April 5, 2023

The Resurrection of Christ

Christ the Lord is Risen Today!    Hallelujah!

Read UMH 302

The ones who didn’t like him; the ones who were afraid of him; they killed him, tortured him first.    They executed him in public, so that everyone could see what happened to people who threatened their powers, who tried to turn everything upside down, who tried to make new ways. The state didn’t execute philosophers or dreamers; the state executed threats.    His vision of a new way was definitely a threat.    The powers-that-be thought they had killed the vision when they killed the man.    It didn’t work.   

The powerful had tried to kill the vision of God, but they did not succeed.    The activity of God would not stay dead.    More and more people began to follow the way and live the vision too.    More and more people felt his presence with them.    More and more were convinced that he wasn’t dead; he was alive.    They could feel it.    Their stories were not all the same.    Some heard a voice, some saw a light, some ate bread, some saw the sunrise, some just felt it.    It didn’t matter that not all experienced exactly the thing; they all experienced Christ each in their own way.

Paul tried to explain it to them.    He showed them some seeds.    Tiny seeds are planted in the ground, and stalks of grain grow up.    What grows doesn’t look at all like what was planted.    Everything looks altogether different.    Paul taught them resurrection is about a spiritual body, not a worn-out physical one returned.    Paul encouraged people to have the “faith of Jesus.”    Some got confused and thought he said “faith in Jesus.”    Paul understood that Jesus had faith in God’s new vision for justice and mercy and grace for all people.    Paul encouraged people to have “faith like Jesus”; the “faith of Christ”–the faith that would enable them to live the vision too.

As United Methodists, we believe that Jesus took human form.    He lived as a man and died when he was crucified.    We believe that Jesus is divine.    He is the Son of God.    We believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and that the risen Christ lives today.    We believe that Jesus is our savior.    In Christ we receive abundant life and forgiveness of sins.    We believe that Jesus is our Lord and that we are called to pattern our lives after his.

Christ is alive and God’s vision lives through us.    Thanks be to God, hallelujah!

Don Crawford