Up From the Grave
Originally scheduled for October 24
Good news is hard to find in our mainstream media today;
but recently events in Chile crowded the evil Republicans off
the front page. While
the world watched, thirty-three miners were lifted to the surface,
one by one, from two thousand feet below.
They had been trapped in that mine for over two months.
When the last man surfaced the celebrations exploded, as you
can imagine.
Something about their plight touched heartstrings around the world.
Imagine being trapped, alive, underground.
Most of us are not miners; but we’ve been afraid of the dark.
In a psychological sense, this was a near-death experience –
for all of us.
Put your imagination to work.
Imagine the sensation of watching the rescue capsule come
down for the second man.
Think what that did to their spirit – that aluminum tube
thing works! We can get
out of here! Rescue is
real!
That’s how a Christian should feel about the resurrection.
Our Lord was dead; but by the power of the Holy Spirit God
raised him up from that grave.
He is the “first fruits” of the resurrection.
He has promised those who follow him that they too will rise
from the grave.
This did not come without a price.
Jesus is fully human; his death was as fully human as any of
ours. So it is that we
take Communion to remember his death – so that we will appreciate
the enormous cost. His
was a painful death, a shameful death, a betrayed death.
Consider this well: the
men who were in that mine have no really good way to repay those who
drilled the hole and sent down the capsule.
But that doesn’t mean they are ungrateful.
We have no way to repay Christ, either.
We can remember the sacrifice; we can see the rescue coming –
and rejoice.
