THE STORY OF JESUS: Matthew 20:17-19
“On the third day he will be raised to life!” (Matthew 20:19)
Jesus throws in the idea of resurrection as if it… were normal.
Like an average day: ‘get out of bed, have a coffee, get killed, then be alive again!’
Do you live as if life after death were normal?
Or are we more fixated on death, than on life after death?
(The NIV calls this section ‘Jesus Predicts His Death’, what about His being raised?)
In the picture above, what do you see?
A hole prepared for a casket… or a hole where a casket was removed?
Does this image describe the end of life, or the end of death?
My suspicion (based on how I am) is that we see death more than life after death.
“Because I live, you also will live.” (John 14:19)
This is life-transforming, death is no longer the last word.
Yes I will continue in this till I die, but then I “will be raised to life!”
This is not to deny suffering and hardship now – Jesus was fully aware of them.
But no matter what happens, He knew, ‘the best is yet to come!’
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, Your grave is empty, and so will mine. Help me to see the grave not as a conclusion, but as a transition into LIFE after life!