Springtime, resurrection, and Easter Sunday

Each year, as spring awakens, we feel refreshed and ready to begin again.

With revitalized eyes, we notice:

Busy bees, humming as they gather hive-sustaining nectar, showing us that there is satisfaction in vigorous work.

Trees, budding with gentle greenness and young, tender branches, remind us that revival is possible and fruition is near.

And daffodils, springing cheerfully from the silent earth, teach us that growth and new beginnings can follow periods of decay or dormancy.

But we can’t have an eternal spring.

It’s just a season, meant to pass on so that another necessary season can arrive.

The needful cycle (and contrast) of wintry death and flourishing springtime is emphasized in Ecclesiastes 3:

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; …

17 I said in mine heart...there is a time...for every purpose and for every work.

There is a time and purpose for “wintry” endings; a time for terrible breakdowns, a time for weeping and mourning and loss and tearful silence.

But there is also a time for delight – a time for springtime and new life – to reign.

A time and purpose for healing, rebirth, laughter – even dancing.

A time of togetherness, embracing, and closeness.

A time of joyous abundance.

Perhaps the best example of the necessity of contrasting seasons is the Savior’s disheartening death and triumphant resurrection.

On a Sunday almost 2000 years ago, the Messiah had laid in a tomb for three days.

This period of silence, says verses of scripture, some Biblical scholars, and religious leaders, was miserable for His disciples.

Because despite Christ referencing His impending death and resurrection (three times, in Matthew 16, Matthew 17, Matthew 20, and subtly on other occasions in the book of John), His disciples didn’t quite understand His mission. They thought His kingdom was right around the corner.

They were expecting a glorious new phase, a “springtime” of political freedom, and an end to “winter” – centuries of oppression, unfair taxation, and bloody wars.

Instead, their expectations were crushed by a sudden and ignominious death.

However, during a period of death, grief, and shock, there was also new life.

For Jesus was crucified in April – “Iyyar,” or “the month of flowers:” a time when the Holy Land was carpeted by anemones, irises, orchids, and other refreshing flora. Emerging plant life likely speckled the land with exotic purples, bright reds, sage greens, and other breath-taking colors. (Ancient Jerusalem used to have lots of microclimates because of moisture and wind from the Mediterranean and Dead Seas, mountainous ridges, and places of contrasting low elevation. Each unique geographical feature created pockets of rain shadows, deserts, and scrubby terrains, but also lush valleys and green hillsides.)

Mediterranean climates often produce plants with spines or jagged-looking petals. For example, in Israel, the Iberian starthistle and Syrian thistle both feature beautiful purple and blue-tinted florets. But their stunning petals are surrounded by long, sharp thorns; the Syrian thistle was even used for whipping.

But just as winter makes us appreciate springtime, so does the floral structure of these flowers – which could have bloomed during Easter – remind us of the importance of death and resurrection.

The contrast of the thorns accentuates the beauty of the thistles.

The Savior’s death, though initially difficult for His disciples and saddening to modern-day followers, accentuated the glory, power, hope, and purpose of His atonement and resurrection.

For His death was necessary for progression and eternal life. Without His sacrifice, atonement, and triumph over death, we would be doomed to an eternal “winter”– misery, stagnation, and hopelessness in mortality (and after death).

“And now if Christ had not come into the world … there could have been no redemption.

“And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection.

“But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ” (Mosiah 16:6–8).

Because Christ overcame death, the grave hath no victory.

And “the sting of death” –

the sting of disillusionment and desperation,

loneliness and loss,

betrayal and bereavement,

failures and faith crises,

heartache and hopelessness,

can all be overcome by Him.

Cycling seasons. The sorrow of Christ’s death and the rejoicing over His empty tomb. Native Israeli flowers. They all teach us that “wintry” hardships are necessary and that daily new beginnings – the change, light, and hope embodied by spring – are all possible because of the Messiah.

Because without Christ, there wouldn’t be the purpose that Ecclesiastes 3 mentions in endings, disillusionment, loss, or tears.

Without Christ, thorns would overshadow beauty,

There would be no reason to hope for restoration,

And the coldness, isolation, and cruelty, exemplified by winter, would reign.

“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” (John 11: 25–26, KJV)

Today, my heart swells with gratitude for the one who innocently and unselfishly died so that I can keep hoping and changing.

No matter how long, perilous, or “wintry” the trials of life may be, I know that Jesus Christ, the Light of the World, the tender shepherd, the Prince of Peace, the Bread of Life, the repairer of the breach;

Way-maker,

Promise keeper,

My loving older brother,

has made a way for me to experience all the joy and renewal that springtime represents.

On this and every Easter, I say“in mine heart … there is a time … for every purpose and for every work.”

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:3–7, KJV)

Thank you, Jesus, for dying so that I can live for “springtime” – new beginnings and progression, every day.