The Easter story presents us with the same invitation it did for those first disciples: It invites us to believe the truth of the Resurrection, to trust with our heart what our mind cannot grasp. For who can understand such a claim as Christ's resurrection, which defies our comprehension?

Among the earliest “sermons” is Peter’s as recorded in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Note well that this Peter is the one who has denied knowing Jesus in the hours leading up to his crucifixion. This story seems to have a shaping power in his life, and it settles on a single point: It was “impossible for [Jesus] to be held in [death’s] power.” Then Peter cites one of the psalms that he had come to understand as speaking of God’s promise for Jesus: “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover my flesh will live in hope.”

The final claim is striking: “My flesh will live in hope.” This claim might seem to us a strange way of thinking until we find ourselves—or someone we know—facing severe suffering. In such a case, we struggle to “live in hope,” against the weight of pain. Peter reminds us that in such suffering the promise given in David’s psalm is meant for us as it was for Jesus whom God “freed from death.” With him, we face the pain of suffering and the shadow of death knowing, in faith, that it is as impossible for us—as it was for Jesus—to be held in its power.