Paul in writing to the church in Corinth wrote: "And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain...And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. (1 Cor 15:14,17)
So, if Christ would have live a sinless life and died on the cross and never was resurrected all Christianity is in vain, it is futile. If the resurrection did not occur we (all of us) are still in our sins that brings death. Therefore, Christ would have died in vain. So, that is why Easter is such an important day in the life of a Christian. Yes, we celebrate the resurrection each Sunday but Easter is different. It is like if you are born on a Tuesday all Tuesdays are a celebration but there is one time a year that marks the date. This week is a hard week for me. One year ago this Friday (Good Friday) my mother died. If the resurrection of Christ did not happen then I have seen the last of my mom. But I refuse to believe that. I do no totally understand how it all works, but I believe the Bible even when I do not understand. Paul told those in Thessalonica that we are not as those who are without hope. Today, I praise God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ of which I do not totally understand. I praise Him for I know there is eternity. I know I will spend eternity with Him. I know I will see my mom again. My life is not in vain. My preaching is not in vain, BECAUSE He is alive. Rejoice, praise and celebrate this Easter like never before. God bless and have a wonderful holy week.
I was reading this last week - thought you would like it - It is Philip Yancey's take on a story told by Henri Nouwen (also one of my all time favorite authors) "Henry Nouwen tell a moving story from the country of Paraguay. It is about a doctor who cared very much for the poor people in his little village. He would often treat them free of charge. But others—the authorities, the police, the government in the village—didn't like him. They didn't like his politics. They thought he was stirring up foment among the poor people. He was too popular for them to take on, so instead they kidnaped his son. They took his son, arrested him, put him in a jail and tortured him. They tortured him too much and the son died.
ReplyDeleteWhen news of the son's death spread throughout the village, they wanted to hold a huge demonstration march. They wanted to carry his body through the village and demonstrate to the media, to the newspapers, what had gone on. But, the father said, "No, I don't want to do that. I just want a funeral in the church here in the village. We will show in our own way."
When people arrived for the funeral, they had a surprise in store. The father had taken the body of the son just as he had found it in the prison cell on a blood-soaked, dirty mattress. Instead of being all dressed up in a nice suit in an expensive coffin, the corpse in that little village was naked, lying on this mattress covered with scars. It was the strongest protest imaginable. What that father did was put the injustices of his village on grotesque display.
Henri Nouwen goes on to ask, "Isn't that what God did at Calvary? He spread out for the whole world to see the injustice of this world. The cross in one minute showed what kind of world we have—a world of violence, a world of cruelty, a world of injustice, and what kind of God we have, a God of sacrificial love who gives Himself for us."
Is God unfair? It depends on how closely you relate God and life. I challenge you not to confuse God with life. The question "Is God unfair?" is very different than the question, "Is life unfair?" No one was exempt from tragedy, pain, disappointment. Job wasn't. The other people in the Old Testament were not. Even God himself, when He came to earth, was not exempt from unfairness, from pain, from tragedy.
The story of the Gospel does not end there. If you want to find some disappointed people, read the stories of the disciples who were around Jesus when He died. They had waited and followed Him for three years. He was the hope of their world, but they were disappointed. When the time came, everyone of them—blustery old Peter, emotional John—left Him. They were afraid for their own lives. Life hadn't worked out. They were disappointed people. That was Friday, Good Friday, the day that Jesus died. But that is not the end of this story.
The end of the story, of course, is on Sunday when those same people who were cowering in the shadows suddenly came out of hiding. They realized the story ends not with tragedy, but with Good News. When some of those same people, like Peter, sat down and wrote about suffering to suffering people, he had a wholly different tone. You read nothing of the questioning, of the doubts of a Job, or even of some of the Psalms, because Peter saw in person what God had done on Easter Sunday. He took the tragedy, the worst tragedy that could be imagined. He took the unfairness, the worst unfairness that could be imagined."