No Expiration Date

Digging through the pantry you discover a jar full of a special treat your best friend gave you. It was a special gift. Something you would never buy for yourself. And so you had put it away with the idea of saving it for a special occasion—maybe one when you could share it with the friend who gave it to you.

Now you wonder how long has this jar been hiding behind the pickles and jelly and olives and mustard. You twist it around in your hand looking for that subtle marking that says: “Best if used by . . . .”

You may not pay much attention to the expiration date of the food you purchase as you shop for groceries week after week. You know the stock never stays on the shelf for long. There have been too many times when you asked someone to go check in the back for what you wanted.

Still there are some sections of the store where you reach past the items on the front of the shelf to see if there is a loaf of bread or a carton of milk that is a few days fresher. And even though the vegetables in the bulk bins are not marked with an official end date, you sort through the produce until you are satisfied that you have found the freshest specimens available.

It is all just one more reminder of what seems to be the inescapable inevitability of decay. Food goes bad. Clothes wear out. Appliances break. Organs shut down. Death wins.

Those who celebrate the resurrection of Christ know that death is not the end. We gather as a community of faith to give thanks for a new reality:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials” (1 Peter 1:3-6).

Imperishable. Undefiled. Unfading. No expiration date on those who believe in him. “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:55). 

Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed!