Luke 9:22 And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
Are you an optimist or a pessimist these days? I think I was much more optimistic during the 80's and 90's. Some of my optimism died on 9-11 and I am still having a hard time getting it back. The rapid decline of our culture away from a Biblical worldview has also impacted my joy levels. The craziness of a world with North Korea threatening war saps my enthusiasm. The daily barrage of news on CNN (Continual Negative News) steals my joy. And the reality that I will never run a 7-minute mile again is a total bummer.
Now I know as a pastor I am supposed to live above circumstances and events of life and have joy all the time, but the truth is, it is very difficult. I even have a long list of sermons that tell people exactly how to do this. But knowing how to live the right way, and actually living the right way, are miles apart.
Maybe you are struggling with the same pessimism. So where are we going to find hope in a hopeless world? The very foundation of hope is discovered in an empty tomb. The resurrection of Jesus is, by any objective measure, the most significant event in history. The resurrection replaces the pessimism of Good Friday with hope.
A few years ago during a GYRO youth meeting (our elementary school ministry) I asked, "If Jesus had to die for our sins, how serious is sin?" One of the young people, Thomas, said, "Sin must be very bad if God had to come to earth and die to save us from it. Sin must be very, very bad." Thomas nailed that answer. The world is not OK when God has to die. We have such a shallow understanding of the enormity of sin. If the only way to deliver us from it means God had to come to our planet and die for us, then sin must be a very critical issue.
But here is the hope. Jesus didn't stay dead. On Sunday morning death and Satan could not hold Jesus in that tomb. He rose again. Death did not have the final say. Pain, suffering and death don't win. God wins; they lose. So we can't be despairing. Theologian Richard Neuhaus said, "Despair is a sin because Christ is alive."
So here is our answer to the pessimism in our broken world.
We say to Kim Jong-un and his threats…. Christ is Risen!
We say to every terrorist in the world…. Christ is Risen!!
We say to every fresh grave…. Christ is Risen!!
We say to our declining culture… Christ is Risen!!
And finally we say to our outwardly decaying and slower moving bodies… Christ is Risen!!
As the praise song says, "In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song."
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