"The Great Resurrection Question"

 

“The Great Resurrection Question”

 

In my years as a pastor I preached during 35-40 Thanksgiving, Christmas and Resurrection seasons. One year I did a series on the significance of questions raised during these celebratory times. “The Great Thanksgiving Question” is found in Psalm 116:12: “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me?” and we see “The Great Christmas Question” in Matthew 2:2: “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” (Lord wiling, these will be the subjects of postings this coming November and December.) But for this month marking Jesus’ emergence alive from the tomb the subject is “The Great Resurrection Question” from Luke 24:5: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

“The Great Resurrection Question” was posed by angels to the women who, thinking Jesus was dead, went to the tomb to care for His body. The angels gave them the welcome news that “He is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:6). Thus began the exciting events of that day when Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene (John 20:11-18), the women who’d come to His tomb (Matthew 28:9-10), the two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32), Peter (Luke 24:33-34) and ten of His disciples (John 20:19-25). Over the next forty days Scripture records six additional times He was seen and “…gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.” (Acts 1:3). It’s important to note that Jesus never showed Himself in His resurrection body to anyone who’d not followed Him before His death (Acts 10:41), reminding us of His earlier statement that “…they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:31).

Over the centuries people have looked for Jesus in the cemetery (but the tomb was empty), in writings seeking to explain away His resurrection (but these theories always present more questions than they answer) and in churches that deny the truth of God’s Word. He’s not to be found in any of these places because He’s alive and “…seated at the right hand of God.” (Colossians 3:1) from which someday, maybe sooner than we might think or want, He’ll return for (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) and with (1 Thessalonians 3:13) His people.

Jesus is alive today in Heaven, the world, His church and His people. Is He alive in you?

 

Grace and Blessings!

Jim McMillan