From lifeless to living
‘For when the dead rise to life, they will be like the angels in heaven and will not marry. Now, as for the dead being raised: haven’t you ever read in the Book of Moses the passage about the burning bush? There it is written that God said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He is the God of the living, not of the dead. You are completely wrong!’ (verses 25-27)
Read Mark 12: 13-27
Do you have experiences which seem to sap the very life out of living? Death is not just an event which occurs at the end of life. Life itself is filled with mini-deaths: chronic sickness, the death of a loved one, repeated setbacks, the end of a relationship. All these things are able to bring death into your life at present and so rob you of joy and the comfort of knowing the living Christ’s presence with you.
But Jesus’ words tell you that even the dead are not cut off from God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is your God. These apparently dead patriarchs are not dead but alive. Their God is the living God who makes the dead alive.
Your experience of death may cut you off from family and friends, from health and hope. But it cannot cut you off from the God who has entered death and now lives. He is not only the living God. He is the God of the living.
Living Lord Jesus, by your risen life you make me alive. Give me the joy that comes from knowing that you have conquered death for me. Amen.
by Adam Cooper, in ‘New Strength for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 1998)
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