"Jesus is Alive!"

It was sixteen years ago today. I slept in a chair, though fitfully, that night, waking several times to see if she was still with us. My mom had been diagnosed nine months earlier with a primary brain tumor, and on Monday I was advised to come home. I caught a plane from Detroit to Atlanta, and it was my second night there. We knew she could not last much longer.

I awoke around 7 a.m., and her breathing was extremely shallow and labored. And then, quietly and peacefully, it just stopped.  I held her hand, I cried, and I prayed. A short time later my dad emerged from his bedroom and I simply whispered, “It’s over.”

            In my years as a pastor I’ve been in the room several times as people have taken their last breaths.  Hospital ICU’s, hospice houses, and their own homes.  But this was my mother.  I cannot explain the full gamut of emotions I felt that day. I didn’t cry as much then as I had when I first heard the diagnosis.  Still, the pain was real. 

            Two days later I stood before Mom’s church, and our family and friends, and preached the glorious news that because Jesus is alive, we can live forever.  We will be reunited with loved ones. We will see the Lord.

            That is the truest and fullest meaning of Easter. This past Sunday our churches were fuller than normal, some of us attended sunrise services in the dark and the cold, and we sang and celebrated that Jesus is alive.  And we know it is true. 

            All of Christianity rises or falls on the resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul said, “If Christ be not raised, you are dead in your trespasses and sins.” And then he declared, “But indeed, Christ is alive!”

            And because He is alive, we can live forever. I challenge you to live in the light and the glory of this truth. Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive! Indeed, I will say it one more time. Jesus is alive!