Have you ever known someone who was brought back from perceived death? A book I’m reading asked that question and then went to explain the attitude of someone who has experienced a near death situation. They have a zest for life that recognizes a truly “new lease on life.”
Jesus knew from beginning to end that suffering and death just didn’t matter to Him. Yes, it would be more painful than we have the courage to talk about. Yes, Jesus the man would breathe His last breath and die. And, YES, He knew that He would not really die. As a human, He all too well understood the pain of it all. As God and man He understood the reason, even more so. It was all for us. It was all so that we could live with hope, with a taste of how much God loves us, and a realization of how important God’s grace is in our lives.
Easter is the time to remember this and CELEBRATE it! If we’re going to honestly celebrate it, then we MUST live like it’s real. Anyone who’s been truly and literally revived from the brink of death understands this and lives like it. Do we really grasp the gift we’ve been given?
God has given us the greatest gift we will ever get—life that we cannot possibly define except to live it!
It’s time to quit looking in the mirror and live it! It’s not about me, Rev. Greg Wack. It’s not about you or any other one person or group of people in the church. It’s not even about your church, my church, or anybody’s church! It’s about the Body of Christ in the world that celebrates and accomplishes its mission through he Church. It’s all about what God has done for us through Jesus!
It’s like a friend, who’s a United Methodist pastor in Texas, recently said; “No more will I fear labels. No more will I hesitate due to rhetoric. Though all sides may denounce me—I follow Jesus.”
That’s what it means to be a Christian. That’s my focus for life. That is the only mission of the Church. May the love, grace, and new life Jesus died and rose to give us become alive and real within you all!
