The resurrection and the restoration of hope
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Rev L Simon Raomai
The victim of Good Friday has become the victor of Easter. The crucified Christ is risen from the death at the dawn of the day which is the most spectacular event in the human history. This scene opens on Saturday night, some time after six o'clock. By Jewish custom the sabbath was over and weekday activities could be resumed. According to the Holy Bible, the principal characters who had engineered the Crucifixion met at the residence of Pilate, the Governor at that point of time : they were the chief priests who did not believe in resurrection, the Pharisees who did, and Pilate who was anxious to be finished with the whole business and was probably irritated at being approached at all.'
Sir, they said with mock humility, 'we remember that while he still alive that deceiver said, After three days, I will rise again." So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body. This last deception will be worse than the first' (Mathew 27:63,64). It is revealing speech ! The thought of Jesus'-rising again or even of there being any talk of his having risen had clearly frightened the authorities. Thus, even though it meant unseemly haste after the Sabbath-something had to be done about it. No matter what the authority did their level best to proof fail the prophecy of resurrection, Christ is risen from the death. The resurrection had challenged human authority. The resurrection defied human security. The resurrect- ion of Jesus Christ also had outwitted human mendacity. One thing, however, did get through-the body was missing and could not be produced. That the authorities did not produce it showed that they had not removed it. That the disciples did not steal it is clear from the complete confidence with which they went out to live and die in the faith that Jesus was risen. That no one else produced the body proves that no one could, for the incentives to do so were irresistible.
However, you look at it, it always comes back to the word of the angel in the form of a young man at the grave adequately explains its disappearance- 'He has risen, just as he said' (Mathew 28:6). The Resurrection of Jesus threatens corrupt leadership. It introduces and establishes factors that cannot be controlled. The chief priests made it as sure as they could. Still Jesus rose. They made and executed their counter plan; still within 50 days of his resurrection 3,000 people had discovered Jesus to be very much alive, and the number grew rapidly thereafter, creating trouble upon for these leaders. After relating the frantic attempts of the chief priests to control the Resurrection, Mathew goes on almost with a chuckle to quote Jesus, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all Nations...And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age' (Mathew 28:18-20). Cross and crucifixion are never the end. Jesus rose and all authority is invested in him. His Resurrection is the unshakable evidence that truth will ultimately triumph and justice finally be done. God is love, and love cannot be outwitted. The Cross and the Resurrection show us that forever. The grace of Christ, his death on the cross, and our own faith, would all be of little meaning if Christ were merely a memory. But he is alive,and present with his people today in the power of the Holy Spirit. On Easter morning the tomb was empty, and Christ showed himself alive to his followers by many unmistakable proofs' (Acts 1:3)
Paul lists many of these pre-Ascension appearances in 1 Cor.15. The followers of Jesus found it too good to be true that Jesus, whom they had deserted, doubted, and denied, had come back loving and looking for them. It was a reunion fellowship with the risen and living Lord, and sharing in the forgiveness and freedom and new life which he has secured for us by his death and resurrection. He recovered them from their fear to faith and turned their doubt and depression to confidence and delight and from hopeless to hope. The same could happen to us if in penitence we believe in the Resurrection and accept the risen Lord Jesus as our as our personal Saviour. Then only we will experience the power of the Resurrection, the power to rise again from evil and sin and unworthy conduct to integrity, sincerity, truth, love and forgiveness through the spirit of Jesus because he is alive and he lives forever !
Concluding Challenge : Today we are living in a chaotic Humpty Dumpty world which has a great fall. The bureaucrats, the political leaders, the social workers and even the religious leaders could not put our broken world together again. We are living in an age where the sounds of war -bombs and guns, cries, displacement, loss of lives and properties are uprooted, trust between Nations and among communities is fractured, and fear grip human hearts just like the time when Jesus was arrested and crucified on the cross of Calvary. We are all also living in a broken world of corruption, injustice, moral degradation, conflicts and violence, shattered relationships, and spiritual empti- ness. From global crisis to personal despair, brokenness is not theoretical; it is experiential. In such a world, hope often feels fragile even unrealistic. The question is not whether the world is broken. The real question is : Is there any hope-strong enough to restore it again ?
When the human knowledge, the economic and the political power fail to restore peace and hope only Christ who has risen from the death can. Because he is the Lord of lords; the King of kings and the prince of Peace !
