Looking for Life in All the Wrong Places

…the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?”   Luke 24:5

-A junkie stares vacantly into space. His words are slurred but unmistakable: “This is livin’, man. Nobody tells me what to do.”

-A coed staggers from the frat house and the door slams shut. Her clothes are ripped and her body hurts in places it’s never hurt before. She straightens her torn skirt and slaps tears from her cheeks. “I only wanted to have fun,” she whispers.

-A man slumps at his desk and winces at the time. 2 am. Another 90-hour week. His wife is complaining and he barely sees his kids, but his stock has never looked so good. Money is the mistress he chose, so why does he feel so dead inside?

Humanity has always looked for the living among the dead. We seek satisfaction, purpose, and love in all the wrong places. We’re so sure we know where to find it that we refuse to consider anything else. Jesus’ friends did the same thing. They came to the graveyard looking for the dead body of a man. Imagine if they’d found it! Christianity would have ended that day. 

Instead, they discovered a living Savior, the Son of God, the Lifegiver who could not be confined to a tomb. When we try to find life among the world’s corpses, we end up with nothing but regrets. Christ’s resurrection guarantees new life for all who seek Him.  

In what ways have you looked for the living among the dead?

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Cry "Hosanna!"

They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!”  John 12:13

In Hebrew, the cry “Hosanna!” means “save now” or “help me.” It was a cry of distress but also of intense happiness. The Jewish people were overjoyed that their Messiah had come at last. When He rode into town on a donkey, He was fulfilling the ancient prophesies written about Him (Zech. 9:9). Surely He would overthrow the oppressive Romans, punish the arrogant Pharisees, and establish His throne in Jerusalem. So they cheered with all their might, but those cheers turned to jeers in less than a week when He did not live up to their expectations. His deliverance was not what they had in mind so they turned away.

 “Help me, God!” we cry when the doctor says “No hope,” the IRS says “Pay up,” or the landlord says “Get out.” “Hosanna!” we cry to the Deliverer we imagine. Then the loved one dies, the debts stack up, or we lose our home and we assume our God failed us. This was not what we had in mind when we cried those words, so we turn away. We’re not much different from the crowd that lined the street that day. Maybe we too would have shouted “Crucify Him!” when He did not fulfill our expectations. God’s way of delivering us is often not what we had in mind because His ways are better. They’re eternal. God’s plan restores what sin destroyed. His deliverance is Kingdom-focused, not limited to earthly focus. “Hosanna!” was the right cry, but the wrong motivation. When we understand Who Jesus is and why He came, we can shout “Hosanna!” and trust His answers.

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Every Little Thing

If anyone asks, 'Why are you untying that colt?' just say, 'The Lord needs it.'" Luke 19:31

Imagine this fictional scene in Israel that day…

Jedediah shuffled to the feed shed and set the bucket on the floor. His back protested as it did every time he bent over. Seven decades of hard work had taken a toll on his body. He stood in the shaft of sunlight filtering through the cracks and tried to feel hopeful. Yahweh had been good to him, but always this nagging sense of failure. Life was hard. Jed had been too busy providing for his family to do anything important for his God. He’d been faithful in all the ways he knew, but he would never match the Pharisees in spiritual significance—and they made sure he knew it. Jed couldn’t even read. He had no education, no title, no real skills. What could he possibly offer the God of Israel?

Three young men had approached his animal pens and were conversing loudly with each other. As a unit, they looked his way. One patted the back of Nellie, his best donkey, nodded to her colt, and then walked toward Jed, bowing in respect. “We’ve come on behalf of our Rabbi. Maybe you’ve heard of Him, Jesus of Nazareth? He has need of your donkey.” Jedediah’s heart skipped a beat and a dozen memories flooded his mind. The healer? The miracle worker? The forgiver of sins? He’d heard this Jesus teach in the synagogue and had never been the same. Jed offered the men a toothless grin. “Yes,” he said. “She’s yours.” As he watched them untie Nellie and lead her and her colt away, his heart swelled with gratitude. Of all the donkeys in Israel, the Messiah had chosen his. He lifted watery eyes to the sky. Maybe Yahweh had remembered him after all.

