At
last month's newsletter, we were rushing into Lent. It seems as if
Easter is quickly approaching us now. But perhaps we should slow
it down a bit. Perhaps we need to take more time for Easter.
Many, including myself, would consider it the highest day of the church
year. The church year is a tool to help us periodically remember
all that happened, all that our Savior did for our benefit. Easter
is the peak of what He did. Easter is called "The Resurrection of
Our Lord" by our hymnal. This is perhaps more appropriate, because
the name "Easter" has pagan origins. "The Resurrection of Our Lord"
is more fitting because it described exactly what happened. Our Lord
was resurrected, that is, brought back to life. He was dead, having
died on the cross and then buried. He then became alive again.
This resurrection has profound impact for us. In fact, 1 Corinthians
15:14 says that if Christ were not resurrected our faith would be useless.
It would only be a faith for this life. The resurrection of Christ
takes us beyond this life, however. He showed us that there is a
life to come which will last forever. A life free of tears and sorrows.
A life free of sin. A blessed and unending life.
Our Epistle for March 29 made many interesting points:
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the
fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,
and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not
that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect,
but I press on to take hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting
what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the
goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ
Jesus. (Philippians 3:10-14)
We too want to know Christ. We want to know the power of His resurrection.
Then being like Him in His death, as we are in our baptism (Romans 6:3),
we can also be like Him in His resurrection. Notice how the above
reading adds "somehow" before "to attain the resurrection of the dead."
The somehow is through Christ. It is not our own efforts that bring
us to the resurrection, but Christ alone, and through His miracle.
The human writer of our Epistle, Paul, did not perhaps know how the resurrection
could occur, but He knew what Christ promised.
We have not yet reached the blessed outcome, but we know that Christ
took ahold of us for the purpose of bringing us to that outcome.
We were taken ahold of when the Holy Spirit created faith in us.
We were taken ahold of by our Lord's grace alone.
We then are to forget what is behind. We forget our sins and mistakes
of the past. We can do that because through the forgiveness of Christ,
God also forgets. We strain toward what is ahead, fighting the good
fight of faith. We run the race putting on the full armor of God
against the Devil and his tricks. We press on toward the goal, life
eternal in heaven. So we live as aliens in this world, and look forward
to what lies ahead. We follow our leader, the one who showed by His
resurrection what awaits us..
May you be blessed by our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Pastor Buchs