“I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time…” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6)
I have stood with the grieving in enough frigid cemeteries this past winter alone to have been keenly reminded again of how final death appears to be.
Indeed, as many of you know only too well, the death of a loved one forever alters life, and no amount of words from a well-intentioned preacher or a pretty sympathy card can negate that stark reality.
Yet, billions of Christians worldwide this week will affirm and celebrate our firm belief that, ominous as death always is, it is not the final chapter of life.
The resurrection of Jesus from the grave serves as a credible peek into future reality that ignites within us the hope that, when all is said and done, life inevitably alters death.
Yes, Jesus died a horrific death on what we call Good Friday. Yes, darkness descended over the entire earth for a period of time so that, no doubt, for Peter and the others referred to in the Scripture above, for a couple of days it must have seemed obvious that death had won yet another battle.
Let’s not minimize the devastation death leaves in its wake. Within just a few days, devoted followers of Jesus had gone from the pinnacle of celebration and hope to the depths of despair as they witnessed the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem quickly deteriorate into a debacle of injustice, falsehood and death. The party was over; the anticipated political coronation had evaporated; Jesus was dead.
Nothing left to do now but clean up the left-over placards and streamers from yet another political convention we didn’t win.
Then Sunday morning dawned.
Most of Christ’s immediate followers were probably still in troubled slumber when word came that something alarming had taken place down at the cemetery.
Several women were declaring that Christ’s grave was open and his body absent. What was going on?
Speculation was rampant … vandalism, theft, relocation of the deceased.
Yet, upon further inspection, none of these initial explanations sufficed. They weren’t adequate because Jesus began appearing to one or two people here, three or four there, until enough witnesses concluded the obvious. Apparently the last ballot had not been tallied!
The tomb was empty not by sleight of hand or by virtue of something devious. Rather, Jesus was alive!
Death could not hold him! A new chapter had been written - life had altered and conquered death to the point where death no longer needed to be viewed as a crushing and disabling finality. Life now alters death!
This is the eternal hope that Christ-followers declare this Holy Week.
This is the eternal optimism that enables the grieving to face yet another day! This is the eternal balm born not of speculative whimsy, but of historical fact.
Tim Callaway is pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church. He can be reached at [email protected]
