Pastor's Message
In the 19th century African-American spiritual “Were You There?” the questions asked are: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” “Were you there when they nailed Him to the tree?” And the answer is “Yes – I was there.” The friends of Jesus were there. The enemies of Jesus were there. The glib and the pious – they were there, too. The loving and the lost – they were all there.” When we are honest with ourselves, we know that we were there, too. Our sin put Jesus on the cross. Every sin was in a nail or the point of the spear.
In the fourth stanza of the spiritual “Were you
there?” the question is “were you there when God raised Him from the
tomb?” And by God’s amazing
grace – we as His baptized children can answer, “Yes.”
That is the great joy of Easter.
St. Paul reminds us “Don’t you know that all of us who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized
into his death? We were
therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just
as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we
too may live a new life.”
(Rom 6:3-4)
Yes – our sin put Jesus on the cross – but Christ’s stronger “Yes” is we too live again in Him. Yes – we are sinful and deserve nothing but God’s wrath and punishment; because every time we sin, we mock Him along with the crowds at the foot of the cross – but Christ’s stronger “Yes” is mightier than death itself – and we, too shall live eternally with Him.
Easter is our Lord’s strong “Yes.”
Yes – we were there – raised to a glorious hope for
Christ is risen – He is risen indeed!
We are there!
Pastor Tim Dinger