The writer is president of AMCO
The victim of Good Friday has become the victor of Easter. The crucified Christ is risen from the death at the dawn of the day which is the most spectacular event in the human history. This scene opens on Saturday night, some time after six o'clock. By Jewish custom the sabbath was over and weekday activities could be resumed. According to the Holy Bible, the principal characters who had engineered the Crucifixion met at the residence of Pilate, the Governor at that point of time : they were the chief priests who did not believe in resurrection, the Pharisees who did, and Pilate who was anxious to be finished with the whole business and was probably irritated at being approached at all.'
Sir, they said with mock humility, 'we remember that while he still alive that deceiver said, After three days, I will rise again." So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body. This last deception will be worse than the first' (Mathew 27:63,64). It is revealing speech ! The thought of Jesus'-rising again or even of there being any talk of his having risen had clearly frightened the authorities. Thus, even though it meant unseemly haste after the Sabbath-something had to be done about it. No matter what the authority did their level best to proof fail the prophecy of resurrection, Christ is risen from the death. The resurrection had challenged human authority. The resurrection defied human security. The resurrect- ion of Jesus Christ also had outwitted human mendacity. One thing, however, did get through-the body was missing and could not be produced. That the authorities did not produce it showed that they had not removed it. That the disciples did not steal it is clear from the complete confidence with which they went out to live and die in the faith that Jesus was risen. That no one else produced the body proves that no one could, for the incentives to do so were irresistible.
However, you look at it, it always comes back to the word of the angel in the form of a young man at the grave adequately explains its disappearance- 'He has risen, just as he said' (Mathew 28:6). The Resurrection of Jesus threatens corrupt leadership. It introduces and establishes factors that cannot be controlled. The chief priests made it as sure as they could. Still Jesus rose. They made and executed their counter plan; still within 50 days of his resurrection 3,000 people had discovered Jesus to be very much alive, and the number grew rapidly thereafter, creating trouble upon for these leaders. After relating the frantic attempts of the chief priests to control the Resurrection, Mathew goes on almost with a chuckle to quote Jesus, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all Nations...And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age' (Mathew 28:18-20). Cross and crucifixion are never the end. Jesus rose and all authority is invested in him. His Resurrection is the unshakable evidence that truth will ultimately triumph and justice finally be done. God is love, and love cannot be outwitted. The Cross and the Resurrection show us that forever. The grace of Christ, his death on the cross, and our own faith, would all be of little meaning if Christ were merely a memory. But he is alive,and present with his people today in the power of the Holy Spirit. On Easter morning the tomb was empty, and Christ showed himself alive to his followers by many unmistakable proofs' (Acts 1:3)
Paul lists many of these pre-Ascension appearances in 1 Cor.15. The followers of Jesus found it too good to be true that Jesus, whom they had deserted, doubted, and denied, had come back loving and looking for them. It was a reunion fellowship with the risen and living Lord, and sharing in the forgiveness and freedom and new life which he has secured for us by his death and resurrection. He recovered them from their fear to faith and turned their doubt and depression to confidence and delight and from hopeless to hope. The same could happen to us if in penitence we believe in the Resurrection and accept the risen Lord Jesus as our as our personal Saviour. Then only we will experience the power of the Resurrection, the power to rise again from evil and sin and unworthy conduct to integrity, sincerity, truth, love and forgiveness through the spirit of Jesus because he is alive and he lives forever !
Concluding Challenge : Today we are living in a chaotic Humpty Dumpty world which has a great fall. The bureaucrats, the political leaders, the social workers and even the religious leaders could not put our broken world together again. We are living in an age where the sounds of war -bombs and guns, cries, displacement, loss of lives and properties are uprooted, trust between Nations and among communities is fractured, and fear grip human hearts just like the time when Jesus was arrested and crucified on the cross of Calvary. We are all also living in a broken world of corruption, injustice, moral degradation, conflicts and violence, shattered relationships, and spiritual empti- ness. From global crisis to personal despair, brokenness is not theoretical; it is experiential. In such a world, hope often feels fragile even unrealistic. The question is not whether the world is broken. The real question is : Is there any hope-strong enough to restore it again ?
When the human knowledge, the economic and the political power fail to restore peace and hope only Christ who has risen from the death can. Because he is the Lord of lords; the King of kings and the prince of Peace !
The writer is president of AMCO