THE RESURRECTION

Does it make a difference what you believe? More specifically, does belief in the resurrection make a difference? Consider this true story.

Some 10 years ago, a university professor was already well known for his several books on the resurrection, when his wife was diagnosed with terminal cancer. For a while, all he had written seemed empty, almost as if it had been a cruel hoax. He found no comfort in his own words or in the words of his friends. He lost his life’s partner. His world turned dark.

He wrestled with God. “Why, God, why?” Repeatedly the answer came. “Did I not raise my son from the dead?” His first response was, “Yes, yes, I know all about that. I’ve written books about that, but what has that to do with the here and now?” But the answer kept coming, “Did I not raise my son from the dead?”

And here is what the professor wrote about this dialogue: “God kept coming back to the point until I got it. The resurrection says that if Jesus was raised two thousand years ago, then there is an answer to Debbie’s death in 1995.”

For this man, as for so many over the centuries, the light dawned, followed by a peace that passes all understanding.

The resurrection means that God’s love is stronger than death. The resurrection means that nothing, not even death itself, can separate us from life with God. The resurrection makes all the difference.

Thanks be to God!

— Jim Noland

Courtesy of The Church of the Good Shepherd United Methodist