Easter: A different sort of championship Sunday

OPINION:

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.

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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.

Yet the world was never meant to tell you who you are. For the believer, you can make it through the peaks and valleys when you understand that your identity is in the fact that you are a child of God, a conqueror, a victor, adopted as a son or daughter.

That’s where your identity is. It’s a daily battle to fight for this truth.

Much like 1 Timothy says, “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” An athlete would never neglect training the mind and body, even though it’s for a competition that he knows will pass with time.

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How much more, then, should we pursue the one identity that cannot be taken, traded or forgotten — a closeness to our father in heaven that carries through eternity?

It is because of the resurrection — because Jesus did precisely what he said and is a living savior — that the way in which I treat my children, my spouse and my community matters.

It’s because of the resurrection that this matters for every one of us, every day and that we dare to hope and strive at all.

Easter is a celebration of victory over death. This resurrection power enables us to live with love, peace, patience and self-control in every sphere of life, breaking generational chains, offering freedom.

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In Matthew’s account of that early Resurrection Sunday morning 2,000 years ago, we are told that an angel that looked like lightning came and rolled away the stone that had sealed the tomb three days earlier.

A group of brave women came with spices to anoint Jesus’ body, only to be greeted by this glorious messenger from heaven. “He has risen, just as he said,” the angel proclaims.

Though my faith fails at times, we have full assurance that his promises will be realized — not because of who we are but because of who he is. We should stand amazed but not surprised by God fulfilling his promises. The final victory is ours.

The Super Bowl has a winner and a loser. The champion gets a ring, a parade and a few months of highlights before someone else takes the throne.

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Easter has no runner-up. There is no offseason. The victory declared that Sunday morning 2,000 years ago is still in effect, and it belongs to everyone who believes.

Take it from me: That’s the only championship that lasts.

• Benjamin Watson is a former NFL tight end and a writer, speaker and activist. He is a college football studio analyst for the SEC Network and serves as editor in chief of Sports Spectrum, a multimedia platform where sports and faith connect. With his wife, Kirsten, Benjamin is the founder of The Watson Seven Foundation, a nonprofit focused on strengthening families.