Alleluia, Christ is Risen!



The heart of Christian faith is the proclamation that Jesus is Lord (contextually, over and against, in the face of, the proclamation that Caesar is lord.) This proclamation rests squarely on the experience of the first followers that God had raised Jesus from the dead as a sign, a vindication, the seal of approval on his sinless, righteous life of complete trust and obedience to the Father and his understanding of the Father’s will. This experience of the Risen and Living Jesus transformed the first followers from a terrified, intimidated, shocked, and scattered band of disciples into a fearless, bold, and convicted community of witnesses.

These first followers were certain that the Risen Lord had made himself known to them in appearances and in manifestations of courage and power that convinced them that Jesus continued to live in, among, and through them, albeit in a different plane of existence. From generation to generation of subsequent followers, Christians, by a multitude of personal and communal experiences and manifestations, also came to belief in the Risen Lord.

Much of Jesus’ life and teaching are clearly true and constant with the moral and spiritual convictions of other religions. But no one else makes the claim that Jesus is God incarnate, a claim for its adherents that flows directly out of the experience of Jesus’ resurrection. The cross and resurrection are indeed the most astounding, unbelievable claims that anyone could ever make and paradoxically, as Paul writes, a stumbling block to some, foolishness to others, but to those being saved in Christ, the power and wisdom of God.

How about you? Do you believe that Jesus lives? On what basis or what is your own experience? The central and first purpose of Good Shepherd, our primary reason for existence, is to bear witness ourselves to the resurrection of our Lord and our earnest conviction that he transforms our lives no matter what. Are we his witnesses? Is this place a place where others can come to know and follow Jesus? How can we allow the Holy Spirit to work more powerfully through us? The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia! May we come to know and experience that reality more profoundly in the future to come.