Jesus is Dead. April Fools!

1 Corinthians 2:2, For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Resurrection Sunday hast aptly fallen on April Fools’ Day. Christians everywhere in their shared cleverness are shouting, “Jesus is dead. Just kidding! He is risen!” He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

At the core of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Every Christian doctrine points to and stems from Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Anything that deters from Christ, His crucifixion, and His resurrection is not from Christ but the Devil. We call this the theology of the cross—a high Christology where every belief, doctrine, and practice ought to look to the cross and what Jesus accomplished on it for us. Anything that deters from the person and work of Christ becomes a theology of glory—a theology that elevates the person and human experiences over the Word of the cross.

As Lutherans, we preach only Christ crucified: that He stepped down from His heavenly throne, humiliated Himself in the human flesh, inaugurated the reign and rule of God’s kingdom in His person and work, died on the cross with our sins placed on Him, and rose from the dead having defeated sin, death, and the Devil for us. And we now live a life of the cross, denying ourselves even to the point of death, living as new creatures as God originally designed us to live, and waiting for the bodily resurrection to come.