There seem to be two essential questions about Easter.  One is "what happened?"  What happened on that first Easter.  If the "what happened?" question is the more important one for you, then the essential challenge of Easter is to believe that God raised Jesus from death - literally brought his broken body back into the physical realm in some way.  This victory over death, then, gives all of us reason to hope that death will not have the last word in our own existence.  There are many ways to understand this belief, but it essentially focuses on the historicity of the resurrection event.

The second essential Easter question seems to be, "What did it mean?"  If the question about the meaning of Easter is more important to you than the "what happened" question, then arguments about what you might have seen had you been present on that first Easter morning become much less important.  You might believe there was an event of resurrection, perhaps able to be witnessed by anyone present, or at least one observable only by true believers.  On the other hand, you might find that the resurrection has meaning for you primarily because of a sense of the presence of Christ with you now - and you believe that the experience of those first disciples was more mystical and less physical than the Gospels portray.

There are strong arguments on both sides of the issue of what happened.  There are people I admire greatly, deeply spiritual people, who hold very different views about the event of the resurrection.  If our focus as followers of Jesus is to insist on just one of those interpretations being the correct one, we will never find our way toward living in sync with the vision of shalom, the oneness of all of life that the Bible calls God's kingdom.  It seems to me, then, that the more important question for us today is the second, "What did Easter mean and what does it mean?"

The story of Jesus' resurrection is told against the pattern of the Jewish understanding of a general resurrection at the end of the age.  Jesus was seen to be the "first fruits" of a resurrection that would include all people (1 Cor. 15).  In ancient Christian iconography, the resurrection was not an isolated event.  The risen Christ was often pictured calling the ancients from their tombs and leading souls out of the land of death.   The meaning seems pretty clear within that context.  In Jesus, a "new heaven and new earth" have begun to come into being.   A transformation has begun to take place as "the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ."  This alternative and counter-cultural kingdom was present in Jesus and becomes more present as we follow Jesus' way.

What might it mean for us to live the reality of the Kingdom of God today?   What might it mean for us to live awake to the reality of the God presence in and around us?   Being awake to that presence, we would probably live with greater personal integrity - more truth-telling and less manipulating.  We would probably be more compassionate - seeing and responding more quickly to the needs of others around us.  We would probably be less fearful and more invested in realizing our own potential as human beings.  At the same time, we would probably be quicker to recognize and affirm the God-presence in others.

The meaning of Easter for us has to do with how we live our lives each day:  how we treat others and how we embrace the best in ourselves.  But there is another dimension of resurrection reality that challenges us.  That is to work to change oppressive systems.  These are relational systems in society, industry, and religion that result in fostering dependence rather than freedom, despair rather than possibility, and scarcity rather than abundance.   Our opportunity and task is to partner with God to create the new earth.  This call includes our inner transformation, our relationships with others, and our commitment to bring greater health in the way we live together with all people.

However we may understand or choose to interpret the nature of what happened that first Easter morning, it is crucial that the meaning of Easter affects the living of our lives today.  This is for all people, not only for followers of Jesus.  In the end, it does not matter whose religion or philosophy gets to the finish line first to receive God's blessing.  It does not matter which one proves to be right because I seriously doubt any of them will win that prize.   What matters is that we all learn to walk with one another.   Whatever the finish line is, it is important that we arrive together because esurrection is not an isolated event.

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.
  
Jack Price

FYI - Jack has published several articles at: http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jack_F_Price

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