Tuesday, April 3, 2018
What I am
saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies
cannot inherit what will last forever. But
let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! It will happen in a moment, in the blink of
an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For
when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be
transformed. For our dying bodies must be
transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be
transformed into immortal bodies. Then,
when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this
Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is
swallowed up in victory. O death, where
is your victory? O death, where is your
sting?”
For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through
our Lord Jesus Christ. So, my dear
brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for
you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
1 Corinthians
15:50-58(NLT)
Stephen Fife is a
fellow UMC clergy who blogs for The Wesleyan Way. Stephen reminded me of the messyness with
which disciples of Jesus Christ are compelled to exist in his recent article, The Great Silence. In essence he said there are two types of
Christians, those who live on Good Friday (the misery and pain of the cross),
and those who dwell on Easter Sunday (the joy and victory of resurrection).
Rev. Fife allowed
that dwelling exclusively on either day leads to missing the reality and
importance of the other – and both are vitally important. But there is an equally-vital third
perspective that we often ignore: Holy
Saturday. That is where the
world dwells, those who do not know Christ.
They understand the pain in the world, that something has gone horribly
wrong with humanity, and something (we call it evil) has driven
really sick people to do terrible things – shootings, bombings, war, theft, and
general infliction of mayhem on fellow human beings. They get the pain of loss and suffering; what
they don’t get is the faith that leads to resurrection. They’re Saturday dwellers, imagining not only
that there is no Easter; they cannot allow there ever could be an Easter. For Saturday dwellers, stuck in a fearful
huddle of this world’s culture and unbelief, there is no such thing as death
being swallowed-up in victory!
And that is where those who name that name of Jesus part company with the
culture. Our faith is grounded in the
promise of God[2] to deal with
the pain of our sin; it was that which we saw on Good Friday. Christ shed his blood to redeem us. Saturday was the darkness of wondering if
that was going to be it – cross, pain, blood, and death – and then
silence. But then, the silence was
broken, the captives are led to freedom, the stone rolled-away, the curse
destroyed, and fellowship with God became a possibility again. And we can sing Hallelujah, What a Savior,
because there really is Easter; Jesus was the firstfruits of God’s promise, and
because he rose from the dead, we can too!
For You Today
Go ahead and live
in Easter today. After 6 Lenten weeks of
concentrating on the cross and our Savior’s pain, you’ve earned a Sabbath! But never forget the cost of Easter came at
the expense of Good Friday.
And don’t forget
to tell those stuck on Saturday that there is hope; it may look like Good
Friday’s darkness, and Saturday’s confusion have won the day…but Sunday’s
a-coming!
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 
