remember resurrection

Easter is over.  The service is done, the lilies are wilting, and the glorious day is a memory.

Resurrection is continuing: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor (Matthew 11:5).

Jesus commanded the disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, to teach and to baptize (Matthew 28:19-20). They undoubtedly taught about the wondrous cross, on which Jesus took upon Himself the sins of the world so that all who come to Him could be forgiven and never be turned away.  The Cross adds meaning and purpose to those who are suffering the world over.

But in this "Great Commission" Jesus added this: Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.  Jesus wanted His disciples, including us, to remember His Resurrection.  In His Rising to life, never to die again, in His Ascension to The Father, and in His sending of the Holy Spirit, His Resurrected Presence is present in us and with us.

As we pray for others, we remember the Resurrection, The Risen One Who restores, heals, cleanses, opens, raises, and proclaims the good news of His Victory over sin, sin-sickness, and death.  It's because of The Resurrection that we can pray with boldness.

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.  And God's Grace was powerfully at work in them all (Acts 4:33).  May this be said of us, as we remember the resurrection.