Talking Points with Pastor Lucas: Go First! with Resurrection Confidence
“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” (Luke 24: 5b-7)
“Remember how he told you…” That’s what the angel invites us to do. Easter celebrates how Jesus triumphantly went from death to life. Easter revels in His relentless love, His glorious victory, and His resurrection power. Easter invites us to scream from the rooftops, Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
“Remember how he told you…” That’s what the Christian life is all about—regularly remembering the words of Holy Scripture and boldly believing the words of Jesus. They are central to our faith and essential to our discipleship. God’s Word contains the content of our faith, it maintains our journey through the faith, and it sustains us through all the challenges of this fallen and broken world. That includes the painful reality of death. And no matter its form, death is always hard to accept. Whether it’s the death of a job, the death of innocence, the death of your purity, the death of a marriage, the death of a loved one, or your own impending death, facing death it is no easy task. Dying to sin can hurt. That’s why we remember what Jesus has said. That’s why we remember what Jesus has done; how He went first! He walked on water, calmed storms, healed the sick, loved the outcast, died for our sins, and rose from the dead. Jesus is ready to give ordinary people His extraordinary strength to get through all the madness and the chaos of this dying world.
“Remember how he told you…” The words of the angel to Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, are instructive for us still today. Jesus told them His death would come and that He would rise. His resurrection shouldn’t have come as a surprise. However, death is so disturbing, so intensely emotional, and such a shock to the system, that our senses become overwhelmed with anguish. “Remembering” what Jesus said gets lost amid the intensity of our emotions. But the angel draws us back into the words of Jesus.
“Remember how he told you…” The crucifixion of Jesus was necessary. To be sure, it revealed human life in all its darkness. It was a commentary on the truth of the human condition. Where humans are, there will be cruelty and death. Where humans are, suffering abounds. Relationships fracture and dissolve. Communities come apart. Leaders fail and disappoint. Children fall ill. Dreams crumble. Hopes are dashed. The Messiah is executed. The disciples desert Him and flee. Life loses. Death wins. And yet.
“Remember how he told you…” Easter declares that the resurrection of Jesus shows a world destined for redemption. Easter gives us hope as we deal with the reality of death. This hope is the mark of an existence that faces the truth of death but hangs everything on the resurrection. In other words, it is a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3)! That’s the surprise of Christianity—that we can bring good news in the midst of a vastly complicated world; that we can go on living confidently even as we face headaches, heartaches, suffering, and death. This hope generates the thinking and practices of life that embraces God’s active, creative, and recreative work even among the brokenness and hurt of our society. It puts Christians in the world as a way that the Lord’s goodness can be tasted and seen by both lost and found. Yes, it allows you to go first! To remember the resurrection hope of Christ that’s been baptized into your life and to live sharing that hope with others in your words and deeds.
Your brother in Christ,
Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodford, President
Minnesota South District, LCMS