He is Risen ...

Sunday, March 27, 2016. When it comes to Easter, today a song is in my head: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” It is about that special event about 2000 years ago, when Jesus was crucified and died, and when the women came to his grave after the Sabbath, and found it empty. And then this question: why do you search him, who is the life, among the dead?

Jesus alive …

I also remember a time when I was a non-believer. I remember the salvation army who had written in big letters on their house: “Jesus lives”. That time, this sentence was strange to me. I thought: what strange sect is living there. Who could claim that Jesus was alive? Even the church did not claim that - at least the church as I new it was more following an ethical gospel, a critical gospel, a gospel which did not longer claim the resurrection by wonder, more the resurrection into an ethical Christianity.

But let us think sincerely about it. When you follow up the gospels and the letters of the apostles, you will realize that the resurrection happened. Something very wonderful and completely new happened on the resurrection day. God started a new creation in Jesus. He had a new body, he was alive, but now through the pain and the death of Calvary. He was sanctified, completed. He was worthy to open the book of life, the lamb of God.

There are many Old Testament images and words, which describe what happened at Easter. We hear about the suffering servant, we hear about the son of men. We hear about the great prophet, about the lamb of God, about new life, an open source of forgiveness, which comes through him. Jesus is the completion of the Old Testament, he lives according to the law, he lives in love, in trust, in faith to his heavenly father, fully human, and yet fully God, all the time. He is without sin, he stays tuned, he does not loose trust, he does not!

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The Empty Tomb …

When we hear the resurrection story, we hear about the empty tomb. Of course, people have questioned the early reports - the first to ask sincere questions were the apostles themselves, who could not believe it at first. But then, they all saw him, they could talk to him and touch him. And they believed! We have their reports, and we have our own experiences with the spirit of God, with the Holy Spirit. And we are asked today the same: why do you seek the living among the dead? Let us look into the original story:

1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” (Luke 24, 1)

Without a living Jesus, Christianity would be dead. Without a living Jesus, without the power which the Holy Spirit bears and gives, there would not be faith any more. But the resurrection happened, and it is happening today, through faith in Christ, and through his spirit, which fills those who want to follow him sincerely, with their heart and their mind, with all they are and have. (RWEP) ... more texts