And, thou didst bring away Captivity thence Captive, us to win.
Behold, the Prophesied Redeemer has risen! The Jesus who was killed by the Roman Empire is alive again! His eyes were glossed over, but now he sees! His mouth was closed, but now he speaks! The Son of Humanity is here again, and he has come to free us from the Roman Empire!
The exclamations of the disciples of Jesus on that day were ecstatic. When they saw him and recognized him, they were elated that their teacher was alive again. They had seen him hanging on the cross only two days before, and many of them also saw him placed in the tomb. The disciples saw their teacher die, but now they were seeing the impossible. They saw him alive again—and he had returned to free them at last! But, Jesus didn't free them from the Roman Empire.
So, what does the resurrection of Jesus mean if he didn't free them from the Roman Empire? Why do we celebrate Easter if the resurrected Jesus returned only to leave again forty days later?
Today, we celebrate Easter because, in his resurrection, Jesus proclaimed that neither death nor oppressors have the final word. When he rose from the dead, Jesus proclaimed that the powers of this world will never have the final say. The Roman Empire accused him, abused him, hung him on a cross, and killed him. But two days later, something miraculous happened that completely decried everything the Roman Empire did. On the morning of this third day, Jesus the Christ rose in triumph and declared that the last word belongs only to Him.
It was since prophesied that the Roman Empire would return again. Today, the Roman Empire is the Israeli Apartheid Regime who is actively genociding the Palestinian people. Today, the Roman Empire is the United States Dictatorship who rounds up people to send to unimaginable concentration camps beyond our borders. Today, the Roman Empire is any power of this world who oppresses and murders the least-of-these—whom Christ declared were himself in Matthew 25:40.
Because of these powers, there is and will be crying. There is and will be pain. There is and will be mourning. There is and will be death.
But, when all is said and done, the Roman Empires of this world will not have the final word. The final word belongs only to Christ. Thus, we declare on this most holy of days:
Christ is Risen!