The Emptiest of Days

“We have not king but Caesar!”
It was an empty boast:
Thus heretics wrung empty justice
From their Roman host.
And empty-hearted followers
Grieved empty prophesy:
An empty throne.  The empty king
Instead had filled a tree.

But empty exposition,
Assumed in empty pride,
Keep them from recognizing
The Peacemaker who died:
The Emptied God who overcame
The Self-willed’s empty doom.
And peace with God is now restored.
The proof?  The Empty Tomb.

Sources:
John 19:15 ❦ Luke 24:17-27 ❦ Luke 7:19-23
Hebrews 1:1-2 ❦ Psalm 22 ❦ Philippians 2:5-11
John 3:16 ❦ Romans 5:1-2

One of the things that impresses me most about the story of Jesus is the prophetic aspect.  According to Christian understanding, Jesus fulfilled all the prophesies associated with the snake-stamping deliverer first promised in Genesis 3, yet even his own disciples couldn’t see the connection until He explained it (Luke 24:17-27).  The main reason they didn’t recognize the fulfillment was because, over the previous four hundred years of prophetic silence, the commentators had figured out exactly what their Messiah would be like and what He would do.  They were certain of their interpretation’s correctness – after all, they had scripture on their side!  But, when the Messiah actually did turn up, He was everything prophesy had predicted, and not at all what they had expected.  The commentators had put more faith in their interpretation of scripture than they had in the scriptures themselves.  (That’s one reason I don’t get too excited about eschatology: so many interpreters were positive that their exposition of Revelations was the right one, and lived to be disappointed.  When the time does come, it’ll be exactly what was predicted, and, as with Jesus, not necessarily what we expect.)  In the coming year, I hope we all can hear God speak through the Bible: that we can see what it says, and not be misled by what we think it says!

He is Risen Indeed!

"Awake, Sleeper" — A Poem for Easter

Maybe I don’t shop at the right stores, but, this year, I couldn’t find enough suitable Easter cards fro all the friends, relatives, church people and shut-ins to whom I send cards. Well, when you care enough to send, and can’t send Hallmark’s very best, you may end up sending your very best. Here is the verse from the cards I ended up making this year. Christina Rossetti and Adelaide Proctor have nothing to fear, but it was my best. With it goes my best wishes that you a lovely Holy Week, and that you’ll keep the joy of Easter all year long!

*  *  *  *  *

The wailing filled the doleful night.
The daughter never stirred.
Then spoke the Voice that first roused light,
And then Talitha heard:

Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead,
And the sun will shine on you!
Leave myrrh in the forest,
No need for it here.
Let nard scent a wedding
Instead of a bier.
Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead,
And the sun will shine on you!

In stony cell the captive lay.
Outside, his sisters grieve.
Parole denied, but the fourth day
The Judge read the reprieve:

Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead,
And the sun will shine on you!
Come forth, be untied
From that grim robe of fate!
When I buy the pardon
It’s never too late!
Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead,
And the sun will shine on you!

To all us stillborn spirits who
In deadly darkness grope,
The Judge and Maker calls us to
Life, Light, and Mercy’s hope:

Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead,
And the Son will shine on you!
Your passions are bondage,
Delusions are lies!
Don’t study the dungheap;
Look up to the skies!
Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead,
And the Son will shine on you!

Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you!
*  *  *  *  *
As we say at our church, He is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed!

Soar We NOW – Not Later – Where Christ Hath Lead

Whether you call it Easter or Resurrection Sunday, it's still the commemoration of that glorious proof that the unjust death of a perfect man was a satisfactory substitute for what should have been the eternal death of defiant, self-pleasing humanity.* But God's Holy One did not see corruption¶, and God's raising Him from the dead is what we celebrate, particularly with music. On that Sunday, we get our annual opportunity to sing all those great Resurrection hymns, including one of Charles Wesley's greatest lyrics, "Chris the Lord is Risen Today**." To whatever tune they are set, they remain a beautiful assurance of the blessings of redemption.

You may know the verse normally sung last:

Soar we now where Christ hath led,
Following our Exalted Head. \
Made like Him, like Him we rise!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies!

It sums up the fulfillment of the hope described in the previous verses: that we will follow our Redeemer beyond the grip of death, to Heaven. No one would debate that conclusion. However, I have been made to realize that it means so much more than that.

At the end of 2011, I noticed a Twitter post from someone traveling in India, describing smoke rising from funeral pyres along the Ganges. That grim scene was followed by another post about toy kites local children were playing with. The dancing of the kites in the sky, for a moment at least, released the children who held them from the dust and dung around them. Those soaring kites, for whatever reason, had made me think of soaring where Christ had led. Then it hit me: Wesley had written, "Soar we NOW," not "Soar we soon." I had always associated that verse with following Him to heaven, but the redemption Christ bought is not merely about getting to Heaven> It includes how we live on Earth. We don't have to wait until we get to Heaven to live heaven-like lives. Christ enables us to live like someone from Heaven right now even in the spiritual, moral (yes, and sometimes physical) dung and dust of a bitter world of change and decay. After all, eternal life isn't about mere perpetual existence, but about life as God had intended it to be lived.

And His ways are not the ways we choose on our own. Look at the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7). What a radical approach to life – and what an impossibility to live out! Yet, through Christ's resurrection spirit, now living in those who trust Him, we children of dust are able to do it, because He lives through us. Only through him can we truly set our minds on things above, and not on the vanishing things of this earth.§

Because Christ has risen, we may live among the dust and dung, but we are no longer part of it. Like those children watching the kites, our minds are now set on things above, not merely for a moment, but forever! By faith, we are made like Him, and like Him, we do rise; above our daily crosses, beyond the grave and the smoky funeral pyre, and, always, to the skies.

Hie is Risen! And, therefore, We arr Risen, Indeed! Alleluia!


Notes:

*Romans 4:23-25: Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

¶ Psalm 16:10:  For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

"Christ the Lord is Risen Today" http://hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh302.sht

§ Colossians 3:1-2:  If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
　

(The posts referred to above require, not merely a HT (Hat Tip), but a star-sweeping flourish of a salute to @ADaniels3PO, who posted them. I don' know where he might stand in relation to my reflection on them, but no one posts thought-provoking observations to Twitter more gracefully than he does.)