“Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

Today is the death of doubt. Today uncertainty is shown the door. Did God really become the man, Jesus of Nazareth? Did Jesus’ death really pay the ransom to release you from the power of sin, eternal death, and hell? His death on the Cross was certainly dramatic. The heavens were darkened at noonday, and the earth quaked, and the curtain veiling the Holy Place in the Temple was torn top to bottom, but, did it work? Are your sins forgiven? Is there peace with God already established for you? These are good questions, but they are answered, every one of them, by the fact of the empty tomb. Can you look forward to anything but eternal death and the fires of hell on your dying day? Look at Jesus, who is risen from the dead!
When the hatcheries try something new and release the salmon smolt in the spring runs, how will they know whether the new thing worked? When the silvaculturalist tries out a new grafting technique, or a farmer plants something never sown in his fields before, how will they know if it worked? When the first mature salmon is sighted returning for the spawn, when in the orchard one of those newly grafted sprigs begins to grow and swell with a new bud, when that corner of the field that gets the extra water and sun first shows that green haze of a newly sprouted crop. That’s how they know it worked.
How do you know that your sins are forgiven, that the ransom is truly and forever paid, that eternal life is yours? Jesus has risen from the dead, the first fruits of all who are redeemed in Him. Here is more than a wish, here is more than a plan, here is the proof of victory over the grave – sin, death, and hell are all pierced and destroyed in this fact : That Jesus, who died is alive! Mary at the tomb clung to Him, and you can’t hang on a vapor. The disciples on the road to Emmaus walked with Him, and a ghost’s feet don’t kick up dust. The Disciples were gathered in a locked room, frightened out of their wits that they’d be the next to die, when Jesus interrupted their fear with His blessing of peace. Thomas doubted, but Jesus took his fingers and pressed them into His nail-scarred hands, and into the wound in His side. Peter mourned his denial, but Jesus absolved him, gave him a job, and fed him breakfast. And after forty days, in full sight of over five hundred, Jesus ascended to the Right Hand of the Father before them all. This is not just a fine sentiment, or good wishes, but historical, physical reality. These are the facts. It worked. You are forgiven. The penalty of your sin, which is eternal death, is paid. Jesus has reconciled you in the sight of God.
So have no further doubting, and believe. Stop acting like it never happened, and live! Paul advises you rightly when he writes in the Epistle : “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Things are different now. Jesus is risen, so stop acting like there is no hope. Jesus is risen, so stop behaving like an unforgiven sinner. Jesus is risen, so get over all those paper tigers that loom so large– all the reasons you can’t live in Christ, for paper tigers are only that –they crumple into dust and are nothing. Get over it, and live in the hope, the forgiveness, the reality, and the new life Jesus won for you at the Cross– it worked, Jesus is risen, and you too shall live in Him. Tell your neighbors, tell your friends, teach this hope to your children. Stop dying like frightened sinners and live. Jesus is risen, it worked! And I’ll see you, and those you tell, in church next Sunday too. Believe me, you don’t have anything better to do by returning to your old ways. Turn, and live! Jesus lives. Your sins are forgiven your life is restored. Live. For the peace of God which passes all understanding guards your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen. Alleluia! Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!

Scribbler on March 23, 2008 at 11:18 AM

Well, after all the days newspapers and TV specials have released their nutrients into the soil and the oaks that grew from the resulting loam have all grown old and died, one suspects the 4th century excordium of John Chrysostom will still be ringing clearly regarding the Event celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal equinox :

Are there any who are a devout lovers of God?
Let them enjoy this beautiful bright festival!
Are there any who are grateful servants?
Let them rejoice and enter into the joy of their Lord!

Are there any weary with fasting?
Let them now receive their wages!
If any have toiled from the first hour,
let them receive their due reward;
If any have come after the third hour,
let him with gratitude join in the Feast!
And he that arrived after the sixth hour,
let him not doubt; for he too shall sustain no loss.
And if any delayed until the ninth hour,
let him not hesitate; but let him come too.
And he who arrived only at the eleventh hour,
let him not be afraid by reason of his delay.

For the Lord is gracious and receives the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour,
as well as to him that toiled from the first.
To this one He gives, and upon another He bestows.
He accepts the works as He greets the endeavor.
The deed He honors and the intention He commends.

Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!
First and last alike receive your reward;
rich and poor, rejoice together!
Sober and slothful, celebrate the day!

You that have kept the fast, and you that have not,
rejoice today for the Table is richly laden!
Feast royally on it, the calf is a fatted one.
Let no one go away hungry. Partake, all, of the cup of faith.
Enjoy all the riches of His goodness!

Let no one grieve at his poverty,
for the universal kingdom has been revealed.
Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again;
for forgiveness has risen from the grave.
Let no one fear death, for the Death of our Savior has set us free.
He has destroyed it by enduring it.

He destroyed Hell when He descended into it.
He put it into an uproar even as it tasted of His flesh.
Isaiah foretold this when he said,
“You, O Hell, have been troubled by encountering Him below.”

Hell was in an uproar because it was done away with.
It was in an uproar because it is mocked.
It was in an uproar, for it is destroyed.
It is in an uproar, for it is annihilated.
It is in an uproar, for it is now made captive.

Hell took a body, and discovered God.
It took earth, and encountered Heaven.
It took what it saw, and was overcome by what it did not see.
O death, where is thy sting?
O Hell, where is thy victory?

Christ is Risen, and you, O death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!

Scribbler on March 23, 2008 at 11:58 AM