Christ Is Risen as Promised
Patsy Clairmont beautifully and movingly portrays the reality of recovering from grief. I quote her words because they are so strongly and lovingly written: “We buried my friend’s 26-year-old son last week. An accidental gunshot took Jeff’s life. We have more questions than answers. We are offended at people who have all the answers and no experience with devastating loss.
“I watched the heart-wrenching scenes as the family tried to come to grips with their tragedy. I can still hear the travailing of the mother’s anguished heart. I can still see the wrenching of the father’s grief-worn hands. I can still feel the distraught sobs that racked the sister’s body as I held her. I can still smell the hospital and the funeral home. Memories march before my mind like soldiers, causing me to relive the agony. If it is this difficult for me, Jeff’s godmother, how much more magnified it must be for his birth mother! I can’t imagine.
“As I watched Jeff’s mom, Carol, the week after his death, I observed a miracle. I saw her move from despair to hope. From franticness to peace. From uncertainty to assurance. From needing comfort to extending it.
“I witnessed a mom face her worst nightmare and refuse to run away. Instead, she ran to Him. When grief knocked the breath out of Carol, she went to the Breath Giver. I watched as the Lord placed His mantle of grace around her and then supported her with His mercy. The grief process has just begun for Jeff’s loved ones. The Lord will not remove His presence from the Porter family. But there may be moments when He will remove their awareness of His presence. That will allow them to feel the impact of their loss. For He knows it would be our tendency to hide even behind His grace to protect our fragile hearts from the harsh winds of reality. He offers us refuge, but He also promises us wholeness. Wholeness means we are fully present with ourselves and with Him. Therefore, we have to own our pain. If we do not, part of who we are we must either shut down, avoid, or deny. That would leave us estranged from ourselves and divided in our identity. Also, we would never heal in a way that would allow us to minister to others” (Under His Wings, [Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family, 1994], 139ff.).
The death of Jesus Christ left his followers devastated with grief similar to the Porter family’s. They had lost their best friend, their leader, and their life’s goals, hopes, and dreams. All meaning had disappeared from life. Meeting the resurrected Christ gave them the assurance and power they needed to recover from their grief realistically, regain their wholeness, and renew their commitment to the goal Christ set before them. We have trouble feeling the same grief and loss the disciples felt at Jesus’ death, but we can feel the glory of his resurrection and the joy of being part of his goal for living and for dying.
The gospel stands or falls on the reality that Christ rose from the dead according to the Scriptures.
24:1. The world’s worst Sabbath finally dragged to a close. Sundown brought a new day, the first day of the week. Now the women could fulfill their duty to Jesus and do something concrete to express their grief. But sundown brought darkness, when they could not venture outside their homes, so again they had to wait. The first rays of morning sun gave them opportunity to accomplish their task. They hurried off to the tomb where they had seen Joseph of Arimathea place Christ’s body.
24:2–3. The stone was rolled from the tomb. Yes, the large stone that resembled a millstone that donkeys might pull did not have to be moved. They could enter the tomb immediately. As they did, they saw that the tomb was empty.
24:4–5. What had happened? What could they do? How could they stand the loss of his body in addition to losing him to death? From out of nowhere two men in glistening garments appeared. Dazzled by it all, the women fell face down to the ground, afraid to look up. Then those angelic voices addressed them: Why do you look for the living among the dead?
24:6–8. Again the voices. He is not here. He is risen! The angels reminded the women of what Jesus had said in Galilee. Then they remembered!
The Lord is risen, indeed! This is the message that separates followers of Jesus Christ from all other people of the world. If Christ is not risen, we are of all people most foolish. The church must constantly ask why it believes in resurrection and what difference that belief makes. The Gospel writers faced the same questions as they wrote. They did not give philosophical answers. They did not engage in polemical debate. They simply testified to what the church had seen and how the church was different.
