Resurrection paved the way for a redemption story

Easter is really the most important Christian holiday. Outside of the religious connotations, dyeing eggs and finding plastic eggs with candy inside aren’t quite as exciting as Santa coming down a chimney with a bag full of toys, so Christmas gets the bigger headlines.

Without Christmas there could be no Easter. But without Easter, Christmas wouldn’t matter. The resurrection story makes the birth of the Christ child important.

Each year, docudramas love to reason out if Jesus was a real person or how his resurrection might be explained in less than supernatural ways.

My favorite is the “swoon theory” whereby Jesus was crucified and merely passed out. When he came to, with broken legs, a sword wound in his side and recovering for about two days from a massive loss of blood, Jesus walked miles to Emmaus and appeared around the area for more than a month.

When I have a flare up of Achilles tendonitis, I have trouble walking. But I’m sure if you drove a nail through my ankles and let me hang there for a day, I’d be fine after taking a couple of Advil.

Obviously, Christians believe the Biblical account of Easter. Non-believers are left to discount the entire story or pick and choose pieces of the story to ignore.

My favorite part of the Easter story comes after the resurrection. I love the scene from John chapter 21.

It was a tough time for the men who followed Jesus. It was tougher for Peter than most. He had betrayed Jesus three times leading up to the crucifixion. As the most outspoken disciple, Peter claimed to have Jesus’ back while he actually turned his back on him three times when Jesus needed him most.

I think that’s why Peter went back to his fishing boat in John 21. Peter was a fisherman who followed John the Baptist before Jesus began his ministry. After he saw the man he followed die and knowing that he did nothing to stop it, Peter was ready to get back to normal. That meant a fishing boat.

Several disciples went with him. They were safe in the Sea of Tiberius. They had their minds off of everything that had just happened. It was the best-case scenario.

Then came the bad news. They caught nothing.

As the headed back to the shore, a man saw them and basically said, “What’s the matter guys, no luck? Try the right side of the boat.”

They did and they netted 153 fish. (I love the detail in that. It wasn’t a lot of fish. It was 153.)

John immediately figured out that the guy on the shore was Jesus and he told Peter when he figured it out. Peter threw on his coat and jumped in the water to swim to shore.

When they got the boat to shore, Jesus made a breakfast of fish and bread. After they ate, Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. Peter said he did. Jesus repeated the question three times.

Each time Peter affirmed his love for his savior and each time Jesus told him to feed his sheep.

Peter had abandoned Jesus three times. Jesus brought him back three times.

Jesus had called a fisherman into the ministry three years earlier. He called Peter back into the ministry in the same way he called him in the first place. He got a new start where the story started.

How many people have found themselves needing a second chance? We’ve blown it. We feel pretty awful. Not many of us have hit bottom as hard as Peter by denying Jesus three times. When Peter came face to face with Jesus, he didn’t say, “Too bad, buddy. You’re out of luck. That’s what you get for messing up.”

He hand-delivered the second chance in the same way he brought the first chance. We don’t deserve either chance, but the resurrection story makes both possible.

That’s why Easter deserves to be about more than eggs and candy.