The Revolution of the King 10: The Dead are Raised
For Meditation
It’s difficult to imagine what the women were feeling as they approach the tomb of Jesus early Sunday morning. Despair, sorrow, disillusionment, anger, fear…. surely a mix of all of these things. What they were not feeling was expectation. As a child I remember shivering in the cold at Easter morning sunrise services anticipating a day of celebration ahead as we praised God for the resurrection. There was no such early morning exuberance for these women. The only thing they expected to find was a dead body. And the only thing they anticipated for their lives going forward was the same status quo lives they had been living before they met Jesus.
Instead... the utter shock and surprise of an empty tomb and an announcement of a risen Lord! They remember the words that Jesus spoke about his death and resurrection, and they believe! And their lives are utterly changed forever. There is no going back to their former way of life. There is no return to the former order of things. The world itself was completely different- Jesus Christ is alive and vindicated as the Lord of history!
How has your life changed because of the resurrection?
Guatemalan poet Julia Esquivel wrote a poem called “They Have Threatened Us with Resurrection.” It may sound strange that the message of Easter may be threatening. But if Jesus Christ really did rise from the dead, there is no going back to our former way of life. The Kingdom of God is real. Jesus is reigning and is at work in the world. Everything Jesus is and everything Jesus taught is true and now grasps us with authority, and we will follow him wherever he leads.
This Easter, let’s come expecting to meet with the risen Lord. What will change in us and in our communities because of the resurrection?
This week we shared Amy Grigg's testimony. You can watch that below:
Our weekly worship guide can be found here.
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5 In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6 He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7 ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”8 Then they remembered his words.
9 When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But they did not believethe women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
