A woman found herself standing at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter greeted her and said, "These are the Gates to Heaven, my dear. But you must do one more thing before you can enter." The woman was very excited, and asked of St. Peter what she must do. "Spell a word," St. Peter replied. "What word?" she asked. "Any word," answered St. Peter. "It's your choice." The woman promptly replied, "Then the word I will spell is love. L-O-V-E." St. Peter welcomed her in, and asked her if she would mind taking his place at the gates for a few minutes while he took a break. So the woman is left sitting in St. Peter's chair when a man approaches the gates, and she realizes it is her husband. "What happened?" she cried, "Why are you here?" Her husband stared at her for a moment, then said, "I was so upset when I left your funeral, I got in an accident. Did I really make it to Heaven?" "Not yet," she replied, "You must spell a word first." "What word?" he asked. And she said, "Czechoslovakia." (from Google)
Easter is a Christian festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his dying on a cross. I would say it is the greatest day in the history of humanity. It is the day that the Lord has made. Right?
I must say that I am grateful that the day of Jesus’ resurrection has come again this year. I am so happy to imagine the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. And I am overwhelmed by the truth that Jesus finally defeated the power of sin and death and showed us the way to have eternal life. As Jesus’ disciples, we have now the resurrection faith, which is fundamental for our faith journey.
St. Paul is right when he says in his first letter to the Corinthians that if there is no resurrection of Jesus, then our preaching is in vain and so is our faith. The Risen Christ is the center of our faith. Without it, there would be no church, and no hope of eternal life.
Some of you may have been dealing with difficult challenges lately. Some of you may feel that life is too tough to manage. Some of you may see the world full of enemies, hatred, sins, darkness, something like that. But I strongly encourage you to be joyful as you witness to God’s amazing power to raise his son Jesus Christ from the dead and God’s amazing grace to save all humanity. No matter what happens in the world, nothing can stop Jesus being alive. Jesus is alive and grants us eternal life. Jesus is alive indeed. Now we are the people of resurrection.
As we joyfully celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, I would like think of the meaning of the resurrection faith in our lives. I understand that the resurrection faith is such a power and wisdom that help us manage all the fear and worries from all the challenges and troubles in our lives. We live with this faith that God is at work, healing each of us and restoring the image of God in us, guiding us into the green pasture. God is at work to overcome hatred with love, darkness with light, evil with good. Jesus is the source of our hope of salvation and this hope lies not in what we have done for God but in what God has done for us. Jesus is the true light of the world and we are part of his light. Even though our light seems too little, remember. The thickest dark can’t even defeat the smallest light.
What do you think? Do you think you can carry this faith in your lives? I believe you can do it because the Holy Spirit is always with you. As I keep pointing out, we won’t be able to keep our hope and faith in God without the Holy Spirit working for us. This morning, I pray that you all have the resurrection faith in God as you continue your journey as God’s beloved people.
May we all together live with the resurrection faith and may the Power of the Holy Spirit guide us into the fullness of Jesus Christ’ love. Amen
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