Shared Hope: On Easter, we celebrate that after death is the promise of a new life

One of the tough things about aging is continually saying goodbye to people we love.

It’s the price of loving deeply and being blessed by the gifts of others. But the reality of here today — gone tomorrow — can lead to a deep emptiness and sorrow. A shadow can cover our ability to stand up to the loss. When the death is sudden or the person is a big part of our daily lives, we can stumble into a ditch of despair that is hard to climb out of into life again.

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It helps to know that our memories keep the departed present in our lives — their values, their example, their love, their joy. Their influence is a part of us. And feelings of their love will linger.

For the followers of Jesus, death holds no victory. We live with the promise and hope of a new life beyond this one and a uniting with loved ones.

We celebrate that hope on Easter — the remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus after His brutal death on the cross. It’s a bold belief — not at all credible to some people that a man, we know who lived, would leave the grave three days after his death.

Mike Strauss is a physics professor at the University of Oklahoma, who conducts research at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, in Switzerland. He believes there is ample evidence that this event actually happened, and in fact, the many myths that try and explain the resurrection, seem far-fetched in comparison to the truth.

Here’s some of the evidence that, after much research, Mike points to that the resurrection occurred: The post-resurrection appearances, the empty tomb, the disciples’ transformation, the guards’ actions, why opponents never produced a body or objected to the claims of a resurrection, Paul’s conversion and James’ role.

Additionally, it explains: the cross symbol, women as witnesses, opponents' inability to stamp out the new “superstition,” the shift of the day of worship to Sunday and why the disciples died for their belief.

When we go to church every Easter we say, “Christ has risen.” And there’s a response, “He has risen indeed.” But after listening to Mike teach our Sunday School class, my belief is confirmed in a new way. It isn’t just my heart that knows now; it’s my mind, as well. Jesus told us that the most important commandment was that we “should love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind (Matthew 22:37)." A more complete understanding builds a deeper faith.

And when we face our own death or the passing of someone we love, it’s reassuring.

One of my best friends lost her husband recently. The family lost their father, grandfather and great-grandfather. And Oklahoma lost one of its most remarkable entrepreneurs and philanthropists ― Tom Love. He was a one-of-a-kind, faith-filled man who loved life, his business and employees, his country, the Catholic Church and his beloved family.

Easter will be the family’s first holiday without Tom, and while they face sadness, there is also the reality of the blessings Tom left with them. And no doubt, there remains hope and belief that his death is just the passing from one room into another ― a place where there is no pain, no sorrow and no tears.

We all have that same promise. In Adam Hamilton’s book on Luke, he writes: “In Jesus’s death and resurrection, light conquers darkness, love vanquishes hate, and life defeats death.”

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Happy Easter, dear readers! You have blessed me by sharing my thoughts and questions for almost three years. I began when COVID was heavy upon us in April 2020. I hoped to offer encouragement during that dark time, maybe six weeks or so? I obviously had no idea what we were in for. I never anticipated writing so many words and then rewriting them numerous times often with the help of my writing teacher and friend, Carolyn Wall. I pray the words were meaningful to you. But times change, and I will be taking a different path for my writing. I’m appreciative of Carla Hinton, and others at The Oklahoman, for giving me this opportunity.

Until we “write and read” together again, I wish you God’s presence and blessings for a life that has a happily-ever-after ending/beginning.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: On Easter, we celebrate that after death is the promise of a new life