On Resurrection Day, Joseph of Arimathea got his tomb back and Christ-followers got the living Jesus back, to be with them forever. What a joy to daily hang out with the risen Jesus Christ!
Seeds drop off of life and then they live again. Perhaps our end is germination, not termination.
One ancient tomb’s purpose was aborted. It failed to hold its resident, Jesus Christ, captive to death. Heart-burning faith in the risen Jesus dispels doubt and vanishes it like the fog.
Too many Christians live in pre-resurrection worry, rather than in post-resurrection reality. Self-sufficiency is a myth that makes us doubt the reality of the risen Jesus. The Corona virus pandemic is revealing the myth of self-sufficiency.
If Jesus is alive (as Easter celebrates), then we can encounter Him, get to know Him, and spend our days enjoying His presence. If Jesus is alive, like Easter proclaims, we no longer have to settle for second-hand, sermonic information about Him.
So, if Easter is what churches say it is, why don’t they let the risen Jesus take active, direct control of their worship meetings? I think many people don’t believe in Jesus’ resurrection, because too often Christians meet in church, as if He’s still dead. After all, when church sticks tightly to a rigid program, it has no need or room for the living Jesus.
What’s invisible, has spread worldwide, and is radically changing lives. It’s the presence of the risen Jesus. When your life is empty like Jesus’ tomb, step outside of your self-focus and into His living presence. Serving a dead Jesus requires continuous effort, but the risen Jesus will live His life in and thru you, carrying you along His way.
When the stone is rolled away from your heart, you can get mad because it’s exposed, or step aside and let the living Jesus move in. The empty tomb illustrates that the rocks that have pinned you down, will indeed roll away, if you let Jesus live within you. It shouts that your heart need never more be empty. Jesus rose to free you from self-enclosure, a lifetime of solitary confinement.
I believe that Christ’s tomb is empty because I continually experience His presence. It’s okay to marvel at what you don’t understand. You don’t need to explain everything. I continually marvel at the presence of the risen Jesus in my life!
We humans exit life for the tomb. Jesus exited the tomb, to bring us back to life. God didn’t create us to be dead. He created us to be fully alive!
People still try to burry truth, but Jesus’ empty tomb shows that it won’t quietly remain in a grave. Looking back to the empty tomb seems mystical (or mythical) if Christ isn’t living and active in your everyday life.
I believe that life is stronger than death. If life can come into existence, it can endure when it appears to be gone. Jesus’ death left His disciples so distraught, that without His resurrection, Christianity would have never existed. The early Christians didn’t settle for sermons about the risen Jesus. They let Him boldly live within them.
The early Christ-followers were fully convinced that Jesus had literally risen from the dead. Are you? The absence of Christ’s body from His tomb didn’t convince His early disciples of His resurrection. His living presence did!
Academic Christianity is anemic. Red-hot Christianity spreads like a pandemic. Have you been exposed to fervent love for the risen Jesus? Mental wonder analyzes information.
Heart wonder is enraptured in awe. Early Christianity embraced heart wonder. Wonder and awe at the glory of God, can’t be programmed. It happens spontaneously when individual hearts open to the living Jesus.
The uplifting “unbelievable” has happened in my life so many times, I’ve begun to expect it. The living Jesus makes my heart crackle with hope.
It takes courage to surrender to and obey the risen Jesus, but anybody can verbally acknowledge the historic Jesus. The modern world has aborted human life millions of times. Jesus aborted death once and for all.
When liturgies, services, and hierarchy began to replace the literal leadership of the living Jesus, ekklesia turned into church. “Christian” books full of doubt, seem to be popular. I prefer the Bible and historic Christian books that are aflame with faith!
Are you having trouble faithfully following Jesus? Let Him live inside you. Christ in you, can keep the commandments, even when you can’t.
Spiritual boom,
Empty tomb,
Christ worldwide
Living inside
Whosoever will.
Be tender;
Surrender
To His power
This hour.
“The Savior is working mightily among men; every day He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over the world, both within and beyond the Greek-speaking world, to accept His faith and be obedient to His teaching.” –Athanasius (296 – 373 AD)
