I began my last post by imagining that the giant sequoia that fell over three hundred years ago suddenly some Sunday it appeared upright and alive again. What would the world do?
1. The story would be printed and broadcast all over the world. For about five years, the site would almost rival Disneyland for yearly visitors.
2. In spite of all the pictures and reports, some would not believe that it was true! (We talked about this in the last post: Fallen Monarch and Faith.
3. Some people would begin worshipping the tree! Every Sunday there would be a gathering of thousands to talk about life and death and trees. Even hundreds of years later, those who now dance at Stonehenge on the spring equinox would come to California to dance around the wondrous sequoia, now called the Phoenix!
4. Some would explain it through extraterrestrial powers.
5. Scientists would immediately start searching for a rational explanation. Investigations of the tree itself would commence immediately. Although the very act defies scientific explanation, prominent arborologists would offer a whole spectrum of speculative explanations for the phenomenon.
6. And some century in the not-too-distant future, someone would challenge the old story that the tree had ever been dead, suggesting that the more primitive science of the 21st century could not really know if it were dead or not.
You are much too smart an audience to need me to connect the dots for you between the fantastical sequoia story and the resurrection of Jesus. And we have already talked about why we believe that Jesus is alive, so now let’s talk about something much harder: how has this historical event changed your life?
Try to finish this sentence: Because Jesus was raised from the dead and is now alive, I ______________.I’ll go first:
1. I have confidence that his claim to be the Son of God is true. If the resurrection is not a lie, then I become more confident of all that He said.
2. I believe that if he conquered death, he is powerful enough to do the miracles attributed to him. He can calm the storms, he can feed the multitudes, he can raise the dead.
3. All the dead people he raised died again! That’s not enough. I once read a fictional account describing Lazarus after Jesus called him out of his tomb and it was not pretty. Lazarus suffered from all kinds of skin and health issues for having been dead for four days. But to restore life never to be lost again, now that is something I long for. That’s what Jesus has promised, confirming his promise with his own resurrection!
4. I can live my life now with less fear of death. I do sometimes fear dying—the process is often difficult—but that is a different fear than one of death as annihilation.
5. I can approach my own death without a horrible sense of loss—because the promise of resurrection means that everything good, every person I have ever known who has sought God will continue to be a part of my life—forever! All the beauty of God’s creation will be redeemed. Whatever wisdom and truth I have discovered in my life will not be lost, but will be confirmed as God’s own truth—meant to be discovered.
6. Because Jesus was raised from the dead and is now alive, I have a purpose and a task worthy of spending one’s entire life doing, that is, doing good and telling the story so that it is easier for others to believe that Jesus is alive. My own resurrection does not depend on any success quota or measurement of skill, rather my own resurrection was accomplished on that Sunday when Jesus rose.
Do not leave this page without having answered the question: What difference does the fact of the resurrection make in your life?
That’s my gift to you today!
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