Jesus used a borrowed donkey to teach us that 

no one and nothing offered to God is insignificant to Him.

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Why a Donkey?

Jesus sent two disciples saying… “Go to the village…and you will find a donkey tied there… Matthew 21:1-2

Nathaniel nudged Andrew. “He’s getting ready to do something big,” he whispered. “He’s been hinting at it all week. We’re almost to Jerusalem. That’s where it will happen, I just know it. And we’re gonna be in on it!” Andrew nodded, his eyes on the Rabbi. “Yeah, He might be taking over the palace or maybe the temple…” His hand slipped to his side where the reassuring cold of metal met his fingertips. “You remember how violent He got with those moneychangers? Whoa, this is gonna be good! Is your spear sharp—” His words were cut off as Jesus pointed to them both. “I need you to get me a donkey.”

Andrew’s hand fell away from his spear and he darted a look at his companions. They knew what a donkey meant. In ancient Middle Eastern culture, leaders rode war horses when they came to conquer, but sat upon donkeys when they came in peace. By choosing to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, Jesus was openly declaring Himself a King who had come in peace. There would be no more double-speak, vague innuendos, or hidden messages. Jesus was ripping the veil of secrecy from His mission. He had come to conquer, but not in the way that men conquered other men. He would do it through humility and sacrifice. The donkey was a way of publicly announcing that the old ways were gone and a new kingdom had come.

In God’s new kingdom, humility trumps pride, 

peace trumps violence, 

and service trumps entitlement. 

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Pilate's Fears

“Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” Matthew 27:65

Those orders did not end that day. The enemies of the Lord have been working ever since to convince the world that Jesus is irrelevant. “If we can just neutralize Jesus and the whole resurrection thing,” the thinking goes, “Christianity will die of natural causes.” And they’re right. If Jesus is nothing but a sweet-talking guru, then let’s board up the churches and build casinos.

Pilate’s orders continue to echo through the centuries, taking cues from popular culture. God is Dead! shouted the headlines in the 60’s. It’s the Me Generation, we were told in the 70’s. Cultural Christianity is the New Cool, the 80’s informed us. It was Anything Goes for the 90’s, and for every generation since. Attacks against the validity of the Bible, the deity of Jesus, and the reality of God continue to escalate. When Pilate can’t deny the existence of Jesus, he repackages Him as a shy, lamb-carrying hippie who had some great ideas but is hopelessly out of touch. However, every attempt to discredit Jesus hits the same obstacle—an empty tomb. Pilate’s fear that a resurrected Christ would transform his empire was well founded; but trying to stop Jesus with a rock He Himself had created was not. So go ahead, Pilate, make that tomb as secure as you know how. It won’t matter, because the One who walked out of that tomb is still transforming your empire.

 
“You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” –C. S. Lewis 

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Stop Looking at the Ground

Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb. Mark 16:2 

The best day of their lives began as the worst day of their lives. Imagine the sleepless night Jesus’ friends and family had! They had just witnessed the bloodiest, most unjust murder in history. When their friend, son, and Master died, He took their dreams with Him. When they started toward the tomb that morning to anoint Jesus’ body, the women could only look at the ground, agonizing over problems. How would they roll away the huge stone? How would they access Jesus’ body with all those guards there? And then they looked up. Their questions were human-sized; the answers were God-sized.

When we wake each morning, we are often greeted with pounding questions: How will I…? What will happen…? What if…? As we move toward our day, we are usually looking at the ground, limited by our own understanding. But when we choose to look up and focus on God’s unlimited resources, no situation is hopeless. When we begin the day on our knees, God can show us our life from His perspective. Problems have purpose. Our questions are human-sized; the answers are God-sized.

Are you looking at the ground? What if you started looking up and expecting God-sized answers?

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He Is Risen!

No man-made religion has an empty tomb!