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Not a Metaphor - Wednesday, 04/08/2026

Scripture: John 20:11–18; 1 Corinthians 15:3–8, 17–20

At some point, it's worth being direct about what Christians actually claim about Easter. It's easy to let it become a warm story about hope and new beginnings — and those things are real — but the claim underneath all of it is more specific and more startling than that. A man who was publicly executed, confirmed dead, and sealed in a tomb walked out of it. Not as a ghost. Not as a symbol. As himself, with wounds that could be touched and a voice that said people's names.

Paul puts it plainly in 1 Corinthians: if Christ has not been raised, then faith is pointless, and people are still carrying all the weight of their mistakes with nowhere to put them. He doesn't soften it. The resurrection either happened or it didn't — and if it didn't, Paul says, we're wasting our time. That's not the kind of statement a person makes about a metaphor.

For people in Monroe in 2025, this lands in a very practical place. We live in a world where grief is real, where people we love die, where things fall apart in ways that don't get fixed. The resurrection doesn't make those things less painful. But it makes a claim about whether they're final. Death is not the last word. The grave does not get to define the story. That's either true or it isn't — and the whole weight of Easter hangs on whether it is.

Many of us live somewhere between full confidence and honest doubt on this. That's a real and legitimate place to be. The disciples themselves weren't sure what they were seeing when Jesus appeared. Thomas needed to touch the wounds before he believed. Faith, in the Wesleyan tradition, is not the absence of questions — it is trust that leans forward in spite of them.

You don't have to resolve every question today. But it's worth sitting honestly with the claim itself: not 'Easter is a nice idea,' but 'something happened in that garden that changed everything.' What do you actually think about that?

Reflection Question:  Where do you land honestly — between confidence and doubt — about the resurrection? What would it change for you if it's actually true?

Action Step:  Read 1 Corinthians 15:3–8 today and write down one question it raises for you. Bring that question to God honestly — not as doubt to be fixed, but as a conversation to begin.

Prayer:  God, I want to believe fully. Some days I do. Some days I'm less sure. Meet me honestly in that tension, and help my trust grow. Amen.