Rev. Richard P. Smith
| READ JOHN 20:1-18 |
What difference does it make for your life and for my life and for human history that Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead some 2000 years ago? What difference does the resurrection make here and now?
Let me answer that question with four insights.
The Resurrection Brings God’s Promise Of Help And Hope
Here in John’s resurrection account, Jesus appears to Mary and calls her by name, “Mary.” He comes to her at her moment of deepest need and comforts her.
In Easter more than ever, you and I hear the resurrection message that God knows our name; that God knows our circumstances; and just as Jesus came to Mary, so God will come to us and help us. The resurrection reminds us that God can restore what we think can’t be restored; can rebuild what we think can’t be rebuilt; can resurrect what we think can’t be resurrected.
Easter is God’s clarion reminder to each of us that we’re never alone; that He as God of resurrection and new life is at work in our circumstances to bring help and hope.
The Resurrection Validates Jesus Of Nazareth
For Pontius Pilate and the religious and political leaders of that day the case of Jesus of Nazareth is closed with his crucifixion; end of the story; end of the conversation; no more Jesus to worry about.
But God had a different plan. God raised Jesus from the dead in order for the world to know that Jesus was not just some itinerant teacher and preacher, not just some knowledgeable rabbi; no, he was God’s Son. God raised Jesus for the world to know for all time that he was indeed the Son of God.
You know what this means, don’t you? Because Jesus is God’s Son…what he said we should believe; how he lived we should follow; the people whom he loved we should love.
The Resurrection Confirms There Is Life After Death
Diane Komp, a pediatric oncologist and faculty member at Yale, wrote about her experiences with dying children. In one of her books A Window to Heaven: When Children See Life in Death, she tells about Mary Beth:
Mary Beth was six years old when she was diagnosed with cancer. After a brief period out of the hospital, her disease recurred. On one occasion her mother confessed to being baffled by a dream that that the child shared with her. She asked me what I thought it meant. Mary Beth told her mother that Jesus came to her in a dream with one of her grandfathers [whom Mary Beth knew from family pictures she had seen]. Together, Jesus and her grandfather told her of her impending death and encouraged her not to be afraid. She awoke with the peace and reassurance that she would soon be with Jesus and her grandfather. Mary Beth died at home on Christmas Eve in absolute peace.
The Resurrection shouts loudly and clearly…Life does not end in death! In God life continues! Thanks be to God!
