5-16-2024

Good Morning All,

                 Luke 24: 5-6a; “And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but has risen.”

    While the battle of Waterloo was fought between Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington in 1815, the people of England waited for news of the outcome. Messages were sent by means of flag signals. One of the stations was the tower of the Winchester Cathedral. Late in the day, a signal was flashed from the tower that spelled out “Wellington defeated . . .” and then a thick fog covered the tower so that nothing else was seen. The message spread throughout the city that Wellington had lost the battle. There was gloom and despair. Suddenly the cloud of fog lifted, and the remainder of the message could be read— “Wellington defeated the enemy!” Sorrow immediately turned to joy, defeat to victory, despair to rejoicing.

     What a difference the whole message makes.  When you stop halfway through it, we see only sorrow and pain.  The same is true of our faith life.  Too often, we stop at half of the message.  Too often we focus on “Jesus died.”  We see it all over, “Jesus died for you.”  That is our message.  We use it to comfort those who are hurting.  We tell them that Jesus died for you and then we wonder why they don’t get a lot of comfort from that fact; Jesus died for you.  Perhaps it is a sense of guilt.  We spend a lot of time looking at the suffering, the pain, and the death of Jesus.  It is hard to be a joyful Christian when you focus on “Jesus died.”

    But just like the story of Wellington, don’t stop in the middle.  Use the whole message.  “Jesus died and rose for you.”   Yes, it is true that Jesus died but that was only the beginning of the event in which death, the devil and sin was defeated.  Jesus died; his body ceased to function, but it knew no decay or corruption; it was waiting for the final step.  It was waiting for Christ to rise up victorious.  In his victory over death, he gives us victory as well.  Our enemies of sin, death and the devil are defeated as well.  We have the victory; we have begun the healing.  We have God’s incredible love giving us all that we need.

    The devil and sin will continue to snarl and attack.  They will continue to cause us guilt and pain, but they will not be victorious.  We know that we are more than conquerors!  We have God’s promise of life eternal.  We have his promise of comfort.  We have his promise for reconciliation, and we can use this to reach out to our brothers and sisters.  God gives us the chance to heal the splits and chasms that exist between our neighbors and us.  It is his total message of good news; “Jesus died and rose again” that gives us the victory.

Father, we give you thanks for the victory that we have through Jesus.  We give you thanks that we can live a life full of joy because of your great love and mercy.  Guide us to share this message with those around us, especially those who are in most need of your freeing message of grace.  Lead us to be shining lights in this world.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret