Easter #8: The Risen Servant

The resurrection - Jesus Christ’s resurrection - changes everything!

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb,
taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled
away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body.
While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling
clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their
faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the
living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.

  Luke 24:1-6, New Revised Standard Version

  Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I
proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,
through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message
that I proclaimed to you-unless you have come to believe in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he
was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the
scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he
appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most
of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to
James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to someone untimely born,
he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called
an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of
God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the
contrary, I worked harder than any of them-though it was not I, but the
grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim
and so you have come to believe. Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from
the dead, how can some of you say there is  no resurrection of the dead?
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then  Christ has not been raised; and
if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and
your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God,
because we testified of God that he raised Christ-whom he did not raise if
it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then
Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile
and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have
perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people
most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised  from the dead, the first
fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being,
the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all
die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:1-22, New Revised Standard Version

 

T

he stone has been rolled away and the tomb is empty. Jesus Christ was dead. People saw him beaten and tortured; killed; crucified. His body, his corpse, occupied the tomb and it was sealed by a stone. However, Jesus Christ is alive. He has been raised. “He is risen from the dead and he is Lord.”
 

Easter is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, Easter is not merely a day or two; Easter Sunday or Easter Monday. Easter is a season that lasts fifty days, from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday.

Jesus Christ’s resurrection needs more than a day or two. Jesus Christ’s resurrection needs a season, fifty days. Fifty days to celebrate and highlight the power, the love, the grace we find, and the whole world can find, in Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

The first passage (above) from Luke tells the story of Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and others visiting Christ’s tomb to anoint his body and pay their respects. However, they found that the stone that sealed the tomb was rolled away and the tomb was empty (April Fools to the Pharisees, Romans, etc.?). Two men appear to the ladies and ask them: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? [Jesus] is not here, but has risen.” These ladies then deliver the first Easter message and are the first believers to preach the resurrection; and it changes everything!

The other passage from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is, in my opinion, some of the Apostle’s best writing. This passage, and chapter fifteen in its entirety, has theological depth, spiritual truth, and highlights the most important element of the Christian faith: Jesus Christ’s resurrection.

Paul ties the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ to the forgiveness of sins. We cannot have the latter, the forgiveness of sins, without the former, the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Just as an aside … When I was in CFOT we talked about how our sixth doctrine may be missing a word or two. The Apostle Paul may appreciate it stating: “We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death and resurrection made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.” I need to give credit to my brothers and sisters in Christ/in training who highlighted this for us. Something to think about. Something to add to the conversation.
 

We need the resurrection of Jesus Christ; the world needs the resurrection of Jesus Christ! Our faith is in vain, it’s pointless, without the resurrection. We’re still in our sins without it. We’re hopeless; we haven’t got a chance, without the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
 The tomb is empty; Jesus is risen. Do not look for the living among the dead.
 

 Jesus Christ is risen; our faith is not in vain, it is not pointless.
 Jesus Christ is risen; we are no longer in our sins.
 Jesus Christ is risen; we have hope and a chance.
 In Jesus Christ, Paul wrote, “…all will be made alive.”
 

The resurrection - Jesus Christ’s resurrection - changes everything!

Writer: Mark Braye and his wife Nancy are officers in Essex, Ontario, Canada. They have two children, pictured above, Hannah and Micah. The four of them love to play and watch Sesame Street.

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