The first apostles did not believe the earliest testimony of the resurrection. They thought of it as an old wives’ tale told by a bunch of grieving, delirious women. Quickly, they rethought their position. Better check it out. Peter found an empty tomb and discarded linen wrapping cloths. Then Jesus found Peter. His witness convinced the other apostles and followers of Jesus in Jerusalem. Jesus did not rely on only one appearance. He joined the pair on the road to Emmaus and let them recognize him in the breaking of bread. Thus, his followers would always know that when they met to remember him in the breaking of bread and drinking of the wine, they could encounter him. As the pair retreated to Jerusalem and shared their witness, Jesus again appeared, this time to all the disciples. He showed them he was not a spirit or a ghost. Even as he appeared in the resurrection body, they could see his physical reality in the scars in his feet and hands and in his need and ability to eat.
Jesus then showed them that his life, death, and resurrection had completed what Scripture had predicted. What is more, Scripture promised more to come. Repentance and forgiveness of sin must be preached to all the world. That job lay with the witnesses to and believers in the resurrection. So they were to stay put, wait for God’s promised Spirit, and then start in Jerusalem and go to the nations in Jesus’ name. Having received their mission, they watched as the risen Lord rose again, this time into the heavens to be with the Father. This brought not grief and sadness at their loss, but worship, joy, and praise. Life with the risen and ascended Lord is a life of joy, worship, and praise for his followers.
PRINCIPLES
• Jesus Christ is the risen Lord of the church.
• Resurrection faith differentiates followers of Jesus from all other people.
• The life, death, resurrection and mission of Jesus come directly from the expectations and teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures.
• Resurrection faith developed only after doubting disciples experienced the risen Christ, heard witnesses of the risen Christ, and were led by God to recognize the risen Christ.
• Christ is recognized as the church remembers him in the Lord’s Supper.
• The resurrection body is different from but has continuity with the earthly body.
• Christ’s followers witness in Jesus’ name, calling people to repentance and promising forgiveness of sins.
• Christ’s church witnesses to him in all the world.
• Christ’s church can witness only as it receives power from the Holy Spirit.
• The church worships the risen Lord with joy and praise.
APPLICATIONS
• Study the Scriptures to learn about Jesus.
• Find assurance in the dark moments of life from your faith in the resurrection of Jesus.
• Be aware of Jesus’ presence as you celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
• Pray that God will make you aware of the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Rosalee Mills Appleby introduces us to a young Brazilian boy named Matthias. Smallpox destroyed his left eye and permanently weakened the right eye. Poverty robbed him of any opportunity for an education. What little money he had came from playing his harp for dances. One night he headed for a dance, but a new kind of music caught his ear and haunted his soul. Through the windows of a mission church streamed out the melody of “Trust and Obey.” Matthias stood spellbound. The service ended. The church members gradually disappeared to their homes. The melody reverberated in the young boy’s mind. He could not escape it. He knew life had something better to offer him than what he had.
Matthias tried to play his ragtime dance music, but it roused only shame and disgust in his heart. The harp was good for only one thing: to be sold. Finding a way to have glasses to let him read, he finally learned to read the New Testament. Also, he took up a new business, selling thread and thimbles in the country districts. As he threaded his way along the rain forest paths from house to house, he carried on an even greater business. In his bag among the needles and thread were his real products: Bibles and tracts.
Appleby describes Matthias’s mission: “His otherwise arduous task becomes a glorified one because a loving purpose tides him on and buoys him up. The naturally hostile people put him up for the night, and he preaches the gospel in their homes. Soon the humble, faithful tick-tack man will lay down his pack and go to live with the king. But his life will go on in this land of flowers. Boys and girls that now play beneath the palms will proclaim to others the message first heard from the lips of the peddler.”
Thousands of such stories abound across the two thousand years since Jesus lived, died, rose again, and ascended to the Father. Each story has its own pathos and its own victories. Your story can be added to the growing list. Certainly you have all the qualifications and much more opportunity than did Matthias. You can express your faith in the living, resurrected Christ. You can accept his forgiveness for your sins. You can witness to others, calling them to repentance and promising them forgiveness in the name of Jesus. You can watch as persons whom you lead to Christ witness for him and lead hundreds of others to him. You can join Christ’s church in worship, joy, praise, and witness. Jesus Christ suffered, died, and rose again, seeking and saving those who are lost, redeeming a sinful world. Join him in his mission today.