Dear Trekker,
I always think of April as “resurrection month”! Obviously, Easter usually occurs, Spring breaks out of winter’s cold death, the birds begin to sing and my golf game is revived, hopefully.
This month three specific thoughts are emerging which I need to share. First, I called a very close, knowledgeable brother in Washington, DC the other day and asked him how “are things”. He affirmed the nation’s capitol had changed little, everything was in fact “a mess” on Capitol Hill, and “aren’t we all thankful we know who’s in charge!” I gave an “Amen to that” and instantly thanked God that He is in control and “we” are not.
My second thought… years ago my uncle, a learned man and then president of one of the nation’s leading Christian universities, told me “Jimmy, always start with the resurrection when you speak to people of the Christian faith. This is the most significant event in history and it absolutely confirms the truth of our faith!” God was in control that first Easter morning.
Third thought… eons ago, when I was about 15, I got interested in writing. It led to being the editor of my high school paper and enjoying putting thoughts together on paper. I learned every good news story must contain the five “Ws” and the “how”… who, what, when, where, why and how. Pure reporting has been lost often in today’s world. Sometimes it is hard to let the facts speak for themselves. Or as I used to say in my national intelligence days in Washington after reading about a hot Cold War event in the Washington Post, “The Post will never sit on a ‘good story’ for lack of facts.”
The facts of the resurrection are indeed still intriguing, 2000 years later. A man was hung on a cross with two thieves, laid in a borrowed tomb and on the third day was gone! But then he showed up, somewhat recognizable as he was before, but clearly “different”. Here one moment, gone the next! Recognized, then vanishing! Displaying pierced hands and a body with a hole in the side! The same one who died had resurrected! And no other man had resurrected him!
Trekker, resurrection, as baffling as it is, is not foreign to the Scriptures. Elijah and Elisha prayed and two boys came back from the dead. In the New Testament, after the resurrection, Peter brings Dorcas back to life. Paul does the same for Eutychus. And even before the resurrection, Jesus raises up the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus! And then, as if to seal the Life of the Good News in history, when Jesus died, “Many bodies of the saints who had died” were raised at the crucifixion, according to Matthew’s account. (Chpt 27: 52-53) But those resurrections (except the inexplicable ones at the crucifixion) all took place through another’s action. The human element was present, trusting the Divine!
Not so with the resurrection of the Son of Man! I so appreciate the fact that a woman, Mary Magdalene, made the discovery. She who had sinned much also loved much, and love was the present she brought to the tomb. Mary discovered an empty tomb and ran quickly to seek out Peter and John. Without all the answers, she shared what she saw. Her exclamation, “I have seen the Lord” is the essence of the Message for all time, what we call witnessing today. We share what we have seen and heard in our own lives. Oh, that we all might believe as Mary.
When Peter and John showed up after an exhaustive run to the tomb, one observable fact caught their attention. The grave clothes were still lying in folds, not as if they had been taken off and cast aside. It was as if the body of Jesus had simply evaporated and left them exactly in place… the head cloth and the body cloth, separated.
So who resurrected Jesus? The Spirit of God, God Himself resurrected the Word in bodily form. The Word became glorified flesh, alive once again, living, breathing, resurrecting, and ascending, totally in charge! Trekker, the resurrection is all about the “who”. He emerged through the eternal power of God. It was God’s love, God’s initiative, God’s power. And if the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, we too shall be brought to newness of life (but only) by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. (The Apostle Paul writes of this eloquently to the Romans, Chapter 8.)
Maybe there is a good reason Jesus asked his followers over and over “Who do you say that I am?” And He asks the question to you and me today, trekker. Is He truly the Son of God? If so, what does it mean? For sure He was in charge that resurrection morning, and He is in charge today when we fear our country is going downhill very fast.
Trekker, how do we reverse trends in our day? Fall in love with the risen Christ, become Jesus with skin on in our world, and be faithful moment by moment, caught up in His love. Maybe some of our friends will be amazed as were Mary, Peter and John. And we too, trekker, might turn the world upside down.
Sobered and seized by the Divine affection,
Your fellow trekker,
Jim Meredith
