Resurrection Sunday

I have presented two series of blogs leading up to today’s celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. One of the series was about the last words of Jesus from the cross, an essay about each of his seven sayings. The second series of blogs were about the days of Holy Week, beginning on Palm Sunday, the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem for a week that ended with his crucifixion and burial.
Today we celebrate! We have been focusing on the sufferings of Jesus as we carefully considered his final week of ministry and his crucifixion, but a careful study of the emphasis in the messages of the early preachers in the Book of Acts shows that they mainly talked about the resurrection rather than the cross. Both are vitally important, but the people listening to those early preachers knew about crucifixion; unless they had heard about the people Jesus raised from death, they had never heard of anyone actually coming to life after they had died.
When the women came with their spices to annoint the body of Jesus in the tomb, they were surprised by what they found. Jesus was not there, but in his place were two angels who joyfully proclaimed, “He is not here! He is risen!”
“I serve a risen Savior, he’s in the world today. I know that he is living, whatever men may say. I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer, and just the time I need him, he’s always near. He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way. He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart! You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart!”
When the disciple, Thomas, heard about Jesus rising from the dead, he said, “I cannot believe unless I have proof.” Then Jesus appeared to him, and without asking for any proof, he knelt before him and confessed, “My Lord and my God!”
“And he walks with me and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own…”
Have a blessed “Resurrection Sunday.”