"He's Alive"

He's alive. 

I fear we've pretty much lost the sense of the power behind those words on that glorious Lord's Day long ago. We've relegated the resurrection to doctrinal treatises, theological statements, and a familiar story. We forget that to the earliest followers of Jesus, the resurrection equalled HOPE.

Go with me for just a moment back to that week in Jerusalem. Pretend you haven't read the end of the story.
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You've watched your leader - the one you hoped would bring an end to Roman rule in Jerusalem and restore Jewish leadership - enter Jerusalem to fanfare. Your hopes were high that day. How proud you were! The week was action-packed, with teaching and confrontations with religious leaders. You hardly knew what to think and hardly had time, as the crowd was pressing from every side with the Passover feast coming up on Thursday night. All you knew was that people wanted to be around Jesus as He continued His ministry of teaching and healing. But the crowd wouldn't be around for the private Passover feast in the upper room. You would, though. You could hardly wait to celebrate the feast - you knew the words by heart, having repeated them annually every year of your life. This year, though, with the Lord, and filled with such hope - what they would mean to you.

And yet, the tone of the evening was so different than you anticipated when you eagerly prepared the lamb and the table. Jesus was talking about going away ... about laying down His life ... and betrayal ... nothing made sense. Judas left, and you didn't really understand why. You followed Jesus outside, by the temple and across the Kidron Valley to the Garden where you've gone before. All the way, He kept teaching. He told you how to know when "the end" comes. He talked of abiding in Him. He prayed. And then, He went on further still, to a place alone with God, and asked you to watch and pray. You tried, you really did, but sleep overcame you. Before you realized it, the time in the garden came to an abrupt end. There was a Roman guard, and Judas - betraying Jesus? Jesus allowing them to arrest him? You wanted to fight, but He said no. Everything blurs together after that ... fleeing the guards ... Peter's denial ... the crowd chanting "Crucify Him " ... before you realize what happened Jesus was headed up to Golgotha with a cross. He was really letting them crucify Him. Only one of your group was there when He died, and was charged with caring for His mother. Surely, if Jesus planned to stop this madness, He wouldn't have given that responsibility of the oldest son to someone else.

So after the Sabbath, you awoke to the second day without the One whose movements had defined your life for 3 years as you traveled the countryside together. What could be done? It was all so hopeless. Was it all in vain?

But then - here come the women. Mary Magdelene leads the bunch. "He's alive! He's really alive!" she proclaims. It's too good to be true. But Peter and John run to the tomb. Sure enough, it's empty. But what does it mean? You gather the group together in the upper room ... locking the door for fear of the Roman guard who had thought you might steal His body ... and two of the group talk about how Jesus had appeared to them on the road to Emmaus. Could it be? He had said something about resurrection, hadn't He? What was that again? While you are still talking, He appears ...

Luke 24:36-43 (ESV) As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

He's alive!! He's really alive!! It wasn't meaningless after all! A later apostle would write If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Cor. 15:19). Tonight, you know there is no need for pity. You have a message for the world. He's alive.
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We still have that message. We lose it sometimes, amidst life's busyness and routine and the ritual we are prone to make of our faith. But for the earliest believers, "He's alive" became a greeting and a confession. It was a reminder of hope when they were in the extreme minority. "He's alive" means that the Gospel is true. It means that we serve a risen Savior who is living and active and involved in our lives intimately. He makes intercession for us eternally at the right hand of the Father, where the scars in His hands serve as a permanent reminder that He went to the cross for our sins, but that He conquered death.


He's alive. May the whole world know the hope behind those words.