Tuesday, August 28, 2018
John 20:15 Why are you crying?
HE LIVES!
All of the Easter stories begin with tears, blindness and fear. The disciples as well as the women are terrified . . . at the empty grave, at the angels, even at the risen Lord who appears to them.
The Christ who entered Jerusalem to suffer they greeted with joy and shouting. The Christ who has risen from the dead they meet with despair and fear. At the beginning of the Passion story there is joy and shouting -- although Jesus has plainly said He had come to Jerusalem to suffer and die. At the beginning of the Easter story there is sorrow and hopelessness -- although Jesus had plainly said He would rise on the third day.
We are so blind! We rejoice when we should be afraid, and we are terrified when we have cause for great joy. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory -- even over our own heart's weakness -- through our Lord Jesus Christ! All fear, all sadness, all false joy are wiped out by His resurrection. God has raised the crucified Christ from the dead. He approves His death. He declares in earth-shaking tones: "Jesus did not die, as all others, because of His own sin. Though made to be sin, He did not die a sinner. He was made sin and condemned for the sin of others. He died innocently, even though you men after His death opened His body with a spear, rolled a great stone before His tomb, and set a guard to be absolutely sure the grave would hold Him."
Not only was the crucified Jesus raised from the dead. He Himself also arose from the grave. Not only did He as a corpse receive life but He the corpse also laid hold of life. As He said: "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:18).
Why does Jesus' resurrection sweep aside all fear and sorrow? Because by His rising Jesus proves Himself to be what He had not ceased to be even in His deepest humiliation: The eternal Son of God. By His resurrection Jesus reveals that it was really God who suffered on the cross. The Lord of Life became a slave of death for us; the Holy One made Himself to be sin and dust for us, and the Lord of all lords took up His life again in the grave. Neither in His incarnation nor on the cross nor in the grave did God's Son ever cease to be God's Son.
Hear it, all people everywhere-- God Himself bore all your sin and grief.
He has set you free.
