This Sunday, families across the country will crowd around tables loaded with food. There will be silence and then eruptions of cheering. Children will sprint across yards and open fields. Tears of joy will roll down jubilant faces.

I’m not talking about the Super Bowl.

I’m talking about something bigger, the event that makes every other event feel small by comparison: Easter.

For Christians, this is our Super Bowl. Except the Super Bowl fades by Monday morning. Easter is the one event where the outcome doesn’t just change a season; it changes everything forever.

Christ’s resurrection is the single most important event in the history of mankind. His promise to do so is the most important promise ever fulfilled. If He had not completed this work, then we as believers are of all men to be most pitied. In fact, it is the resurrection that gives us not only hope for eternity but also power in the present and forgiveness for the past.

Without the resurrection, Scripture would be regarded as nothing more than a collection of moral allegories, spiritual suggestions and fantastical fables. Why should I or anyone else live with integrity or serve the hungry, poor or grieving if the Word has no authority?

Jesus rose not only to crush moral relativity but also to extend an open invitation to all, saying that whosoever will come in repentance and faith can become a child of God.

I spent my career as an athlete. My worth was measured in catches, yards and championships. It was the aggregate of my highs and lows — seasons that came and went, a body that aged whether I wanted it to or not.

I have been to the Super Bowl. I know what that stage feels like: the noise, the stakes, the electricity in the air. I also know what Monday feels like. The confetti is swept up, and the trophies are put into cases. The story moves on.

Easter doesn’t. Two thousand years later, we are still talking about an empty tomb…

To read the full story, visit WashingtonTimes.com.

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