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He Is Risen – by Greg Mattson

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“Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.’ So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.” Matthew 28: 1-8

I get the pleasure of writing this pondering on the most important day of the year, Easter. I was initially going to make this the shortest pondering in the history of New Life by writing “HE IS RISEN” and leave it at that. Nothing could be more important to us as believers than the words spoken to the two Mary’s than “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen.”

After church this past week, we went to Menards to prepare for the upcoming garden season by getting materials to build my first ever raised bed. It was a busy day at Menards with people gathering materials for projects. As I walked through the store with many others, it occurred to me, “are the people walking around this store aware that He is Risen and by that statement the history of mankind changed forever?”

This is a busy time for churches around the world as we celebrate Easter. However, I have to ask, shouldn’t we be celebrating Easter every day? Do we really grasp the earth-shattering, life-transforming and heart-changing event that occurred that day? Christ rose from the dead! Death has been defeated!

Up to this point, as we have witnessed in Mark, the disciples themselves who walked closely with Jesus daily witnessed the miracles did not understand who Jesus was. They considered him a Rabbi and possibly the prophesied Messiah King but never fully understood he was the Son of God until he appeared following the resurrection. They would never be the same after that, just as Saul was never the same after his Damascus road encounter with Jesus. A relationship with Jesus is all that matters, and it is life altering. As a believer, I would ask you to reflect on how this has changed you. I have been blessed to see God working through the many people at New Life and witnessed the personal transformations that can only be attributed to Jesus.

If you happen to be at New Life for the first time today, welcome! Since I most likely can’t be there today due to work, I will make a bold prediction: Pastor Tony will proclaim today that nothing matters other than Jesus, only Jesus! We focus on Jesus daily and not just at Easter because simply nothing else really matters.

Imagine what the story would look like if Jesus didn’t rise? There would be no perfect sacrifice to take our place. Since no one is perfect, we would have to pay the consequences of our sins and, personally, I know I have a boat load of those. The only justice would be eternal separation from God which is a very sobering thought — but today we proclaim the good news He is Risen! Our relationship with God has been restored. Let’s proclaim this to all the world. People are dying as they proclaim this truth in many areas of the world but it doesn’t silence them, nor did it silence the disciples or Paul as he sat in jail awaiting his death.

In conclusion, I want to end this with a quote from C.S. Lewis “He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less” As you read this, realize God created you, and He loved you so much that He sent His Only Son in the form of man to give His Life as a ransom for you. What greater love can there be? Happy Easter!

He is risen, Greg Mattson

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