By: Sam Chan
I live in a house with too much stuff. That means when friends come over, my wife and I move the stuff from our living room into our bedroom. But when the friends leave, we have to move the stuff off our bed back into the living room.
We never get rid of the stuff. We keep shuffling it around. Nothing changes.
Is that how life feels? Like we don’t get anywhere?
Every year at New Year’s Eve, there’s the promise of a fresh start. But by Easter time, the world is back to where it was. Worse, I’m back to where I was. I’m the same person. My life hasn’t gone anywhere.
Why can’t I be better? Sometimes I blame the universe. The universe itself isn’t getting any better. The universe is like my 20 year old car, which leaks oil onto my driveway. It creaks and groans when I drive it. That’s because its parts are grinding away and falling apart.
If this universe isn’t getting any better, then what chance do I have of getting better? But what if there’s another way?
If you ever have any computer problems, then what you need is a 14 year old in the family. Whenever my wife has problems with her computer she calls our son, who simply turns off her computer, counts to 10, and then turns it on. Taaa-Daaaah! In other words, our son reboots the computer, and it works again.
That’s exactly what Easter offers us. A reboot. Because something in us — and in our world — is deeply broken, and we can’t fix it on our own.
The Easter Reboot
Maybe we know some of the facts of the Easter story? Jesus Christ, God himself, becomes one of us. He dies on a cross on Easter Friday. But he also rises back to life again on Easter Sunday.
What we might not know is that, when Jesus rose from the dead, it also rebooted the universe.
You see, when Jesus died on Easter Friday, it shut down the universe. Jesus, the Giver of Life, gives up his own life for us. God, the Maker of the Universe is dead. The lights are turned off. But when Jesus rises from the dead, back to life, on Easter Sunday, it reboots the universe. The lights are turned on again but … brighter than they were before.
It’s a reboot!
Recently, as a doctor, I did a refresher course on Cardiac Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR). So much has changed in CPR since I was a junior doctor many years ago. The biggest change is the invention of the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) pads. Now, almost anyone can place AED pads on the heart attack victim, and the pads shock their heart back to life.
We Can Reboot the Heart!
But Jesus does something even better than this. When Jesus rises from the dead, he kickstarts a new life for us and the world. Yes, Jesus rises from the dead with a new and better body. But he also begins the project of restoring this universe into a better universe – his Kingdom, which will be filled with his love, mercy, peace, and justice. And there’s the promise of a new life for us – which Jesus calls Eternal Life – which begins now and continues into the life-to-come.
Christians believe we need this supercharged reboot because our chief problem isn’t only that we’re ageing and crumbling. It’s that we’ve cut ourselves off from God, the source of life and all goodness. Being cut off from God shapes us on the inside and means that our hearts don’t naturally move toward what is true, good, and beautiful on their own.
But when Jesus rises from the dead, it kickstarts the universe back into the direction of what’s true, good, and beautiful. And if we put our trust in him, Jesus also kickstarts our “hearts” back into the right direction.
So how can we receive this supercharged rebooted life? The Bible tells us to respond to Jesus’ call.
Take the Call
Whenever I receive a phone call from a number that I don’t recognise, I ignore it. But recently I took a call from a number I didn’t recognise. I’m glad I did. It was a person reaching out to me who I hadn’t been in touch with for a while. By taking his call, I got connected with him, and received an unexpected boost.
In a similar way, Easter is God’s way of reaching out to us, offering us a reboot. God is initiating a connection with us. We can respond by accepting God’s Easter call, maybe in a prayer, and connecting with him. We can ask Jesus to kickstart our heart in the right direction.
For a long time, I’ve found New Year’s Eves to be depressing. My family and I watch the fireworks on our screens. But it’s never impressive. I’ve also been too lazy to go to the city, to fight the crowds, to see the fireworks in person. I’m locked in a cycle of being a victim of my own apathy.
Last New Year’s Eve, friends offered us free tickets to see the world famous fireworks at The Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. At first I said no because I didn’t want to be in the crowds and heat.
But my family snapped me out of my cycle of half-heartedness and said “What are you thinking? Someone is offering us free tickets to see the fireworks. We have to go!” So we went. And I’m so glad we did. Imagine missing out on the fireworks when all I had to do was accept the tickets?
Every year we can stay locked in our cycle of apathy and sometimes even despair. How can we ever break out of this and become a better person?
Easter offers us the chance of a supercharged reboot. We can be filled with Jesus’ Spirit of resurrection – his life and power. We can have a new life – Eternal Life – which empowers us to a new and better life, both now and in the life-to-come. All we have to do is take the call.
About the Author: Sam is a theologian, preacher, author, evangelist, ethicist, cultural analyst and medical doctor.
Article supplied with thanks to Espresso Theology.
Feature image: Canva
