to get where I am and I feel like I need two more lifetimes to really get it!…”
And she shared some beautiful life lessons she had learned with me.
I responded to her with this realization: The journey of getting to know the Lord is lifelong, there is always more to learn, more grace to be received, there’s always somewhere deeper to dive into. And that’s one of the most beautiful things about life.
Could you imagine if it was one and done? If Jesus said, “I rose from the dead and that’s it. I’m going to heaven and you guys can figure out the rest for yourselves.”
Or if he had said, “I only give you grace one time, so other than that you’re on your own.”
To put it simply, we would be screwed if that was the case. We can’t do life without His grace, there’s no point if not for Love Himself.
But He didn’t leave us alone. He gave us the Sacraments. He sent us the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2) He is walking with us, constantly teaching us.
So this is a reminder that there is always more.
The Lord’s love doesn’t end with the Resurrection, the Resurrection is the beginning. It’s the beginning of a new life, and when we unite ourselves with Christ who rose from the dead and we open our hearts to His Holy Spirit, there is an unlimited amount of grace for us.
We often treat Easter as an end. It’s the end of Lent, “thank God I can eat Chocolate again.” It’s the end of the reign of death. And while these things are true, they are not the limit.
That’s the beauty of God’s Infinity.
There is always more.
Our journey of faith doesn’t end with one conversion moment, but it’s a series of conversions that allows us to continually grow.
God knows how we work as human beings. He knows that sometimes we need an extra push, that sometimes it takes 7000 reminders to learn something, that sometimes we need to experience hurt to really learn a lesson.
He meets us where we are and then he walks with us as we continue on in our lives.
Conversion is ongoing. To be a saint we need to be willing to have not one conversion but one million conversions, because He always has more.
When we settle for less than what He has for us and say, “there’s nothing more to know,” we give into pride. It’s us saying we don’t need Him anymore. And that is never not the case.
This Easter Season, as Pentecost approaches, open yourselves to the “more” that God has for you. Stop settling for what you think he wants, or what you think He is. Dive deeper. Invite the Holy Spirit in. Ask for a new conversion.
He wants more for you, so he won’t disappoint you when you ask for it.
God has so much He wants to do. He’s doing beautiful things in the world and in the Church, and He will do beautiful things through you.
Come Holy Spirit.
We’re ready for more.
Originally found on the “Joyfully His” blog. Shared by our Draw Near contributor, EmmaLee Miklosovic. Find the original blog here.
