Day 69 – The Resurrection – John 20:1-21:25
Paul writes in his great chapter on resurrection: “…if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.” (1 Cor )
The Father’s response to his Son’s action on the cross is revealed a few days later. The Father has raised Jesus. The tomb is empty, and over the next forty days, Jesus will meet with his disciples.
All three events: Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension work together as the pivot of history which gives us assurance that God’s promises will be fulfilled. We can enjoy eternal life, and creation will be fixed, in fact be better than it even was at the beginning.
I do want to note one issue which is vitally important and in fact makes God’s promises vastly different than any other world view. As revealed in Jesus’ resurrection, our ultimate eternal life will include complete life with some aspect of physicality. Not as we know it (read 1 Cor 15 for Paul’s writing on this issue, along with Jesus’ resurrection appearances) but much more than a mere wispy soul ghost. This ghost soul view was prevalent in the Greco-Roman world and oddly enough has become mainstream thought in our culture today. Certainly we will have a second transitory period of our life with just our soul alive in heaven. But resurrection is much more, and at some point, as described in Revelation, heaven returns to earth. Eternity stretches out after that great event.
I say this because for some, discipleship can become a personal spiritual pursuit with little effort to concern oneself with the here and now of life. Resurrection puts a deeper, fuller meaning on eternal life. The empty tomb is a reminder that resurrection is more than we often think. Because of this vacant, really vacated, tomb, we can all be certain that resurrection awaits us as well.
In the words of Eugene Peterson, who I can not recommend enough, Practice Resurrection now! As we see when Thomas touches Jesus' wounds, how we live in the here and now will reverberate out into eternity.
In Christ,
Randy
What I like in this story is John & Peter go in the tomb and see the folded cloth. Mary then looks in and sees angels, then Christ meets and talks with her. Christ meets and talks to us in however we need. His response is always what the person needs, it isn't the same or equal but rather what is needed. We are all different and Christ knows exactly what we need... isn't it great to be His child.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point, Gay. I never saw it that way. Isn't it truly awesome that we are all His children and He knows each one of us so well?
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