The Risen King

"But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. 'Do not be alarmed,' he said. 'You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen!'" ~Mark 16:4-6

This Easter Sunday morning I found myself not sitting in a church pew waiting for the pastor to get up and preach a sermon about the resurrected Christ, but 60 feet underground in a lava tube cave about ten minutes east of Bend, OR. You see, my parents flew up from Texas to visit me because I had five days off for this holiday and we spent some time touring around central Oregon. My mom scheduled a guided tour of Boyd cave in which we climbed and crawled our way back about 2,000 feet. The cave was formed by lava flow from an erupted volcano thousands of years ago and the air temperature of this cave stays approximately 45 degrees year round because of the insulative nature of basalt. While the cave was a treacherous feat with many obstacles, we made it in and out alive and with no injuries other than sore muscles the next day.

As we journeyed back to the entrance of the cave my mind went to the thought of Christ rising from the dead and walking out of the tomb that he was buried in. I pictured the tomb of Christ somewhat similar to the lava cave I was in. It would have been dark and most likely cold just like the cave that me and my parents traveled through. As I ascended the ladder and into the sunlight, I pictured Christ walking out of the tomb after three days of being dead and how good the sun must have felt on his face. This is the gospel of Christ.

The word "gospel" literary means "good news." So what is the good news? I often get stuck thinking about Christ crucified and how he took on the sins of the world and died for people who hated him. But that is not the good news. The good news is that Christ died, but he didn't stay dead. The good news is that for three days he battled death and rose victorious. Even more so, his victory over death has granted victory over death for all those who choose to receive it.

My hope is that every time my parents or I think about Boyd cave we would also think about the victory that we have in Christ. And my hope for the rest of you is that you would not forget Easter Sunday and the good news that it brings. In the early church, after Easter Sunday, they would go into 40 days of celebration. Somewhere along the way we lost sight of celebrating the greatest news of all time. So let us celebrate! Christ is risen, amen! He is no longer dead, and we no longer have to die. Praise the Lord for this gospel! E.