He has Risen!

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay”.

Matthew 28:5-6

My Lord has risen! He has risen INDEED!!! Please rejoice with me.

Jesus faced the cross, knowing his fate yet realizing the promise His Father made through Him.

Jesus came to earth as a human; He left the glorious splendor of God’s kingdom above to live as we live, to experience what we experience, and to feel what we feel. He came to teach us how to live and to make it possible for us to experience life eternal with His Father in the place from whence He came.

I can’t help but wonder what Jesus truly saw through his Holy eyes as He looked upon the world that His Father had created and upon the people that were the living continuance of that creation. As He looked down from the cross at those who had placed him there – what did He see? What did He see?

As He saw sin, suffering, pain and despair He knew that the death that He must suffer. He knew that He must be sacrificed that those that would come after Him would be able to overcome the things of the world into which they were born to receive what His Father had promised to them. He didn’t look at the past, or even at the present, but He looked into the future – a future that God had already prepared for those who love Him.

At the angel’s invitation we are called daily to look at the place where Jesus was placed. He was placed among us and for the first time man could physically witness the love that God has for us.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

Just for today – try to imagine a love like that of God. He gave His Son, a part of Himself, as a sacrifice of love. Even though the world that He had created continues to turn their backs on Him and hide in the gardens of this world, like Adam and Eve, He still loves us enough t sacrifice His Son so that we might be able to live into eternity with Him.

God doesn’t look into the past and our failures there. He doesn’t look into the present and our sins and our shortcomings. God, our Father, looks forward at that time that we will live with Him in His Kingdom. We can’t see what He sees and we can’t even see His face. What we can see is His love, the love expressed in the sacrifice of His Son, a love that calls us homeward to His side.

Just today I heard the following statement that has given me new insight into God’s love:

“Love does not require that two people look at each other, but that they look in the same direction.”

As we celebrate our risen Messiah let us turn our eyes, with God’s, to the direction that He calls us to – a life eternal.

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Amen

JMc 4/7/2007