Going Ahead
Read Mark 16:1-8.
When I was a student at Ball State, there was something happening that prompted a possible Presidential visit to the campus. I don't remember what, but what I do remember is the Secret Service coming to campus to check everything out, to make sure it would be safe for the President to visit. They were making a plan, going ahead of him, so that if and when he came, everything would run smoothy and the leader of the free world would be safe. President Reagan never did come to the campus, but the image of someone going ahead of him has stuck with me.
Jesus has been raised. The women are the first to discover it (because they were watching over Jesus, even after his death), and when they find the angel in the tomb, they are told Jesus will be going ahead of the disciples to Galilee. Jesus will meet them there. Now that he is raised, he is no longer constrained by the limits of time, space or physicality. He has a physical body, yes, but it's a resurrection body. It's the same, yet different. The disciples will have to walk several days from Jerusalem to Galilee to meet Jesus, but he is going ahead of them. He will meet them there. When they get there, all will be ready.
I love that image, because Jesus promises to do the same for us. He is with us, to the very end. His name from the beginning has been Emmanuel: God with us. He goes ahead of the disciples then and he goes ahead of us now. There is no situation and no place we can go that he has not already been. Because he is risen, he goes ahead of us and prepares the way. He leads us. He protects us. He calls to us. And he meets us there—wherever "there" is. He will walk through every situation with us because he is already there.
Because he is resurrected, there is nowhere we can go that Jesus has not already been. Therefore, we can move forward in confidence. The women leave the empty tomb in fear, but Mark's abrupt ending invites us to consider what kind of response we make to the empty tomb. If Jesus is going before us—what does that mean? How does that affect us? And how will we move forward?
Jesus is risen. Thanks be to God!
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| The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem - 2017 |
When I was a student at Ball State, there was something happening that prompted a possible Presidential visit to the campus. I don't remember what, but what I do remember is the Secret Service coming to campus to check everything out, to make sure it would be safe for the President to visit. They were making a plan, going ahead of him, so that if and when he came, everything would run smoothy and the leader of the free world would be safe. President Reagan never did come to the campus, but the image of someone going ahead of him has stuck with me.
Jesus has been raised. The women are the first to discover it (because they were watching over Jesus, even after his death), and when they find the angel in the tomb, they are told Jesus will be going ahead of the disciples to Galilee. Jesus will meet them there. Now that he is raised, he is no longer constrained by the limits of time, space or physicality. He has a physical body, yes, but it's a resurrection body. It's the same, yet different. The disciples will have to walk several days from Jerusalem to Galilee to meet Jesus, but he is going ahead of them. He will meet them there. When they get there, all will be ready.
I love that image, because Jesus promises to do the same for us. He is with us, to the very end. His name from the beginning has been Emmanuel: God with us. He goes ahead of the disciples then and he goes ahead of us now. There is no situation and no place we can go that he has not already been. Because he is risen, he goes ahead of us and prepares the way. He leads us. He protects us. He calls to us. And he meets us there—wherever "there" is. He will walk through every situation with us because he is already there.
Because he is resurrected, there is nowhere we can go that Jesus has not already been. Therefore, we can move forward in confidence. The women leave the empty tomb in fear, but Mark's abrupt ending invites us to consider what kind of response we make to the empty tomb. If Jesus is going before us—what does that mean? How does that affect us? And how will we move forward?
Jesus is risen. Thanks be to God!
So much joy is in the hope of His resurrection. Our Savior is alive, not bones in a tomb.
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