Note: I thought I'd share this short story with you, but it was written around Easter last year and I thought I'd share it here as well.
Wally Cleaver did notice how fast time passed. It was now Good Friday and Easter was coming on Sunday. He did remember some of the past while celebrating Easter when he was younger, so memory came back. It happened before his mother died and made his father, Ward unhappy.
About fifteen years ago, Wally woke up bright and early. It was finally Easter Sunday. He really never was a religious person, but Wally and his mother told him the meaning of Easter. Easter had always been one of his favorite holidays of the year. He really didn't show much interest in Easter egg hunting, but his friend, Eddie Haskell loved it and always looked forward to Easter every year.
On that Friday afternoon, he and Eddie were talking about Easter.
"Wally, are you going to search for Easter eggs this year?" Eddie asked.
Wally looked in Eddie's direction.
"You ask this every year, Eddie. You should know by now that I'm not interested at all in this sort of kid stuff."
"You sound more of an adult than a kid, Wally. Don't you ever have fun?"
Wally didn't answer Eddie's question, but what Eddie had just pointed out was true. That's what Eddie's favorite thing to do – cause a lot of trouble.
Even if Wally never was a religious person, he did keep a Bible with him, but every Easter Sunday he liked to read about how Jesus died for us. Even the first Christmas was another favorite, but he preferred to read the Bible on holidays. This was all Wally did remember back then. So he found her Bible, which he'd had for a few years now, was the Message version. He turned to Matthew 22:30.
Jesus answered, "You're off based on two accounts: You don't know your Bibles, and you don't know how God works. At the resurrection we're beyond marriage. As with the angels, all our ecstasies and intimacies then will be with God. And regarding your speculation, on whether the dead are raised or not, don't you read your Bibles? The grammar is clear: God says, 'I am – not was – the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.' The living God defines himself not as the God of dead men, but of the living. Hearing this exchange the crowd was much impressed.
Wally stopped reading since it ended there. He might've read this passage many times he never bothered to memorize it. Next he made a visit to Luke 14:14.
Then he turned to the host. "The next time you put on a dinner, don't just invite your friends and family and rich neighbors, the kind of people who will return the fear. Invite some people who never get invited out, the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks. You'll be – an experience – a blessing. They won't be able to return the favor, but the favor will be returned – oh, how it will be returned! – at the resurrection of God's people."
So Wally stopped there. Every Easter he read this type of story, it made him think he had to agree about Jesus died for our sins, which was true. Next he flipped to John 11:25. Here's what she found out
"You don't have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who lives believing in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?"
Again Wally stopped. He decided to answer that question for himself.
"Yes, God, I do believe this. I'm going to keep reading the rest to find out more of Your Resurrection. Also Thank You for making me mature as a child for not getting involved with kid stuff like hunting for Easter eggs, but I guess I was more adult not to find candy with other kids."
After saying that, he next flipped over to Acts 24:15. He liked reading Christ's words about how He told the followers about this topic. He read this:
"But I do freely admit this: In regarding to the Way, which they malign as a dead – end street, I serve and worship the very same God served and worshiped by all over ancestors and embrace everything written in all our Scriptures. And I admit to living in hopeful anticipation that God will raise the dead, both the good and the bad, If that's my crime, my accusers are just as guilty as I am."
Now it was time to pay a visit to Romans 6:5 and so she flipped to the book of Romans. Here's what she was told:
"That's what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light – filled world by our Father so we can see where we're going in our new grace – sovereign country."
Again Wally paused as he finished reading that verse. He saw he was almost finished reading about Jesus dying on the Cross for our sins. Next he decided to flip to the book of 1st Corinthians 15:42.
"This image of planting a dead seed and raising a live plant is a mere sketch at best, but perhaps it will help in apporaching the mystery of the resurrection body – but only if you keep in mind that when we're raised, we're raised for good, alive forever! The corpse that's planted is no beauty, but when it's raised, it's glorious. Put in the ground weak, it comes up powerful. The seed sown is natural; the seed grown is supernatural, it goes down in physical mortailty to when it is raised up in spiritual immortality!"
Next it was time to pay a short visit to Philippians 3:10.
"I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the Way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it."
Next he flipped to the book of 1st Peter 1:3. Here's what he read this time:
"What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand – new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all – life healed and whole."
Every word Wally had just read was one hundred percent true, even if it meant he didn't believe in Jesus Christ, but always loved this type of story in the Word of God. Now he flipped over to the book of Revelation 20:5. This is was going to end him off and then he could do it again next year.
"I saw thrones. Those put in charge of judgment sat on the thrones. I also saw the scabs of those beheaded because of their witness to Jesus and the Word of God, who refused to worship either the Beast or his image, refused to take his mark on forehead or hand – they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years! The rest of the dead did not live until the thousand years were up. This is the first resurrection – those involved most blessed, most holy. No second death for them! They're preists of God and Christ; they'll reign with him a thousand years.