Is Easter over?

Many people think Easter is a celebration of just one day. But did you know that the Easter eason begins on Easter Day and lasts 50 more days, ending on Pentecost Sunday? So in 2012, it began on April 8 and ends on May 27, just about the time school is out. Put that on your calendar.

Why do we need 50 days to celebrate Easter? What’s the matter? Don’t you like to party? This is the time that the resurrected Jesus walked and talked with His disciples. For 40 days He gave them their last teachings and their “walking papers,” the Great Commission.

What a time! And then He had them wait another 10 days for the Holy Spirit to be poured out over them. And poured out it was! There was fire, and it wasn’t brimstone. There was wind, and it wasn’t hot air. They began to speak in other languages and prophecy, and the new wave of God’s work on earth was begun with a bang!

What an exciting time it must have been! There was powerful preaching, and new prophets were raised up. There were healings and people were raised from death back to life. And what I want to know is, “Who called time out?”

I’ve been doing research, and I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where God said we’re suppose to leave the game, that the Commission is over. My Bible says that no one knows when Jesus will return and that we are to keep going until the eastern sky breaks open and the Son of God returns in glory. Hallelujah!

So come on folks! Let’s get back on the field, and finish the race.

And keep in mind Jesus’ instructions found on the last page of John and the first page of Acts, “it doesn’t matter who did what or who’s going to do what.” What matters is that you get baptized in the Holy Spirit and then follow Jesus by being a witness of His resurrection; that He’s alive!

The Easter season is not about chasing Easter bunnies or looking for eggs. The book of Acts is about the men and women who understood what Easter is about, and began to spread the news of the risen Savior to the most remote corners of the world. Are you watching the celebration, or are you following Jesus?

Consider using this Easter season to begin the same pilgrimage that the first Christians embarked on. Imagine their excitement seeing the resurrection power of their Lord and Savior being lived out through their lives!

Wait on the Lord, as they did. And then allow the Holy Spirit of God to be poured into you, as they did. Then you will be changed forever, just like they were. I can’t tell you what He’ll do in you, but I know it will be incredible! And through the Holy Spirit of God, you will enter into a real spiritual relationship with God.

Pretty simple. Jesus is saying don’t get seduced and bogged down with life’s “what ifs,” the doomsdayers and the callers to political action. If you’re a disciple of Jesus, your focus is on God’s work of witnessing that Jesus is alive. Period!

Give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and then move on. It doesn’t matter who runs for president because the one who wins will be put there by God. And if he doesn’t do what God wants him to do, God will remove him.

So let’s keep the celebration going. Let’s tell the world! The resurrected Jesus is alive!

Be blessed.

Mark Kennedy is pastor at Grace Community Church in Port Aransas.