October 22 - Mark 15-16: Is This For Real?

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome.... saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed all in white.  they were completely taken aback, astonished.  He said, "Don't be afraid.  I know you're looking for Jesus... He's been raised up; he's here no longer."  (16:1-6)

 Later he appeared, but in a different form, to two of them walking in the countryside. (16:12)

Still later, as the Eleven were eating supper, he appeared and took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief.... (16:14)

Seven appearances of Jesus are recorded in the four gospels and Paul records even more eyewitnesses.  So as someone who has gone to church and heard this story my entire life; as someone who shares this story with others as truth and asks them to commit to it; as someone who is getting older, feeling the slow disintegration of my body and mind; as someone who has felt and is feeling the large disappointments of this earthly life:  Do I believe the resurrection is for real?  That Christ's death irrevocably changed the death sentence on my life?  Does it mean anything to me, right now?  Is my view of the future based on what God said through the Old Testament prophets - a new world, a new body, a restored creation - everything put right with God?

"And to the extent that that future is real to you, it will change everything about how you live in the present.  For example, why is it so hard to face suffering?  Why is it so hard to face disability and disease?  Why is it so hard to do the right thing if you know it's going to cost you money, reputation, maybe even your life?  Why is it so hard to face your own death or the death of loved ones?  It's so hard because we think this broken world is the only world we're ever going to have.  It's easy to feel as if this money is the only wealth we'll ever have, as if this body is the only body we'll ever have.  But if Jesus is risen, then your future is so much more beautiful, and so much more certain than that."  (Keller, King's Cross)

Round two of this gospel story is sinking into my soul a little deeper.  Along with the agony of Jesus on the cross, the fulfillment of prophecy after prophecy, the reality of a very different future and how that affects my soul now.  The weight of disappointment is beginning to feel like something that is pressing me into the hope of Christ instead of pushing me to blame others or God for my "less than" feelings.   The cost of doing what God calls me to is beginning to feel like less of a sacrifice and more like love.   I'm slowly believing more and more that this promised future is real.  Living in that reality is something I continue to wrestle with God about.