Easter (Resurrection of our Lord) Luke
24:1-12
The women came to care for the body of Jesus. It was their horrible, loving duty. But the stone was rolled away and His body
was gone. Of all the horrors of the
week, now this. Then the annunciation of the two men in dazzling
apparel – “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” He had been raised, just as He had told them that He
would be! When the women told the disciples, it seemed to them
an idle tale. Peter, impulsive Peter,
ran to see for himself, and went home amazed.
We do not expect our heroes to die. We expect them to vanquish the foe. We expect that they will struggle against
evil but overcome it in the end. We
expect that they will live to fight another day. Jesus had died. They lay His lifeless body in a tomb for
later burial. It was over. All their hopes and dreams of a better world,
ushered in by God’s Will through Jesus, were dashed. All the teachings and declarations, the
confrontations and signs and wonders, and all the miracles and lessons in life
were over. Jesus was dead. Empire and those who flourished under it, had
won.
But wait! The
tomb was empty! Angels! A new
declaration! A new miracle! Jesus was not dead, but had been risen from
the dead! What does it mean?
What it means is that God’s victory was one over evil
in the political and ecclesiastical realms, but not only in them. God’s victory is over sin and death
itself! Someone had to pay the price for
sin. Jesus did that. He who knew no sin, took sin to its death
with Him on the Cross! Sin no longer
wins! Humanity can live lives of Love
and Grace with one another, because sin does not hold us in bondage any
longer! We can live in bold certainty of
God’s Love and Grace because sin has been defeated, along with the fruit of sin
– death.
The ideologies of empire and Kingdom clashed on Jesus' Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem. But the Will of God, the Way of God, the Way of Jesus, the Way of Love and Grace wins! God triumphs, through the death of Jesus! God triumphs over division, destruction, oppression, injustice, inequality, inequities, greed, abuses of power, false supremacy, hatred and war! The ways of empire lose, in the end. God wins because love wins.
Even death, our greatest enemy does not win! That which many of us still hold as our
greatest fear has been conquered! Jesus
took it out! Death is now something else
for us – NOT uncertainty about what comes next or of what our plight will be
because of sin, but by God’s Grace, death is but the gateway to everlasting
life with God! It has lost its
sting! It no longer holds sway over
us! It is just something to go through
in order for us to be with God and for eternity in a state of well-being,
completeness and wholeness with the source of Love and Joy and Peace! It is but a portal to that new life!
The worst thing that can happen to us is that we
die. In Christ Jesus, that is not even a
defeat. It is life for us. All those who are struggling to survive across
the world, who are in a living hell of famine, war, oppression, violence,
addiction, poverty and hopelessness have a Lord who has gone through those
things, and who identifies with them!
This is not a God who is far off and detached from humanity, but one who
has come to experience our greatest temptations, our injustices, our suffering
and even our death! This Lord sustains
us by being with us in our struggles in life.
Where is God in the midst of all the suffering of the world? On the Cross, with us in it. Our hope is in the teachings of this Lord,
who calls us to the living of Agape Love with one another and a better world because
of it. Our victory is in a Lord who took
on even our death for us, to conquer our sin, so that we could have His resurrection
and life eternal with God!
So, why would we seek the living Lord among the dead
things of the world? Why would we just
claim the name and then embrace the things that produce the suffering,
violence, injustice, oppression, poverty, hopelessness and even death of our
sisters and brothers in the world? Why
would we just claim the name of Jesus and then NOT live what Jesus taught,
commanded and modeled for us in the living of Agape Love? Our seeking of the Lord in the midst of those
things is like going to a tomb to look for someone who is alive! Those are not the things of the Living Lord,
but the things of a dead one! Our Lord
cannot be found among the things of death and destruction, but in the things of
life and living!
We have a God who commands us to transform the world
in love, who is with us in the struggles because of a lack of that love, and who
has already given us the final victory over ALL OF IT by dying for us and being
raised for us! We go where Christ Jesus
goes! In life, we go where Jesus went in
how we live with one another, in the struggles of life we go with Jesus to the
Cross and in the end, we go to be with Jesus for eternity! Our hope is in our endurance in believing in
Jesus and Jesus’ Way for us to be in the world – the Way of Agape Love and
Grace, even or especially in the midst of the suffering we must endure because
of the ways of death and destruction! Our
hope is not in human invention or initiative or the ways of empire in the
world, but in the Way of Jesus that transforms the world to be in alignment
with God’s Will for us! Our hope is that,
even in the suffering, or especially in the suffering, we have a Lord who
identifies with us and all those who are suffering! Our hope is in a Lord who has conquered even
death for us, to give us an eternity of well-being, Love, Joy and Peace – the very
things that He taught us to produce in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and
now, by the living of Agape Love and Grace!
Jesus took on our frailty, hunger, homelessness,
injustices, suffering and even death. Jesus
taught us God’s better way for all humanity.
Jesus took sin to its death and conquered death itself! He died our death to give us His
resurrection! As He is raised from the dead,
so will we be raised! By God’s Grace in
Love, WE have a promise of life everlasting in Jesus our Lord!
Why do you seek the living Lord among the dead
things? He is Risen! He is risen, indeed!
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