Risen Today

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 - 2:00 PM CST

Most of us have experienced the death of someone close to us. Even if we believe we will be reunited again in the hereafter, the concept of never sharing another Christmas, never sharing another common meal, never having another conversation or never being able to pick up the phone to call someone who is such an important part of our lives gives us more than enough reason to grieve his or her absence. Life will go on without the person, but that life will be different, sometimes drastically different.

The fictional subplot in the World War II movie, "Pearl Harbor," tells of a woman who is informed that her fiancé's plane was shot down in the waters off the coast of England. She is, of course, horrified and grieves, but then life plods on and after many months, her relationship with her fiancé's best friend develops and they fall in love. As the plot thickens, it turns out that her fiancé never actually died and returns home to the shocking reality that life has moved on without him. Everyone finds themselves in a state of whiplash, because people just don't return from the dead.

I'm not sure we can ever fathom what emotional whiplash the followers of Jesus were experiencing when their Master, who had just hit the top of Jerusalem's popularity charts a week before at His triumphal entry, was suddenly arrested, severely beaten and killed all in about 15 hours. What just happened? Am I dreaming? I thought Jesus was going to SAVE US. I thought He was our new King! Their realities changed in an instant. They were leaderless and alone. When dramatic things occur in our lives, we can cover the thousands of steps that will now have to be taken just in the first few minutes. Think about what the disciples must have tearfully agonized over in those 39 hours after Jesus died.

Then the confusing, unbelievable news came, "I just saw Jesus and--you're not going to believe me, but just go with me here--He's not dead any longer." I can imagine my heart stopping upon actually seeing my Hero, who was just pulverized, standing before me glorified, no worse for the wear, smiling at me. Over the next 40 days, I imagine the Risen Lord spoke in fewer parables to his followers, but around campfires and over meals He explained to them how His death and resurrection fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies, how love's redeeming work was done, how He fought the fight and The Battle was now won, how He opened Paradise, how He died to save our souls and how our sins are now forgiven.

If none of that were true and Jesus is still dead, every one of the disciples were incomprehensibly committed to die horrible deaths to defend the lie they concocted.

We don't live with the memory of a great leader. Jesus is not dead. Our King is alive and well today.