Since Chris Nye is at a hip and cool conference this week, he won’t have time to tell me not to post his words. Plus, he emailed them to me. Plus plus, below is part of a story about a goldfish.

This Sunday Chris will teach our middle schoolers on the Resurrection of Jesus (John 20:1-23).

Chris wrote a little preview for us:

I can remember when my first goldfish, Bowser, died. I had bought Bowser on sale at the local pet store after begging my dad for 25 cents. He was trying to talk me out of it, telling me that I wouldn’t feed it, that cleaning the bowl would be difficult, but I insisted over and over again that I would take care of him and love him forever.

It would be only three weeks before Bowser died. But I would like to take this time to defend myself: I fed Bowser, I cleaned his bowl, and I even gave him a nice spot in the shade on the counter in the kitchen. Even though I followed all the directions perfectly, Bowser still died.

My first thought, upon seeing his lifeless body float to the top, was this: was Bowser murdered? My dad never seemed to be a fan…but then, upon thinking more about Bowser dying, I thought: why? I did everything right but he still died. As a small child, I understood the idea that still sits with me: death is wrong. Death is not normal. Death should not be a part of this life.

Sometimes we say things like, “It was his time to go,” or “that’s just the circle of life” or “the way things go.” But why? Don’t we agree that death is bad and life is good?

We do agree on that and God agrees with us. So much so, that the death of His only Son would not be the end of the story, but rather the beginning. The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation on which all of Christianity is built. In our suffering and in our terror, Jesus says, “You will have new life.” We put all our rest and hope in this historic fact: that though we may die, through Christ we may truly live.

Let’s explore that together.