"....Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee...." (Luke 24:5b-6)
This is something which was beyond Barabbas' reach. I wonder what those who cried out, "Kill Jesus! Give us Barabbas!" thought after That Glorious Sunday morning. Of course, just as at Jonestown, many just drank the Jewish Leaders' kool aide, "Jesus' disciples stole His Body." But if any of the "Barabbas crowd" ever gave their hearts to Jesus, they probably defined the word, "relieved."
There was never a greater "announcement" than that of the messengers to the women, "He is not here, but is risen!" These words were prefaced with, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" The reason was that they were "dead" in faith. They had either forgotten or just would not accept the Words of Jesus which He had spoken a number of times to them, "....that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again."
I am always careful when speaking about the German in the 1920s and '30s. My appraisal is after the fact; they lived in the fact. So too with the first at the tomb and the others who were informed but refused to believe. Judging past events from the present is always easier than living in the events. We do, however, have a live-in-the-fact opportunity ever day of our lives. And, just as the German and the first disciples, the need is to rise and live above "appearances" is ever-present.
Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray I not, "seek the living among the dead." Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
