He is Risen

He is Risen Indeed!!!!!

A traditional Easter greeting.  One that I think we assume we understand the power and magnitude of implicitly.  Everyone knows what rising from the dead means.  But, we are in a different place than those that were Jesus' contemporaries.

Death was a final frontier in the age of the Romans.  You went across that divide and never came back from it.  In fact, you often went so quickly that even if you wanted to come back, you couldn't.   Especially in the hot and dry climate of the Middle East.  Any desert region for that matter.  You were put in the ground as quickly as possible, to avoid disease and contagion.  Sometimes, there were people buried alive, because of the rush to deal with a potential corpse.

We did not understand microbes and viral impacts, but we, humans,  did understand that bodies would decay very quickly.  And that where there were decaying bodies, there was sickness and death waiting for you.  For that reason, burial, cremation, disposal by whatever means, was done quickly.  It would be a long time in the future before embalming of any kind was available to any besides Egyptian royalty and their cats.

Death was a final ending.  It came with profound physical changes and indicators.   Once a person died, there was no turning back, they were over.  So, the miracles of Peter and Paul, raising the dead were the pinnacle of earthly miracles in this time.  Elijah, Elisha, Peter, Paul, this is the list of the Bible's most profound holy men.  Jesus, the Messiah, raised the dead.  But he was God, there was no question of his ability to do so.  An ordinary man with this power, he is to be listened to, to learn from.  We know that Jesus was the Messiah, now, we forget that no one in that time understood who he was, to them, he was an ordinary man.

Today, it is very different.  There is not the same mystery associated with raising the dead.  As God has granted us greater and deeper understanding of how this miraculous shell he created for our souls works, we have become greater skilled in forestalling death.  We speak frequently of and to people who were "brought back" several times.  Always with the rejoinder, "I should not be here today".  Well, of course they should, were it not God's intention, we would not be talking to that person.

We also have lost our respect of the speed of movement associated with death.  Once a person has passed, we have access to refrigeration, embalming, a host of technology and technique that allow us to forestall the decay and putrification of the body.  We can spend days staring at the corpse, looking remarkably like they were alive.  No threat of disease, of noxious odor, or gases and distortion,those are things only homicide detectives and the coroner's crew see in our day and age.

So, the thought of raising someone that looks like the corpse in the casket, on the outside, does not seem so impossible.  We are losing our respect for the profound miracle of resurrection.  It is become another story of mystery in the Bible, that no longer seems as mysterious.  In fact, the learned will give you the names of several conditions that can cause the body to assume the appearance of death, but will allow a person to waken later, as if from a long sleep.

They don't mention that Jesus was not found in a state of unconsciousness.  He was nailed up on a cross, stabbed in the side to ensure he was dead, was taken off the cross, partially prepared for burial, and then put in a tomb that was guarded.  A stone, a large and heavy stone that could not be easily moved by any one man, was placed over the opening.  This was to prevent molestation of the grave and body, but also to prevent the smell of the decomposition from making those around sick.

Yet, somehow, the dead rose, the stone was moved, while guarded, and Jesus left that tomb, 3 days later.  The women came that morning, to dress Jesus' body with herbs and oils, to prevent the smell of decay and other issues.  They came, sure of his death, and left sure of his resurrection.  They went to the Disciples and reported what they saw, and were met with disbelief.

So great was the impossibility of the act of raising the dead, that though they had seen Jesus do it, they did not believe anyone else in the world capable of it.  And they were right, except that God had never left the world.  And He has always been capable of it.  It is an astounding feat to the Jews of that age.  Beside being the Levitican law prohibiting touching the dead, it was truly unclean to deal with corpses, especially so many days after the death.

Who would have gone in there, who could have moved the stone around the guards, who would have stolen a body that had to have started bloating, swelling, smelling and changing?  There were grave robbers, for sure, but they were looking for treasure left with the dead, rings, jewelry.  They had no use nor interest in a corpse, especially a 3 day old one.  This was miraculous.  But, inside, they were all still filled with the same reservation we possess today.

Was this really a miracle, or had someone taken the body?  Did the Romans come take it, so that no one could say he had risen?  Did the Temple priests take it, for the same reason?  None of their group would admit to the stealing of the body.  But, there had to be an explanation.  I suppose you cannot completely blame them.  They were men and women, just like us.  It is not that they were weaker or more suspect than we are today, they were just people still seeing the world through their own prism.

When you are sad, afraid, lost and feel alone, there is not a part of the soul that looks for a miracle.  In fact, the world conditions us to look for the opposite and deny the existence of the miracle at all. It is even harder today, to consider this correctly, because they bring people back on every TV medical drama.  They know that certain foods and medical concerns are the cause of death, not sin.  There is a growing sense that we can understand how to live longer and better, that we will discover eternity from the power of our minds.

We no longer look for the miracle, we lean on the science.  Even science cannot explain what happened in that tomb on that Easter Day.  No man will ever find the equation or formula that explains the profound mystery of the greatest miracle ever for man.  On that day, a Savior rose from the grave, from Hell, and came to the Disciples again.  He was truly Emmanuel, God With Us.  He fulfilled all that the Scripture had said about him.  He bore the marks of the nails, and the spear.

He spoke encouragement, and chided those closest to him for their doubt.  But, he loved them still.  And he loves us still.  Whether you believe in him or not, on that Easter Sunday, he rose from the grave because he believes in you.  Enough to undergo all of the pain, change and punishment we must endure on this earth, to fulfill our sin debt.

He, who created the world with the Father and the Holy Spirit, who has been here since before there was a here, took on the form of a man, and destroyed that mortal form's power over us.  He gave us the path to the Father, through the Holy Spirit.

So, today, when a brother or sister says to you, He is Risen!, respond with a clear and happy, forgiven and redeemed, bought and paid for, living for the glory of the Lord, heart:

HE IS RISEN INDEED, HALLELUJAH!

GLYASDI