SOME accomplishments have ripple effects that have massive ramifications for the world. If an explorer breaks a new frontier, that opens up new windows of possibility for the rest of us. If a scientist makes a ground-breaking discovery, the whole world reaps the benefits. 
Other accomplishments really just affect the person who achieved them. Last year saw the breaking of a world record: The furthest distance travelled on a skateboard … by a cat! Ten whole metres. (Yes, the kitty pushes off the ground himself.) Maybe that amuses or inspires you, but to be honest, it probably doesn’t affect your life too much. 
It’s possible for us to think of the first Easter Sunday that way, as an achievement that doesn’t have much to do with us. Jesus was crucified Good Friday and left stone, cold dead in a tomb. On Easter Sunday, though, some of his female followers found his tomb empty and then they and several others claimed to have seen him alive. 
I get people being skeptical about this claim, but for myself, I am convinced that the best way to make sense of the facts of this case is to say that it really happened. Jesus rose from the dead. He was really dead dead. And then he came to life again and walked out of his tomb. 
But it’s possible to think of this as just another skateboarding cat. ‘Sounds impressive, but it doesn’t really affect me. One guy getting resurrected would be a great accomplishment, but doesn’t that just benefit himself?’ 
And this is where the Bible makes what is perhaps an even more astonishing claim: That the same thing that happened to Jesus can happen to us too. 
Jesus said that one day, those “who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.” (You can find that in the Bible in John 5:28-29.) Exactly like what happened to Jesus, a physical resurrection from physical death. It happened to Jesus first and he will see to it that others will follow as well. 
In other words, his accomplishment is like the explorer and the scientist in that it affects the whole world, but it’s greater because we’re talking about living forever! 
Most people when they hear the word ‘heaven’ think of disembodied spirits floating around in the clouds. Easter, though, proclaims a hope beyond a ghostly, ethereal existence. (That part is just temporary!) Through Jesus, by trusting in him, we can one day have healed, sick-proof, age-proof, injury-proof bodies in a restored, pain-free, disaster-free, trouble-free world. I’m looking forward to that!
Patrick Houghton is pastor at Boort Baptist Church