“So the disciples went away again to their homes. But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked inside the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying”. (John 20:10-12)
The resurrection of Jesus from the grave on Sunday after his sorrowful death on Friday is God’s checkmate to all the plotting and scheming and evil and sin that the world could ever dish up against God and against all that is good and beautiful and right and holy and good. It’s God’s victory over sin and the grave; It’s God’s victory over death itself. The day that began with such great perplexity soon turned into a day of victory and of joyful celebration. Sunday is a microcosm of the human dilemma. We are born into what seems to be a mysterious and confusing universe, and we wonder if there is any purpose to it all. We cry out to the heavens for an answer, and the heavens remain silent. All that we see is a dark and mysterious and silent universe with a myriad of unanswered questions, and we wonder if there is anyone out there to answer them, or if we are condemned to live in the futility of a universe where there are many questions but very few answers. But there are some people at some times and in some places who look out across the universe and we see something very different; the light is turned on, something pierces our souls, and we realize that there is an answer, that God and heaven and truth and beauty are real, that the universe makes sense, that “the heavens resound with the glory of God”, that everything has a purpose, that we have a reason not only to be alive, but to celebrate with joyfulness! Coming to grips with the reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus is the key. While it may seem foolish to many to believe that a man could actually resurrect from the dead, many of us have discovered that the resurrection of Jesus is the key that opens our understanding to the things of God and to the meaning and purpose that we seek. “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ is coming again”. It’s an old refrain that has been repeated by the Church for two millennia, and it is true— more true than many will ever realize. Sometimes the things that seem the least credible are the things that are the most true, but we have to be willing to look foolish in order to discover them. We have to be willing to question the things that seem most obvious. When we make the so-called “discovery”, then we realize that we have not really discovered anything at all, but that God has revealed these things to us, because He wanted us to know the truth that would set us free. We didn’t find the light; God turned it on and focused it in our direction so we couldn’t miss it. Blessed are those who have eyes to see and ears to hear! If we could get beyond our pretty traditions and see things from a higher perspective, we would understand that Resurrection Sunday is a declarative celebration that is the kind of celebration we would have if war and violence and injustice and poverty and racism and discrimination and cancer and COVID-19 and all of the other issues and diseases that inflict and affect humankind were eliminated on the same day, times infinity, because it marks the defeat of all the enemies of God and of humankind, forever. It marks the defeat of humankind’s two greatest enemies, sin and death, out of which all the other of humanity’s problems flow. It marks the breaking of the curse of sin and death. The head of the serpent has been crushed by the wounded heel of the woman’s seed. God had created an unspeakably beautiful and glorious universe, humankind had rebelled, sin and death had reigned for a season, but in the resurrection of Jesus, God has the last word. Checkmate. God will accomplish his purposes. Sin and death and their consequences have been abolished. God is at work restoring his children, his earth and his universe to their original wholeness and beauty, He is carrying out his purposes toward His intended ends, and all obstacles have forever been demolished by the One who died and arose from the dead. God can never be defeated, and his purposes are good. In the proclamation of Resurrection Sunday lies our hope and our joy: He is risen! He is risen indeed! The message of Sunday is that our deepest moments of futility and perplexity and despair can be turned into our greatest moments of joy and victory and meaning once we start to get a glimpse of the God-perspective. We find meaning in the universe by getting to know God and to understand His ways. We get to know God by getting to know Jesus, which involves repentance and faith. We get to know Jesus as we wrestle with the implications of his death for us and his resurrection for us, but we have to move from the global to the personal. His death was for the world, to reconcile a sinful world to God, but in another sense it was specifically for me, to take away my sins. His resurrection was for me, that I also might be raised, as he was. He came to give me forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and a life that has meaning. These things are all wrapped up in his death and resurrection, which took place for me. They are for the world, they are for me, and they are for anyone who will receive them. May God open our eyes and show us the truth that will set us free! As Mary did on that Sunday morning over 2,000 years ago, we came to the tomb. We looked inside. We saw. We understood. We believed. We still believe, and that belief has rocked us to the core or our being, and has transformed our very existence into something very different from what it was before we met him— and that has made all the difference. Those of us who are Christians are people of the cross, and people of the empty tomb, and people of the soon return. These are the things that define us. These are the events that tell us who we are, because they tell us who God is, and how we can be in right relationship with Him, and how we can know Him, and how we can find our place in His universe as His beloved children, with His design, and with His appointed calling, purpose, meaning, and destiny. Look into the empty tomb at your own risk. Look away at your own risk. There is no way to avoid the risk. Whether we choose to look inside or to look away, the consequences are immense. There is no way to play it safe. Choose wisely. Choose carefully. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive”. (1 Corinthians 15:20-22)
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