Jesus Lives!

April 8, 2012


Background Scripture: John 20:1 – 23
Lesson Passage: John 20:1 – 10, 19, 20

Jesus Lives! This is not only good news but it is indeed GREAT news for all believers. What an incredible revelation to Jesus’ first century disciples. No one had ever done this before. People were indeed raised from the dead during the times of the Old Testament as well as during Jesus’ ministry in the first century. That’s not the good news that we proclaim. We declare that Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God in him. No one spoke any words over him or waved their hands around him. Jesus had declared that “I have power to lay my life down and I have power to pick it up again.” This display of power was never before seen nor has it been seen since that resurrection morning. With all due respect to other organized religions, you can’t touch this. This simple two word statement is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions or beliefs. All other founders of religions died and have not been heard from since. Jesus lives and continues to speak to the hearts of believers every day. His words are just as loud and powerful today as ever. He continues to work miracles through the lives of those disciples that walk after him today. In addition to this, he continues to make intercession for the saints today. I know that many of us are skeptical when we first hear the news concerning Jesus. That skepticism quickly disappears when we experience his presence in our life. It is one thing to hear the good news but it is something entirely different to experience the good news as a result of believing the word that we have heard. Once we believe, then seeing becomes possible. It is unusual for one to receive or perceive the presence of Jesus in one’s life until he first believes the good news that he hears. Believing in the good news is what engenders faith in us. It is through faith that we can receive all things that are good. This is one of those things that makes Easter special to saints. Easter is not about bonnets and new suits but instead about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. I can only imagine how confused Jesus’ disciples must have been. They had watched him be crucified and die on the cross. They know that his dead body was taken from the cross and placed in a tomb which was secured by a large stone and guarded by soldiers. How could they accept that the tomb was now empty without thinking the obvious? Surely somebody took his body to keep his followers from making a religion or idol of it. But there was more to it than that. There were eyewitness accounts that Jesus had been seen and he was alive and well. Thomas is often picked on for doubting the reports of the eyewitnesses but many of us can identify with Thomas’ thoughts as expressed through his words: Unless I put my finger in the nail prints in his hands and put my hand in his side where the spear pierced him, I will continue to mourn his untimely death. But those who could recall Jesus’ own words before he was arrested could believe without such physical evidence. Jesus declared that those who believe because they have heard would be the ones truly blessed. Those blessings continue to flow even today. We hear the preaching of the gospel and we decide to believe God because He is God and He blesses us because of our faith. So we too can join in the chorus that declares: Jesus Lives!

Robert C. Hudson
March 30, 2012