What Do You See?

by

John D. McArthur, Jr.

Easter is the special day of the year we celebrate the hope we have as Christians. All our other teachings, all our other programs, all our other good works are useless and without meaning unless they are bound together by this day celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Matthew has a theme he keeps emphasizing in his story of the resurrection. He wrote about what the women saw. What do you see?

Charles Spurgeon said, "If you are not seeking the Lord, the Devil is seeking you. If you are not seeking the Lord, judgment is at your heels."

The women in Matthew 28 had their priorities straight. The most important thing they would do all week would be to get up early on Sunday morning and look for the tomb.

The gospel's of Mark and Luke explain why: they wanted to anoint the body with spices according to their tradition and law regarding dead bodies. In spite of their grief, they wanted to do the right thing by taking care of the body of Jesus. Unlike Peter and the other disciples, they had not fled and hidden at his death.

But how were the women going to move the huge stone from the front of the tomb? A stone that had been sealed shut by order of Pilate? What would they have done if the soldiers refused them access to the grave? There were no guarantees that if they found the tomb they would be able to see Jesus. Yet, they still went out on that early Sunday morning looking for the Lord.

And according to Jewish law, touching a dead body would make them ceremonially unclean for seven days. If they had found the body and anointed it with spices, it would have become obvious to all their friends and neighbors where they had been and what they were doing. They would have been forced to declare themselves unclean and they would have had to face ridicule and insults because they were seeking Jesus. Still, the women continued their search for the Lord.

Jesus told us to "seek and we will find". An interesting thing about God: Usually he does not force us to find him or appear in spectacular form so we have no choice but to see him. Most of the time, we have to make an effort to find him.

If you wanted to see the Cincinnati Reds play baseball, what would you do? If you live in northern Kentucky like I do and headed south on I-75 eventually you would arrive at the University of Kentucky, where you would find a stadium. And if you went at the right time you would see a game played. But it probably would not be baseball and it would not be the Reds.

To see the Reds play you have to go north on I-75 from northern Kentucky to Riverfront stadium and enter the ballpark at the right time. So too, if you wanted to see Jesus, you would go to where he can be found.

Jesus can be found only in the Bible. Nature, Christians and the church only reflect his glory and sing his praise. The Word of God is where you will really meet him. If you really want to see Jesus, don't just look at other Christians or the church building or the beauty of creation. If you really want to see Jesus, go to the source and read about him.

When Lloyd C. Douglas, author of "The Robe" and other novels, was a university student, he lived in a boarding house. Downstairs on the first floor was an elderly, retired music teacher, now so weak he was unable to leave the apartment.

Every morning, Douglas would come down the steps, open the old man's door, and ask, "Well, what's the good news?"

The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair, and say, "That's middle C! It was middle C yesterday; it will be middle C tomorrow; it will be middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, the piano across the hall is out of tune, but, my friend, that is middle C!"

What's the good news? We cannot find Jesus in the tomb! Churches may disappoint us, Christians may fail us, but, my friend, Jesus Christ is not in the tomb!

Without the empty tomb, there is no reason for us to meet. Without the empty tomb there is no reason for us to live, act and behave as Christians. Without the empty tomb we are wasting our time being Christians and doing good. We might as well go and do whatever we feel like doing.

Now, Christianity can get along with society if we ignore the resurrection. The teachings of the Bible are good and they form a value system and moral code that can keep a community happy and prosperous. Good old family values and a clear standard of right and wrong are taught in Scripture and for years was the cornerstone of our culture in America.

But the reason for us to live by these standards is not family happiness or community ethics but the resurrection of Jesus. When you remove the resurrection from Christianity you no longer can see Jesus.

The resurrection demands our obedience to God. If God is powerful enough to raise Jesus from the dead, he must be the true God and whatever he says to do, we must do it.

During the presidency of Andrew Jackson, George Wilson, a postal clerk, robbed a federal payroll from a train and in the process killed a guard. The court convicted him and sentenced him to hang.

At the time, public sentiment was against capital punishment and a movement was begun to secure a presidential pardon for Wilson. Jackson was hesitant a first but because Wilson was a first time offender and a growing number of people were supporting Wilson, he intervened and granted a pardon.

Amazingly, George Wilson refused the pardon. Since this had never happened before, the Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether someone could refuse a presidential pardon. Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the majority opinion. "A pardon is a parchment," he wrote, "whose only value must be determined by the receiver of the pardon. It has no value apart from that which the receiver gives to it. George Wilson has refused to accept the pardon. We cannot conceive why he would do so, but he has. Therefore, George Wilson must die."

George Wilson, because he refused the pardon offered to him, was punished for his crime and hanged.

Pardon, declared the Supreme Court, must not only be granted, it must be accepted.

Jesus died on the cross, was buried in the tomb and rose from the dead taking the punishment and forgiving us of our sins. But this act of love and mercy does not mean a thing until we accept it.

What do you see? A neatly lit cross, beautiful lilies, palm branches, colorful dresses and traditional stories or do you see Jesus?