Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus.”
Luke 24: 1-3 (NLT)
It was about ten years ago now, that I traveled to Scotland for a week of golf on some of the historic courses of the game. What made the trip especially memorable was that I took it with my precious son, Nathan, as the two of us joined seven other father-son pairings. Throughout the week we traveled the Scottish countryside and played courses across Scotland, including where golf began at the famous Old course in St. Andrews, Scotland.
While in St. Andrews, Nathan, being the sensitive young man which he remains, arranged a memorable moment for both of us as he walked us onto the beach nestled between the first fairway of the Old Course and the body of water called the Firth of Forth where—Nathan informed me after we were standing on the beach—some scenes from one of my favorite movies of all time “Chariots of Fire” were filmed.
There’s one scene in that movie which takes place at the conclusion of a track and field event, where Eric Liddell, one of the central figures in the story, is speaking in the rain and against a backdrop of umbrellas, to a group of spectators who have gathered to hear him share after he had competed in the track meet. As the rain falls steadily on that gathering assembled on the now-quiet track, he compares faith to running in a race, as he asks…
“Where does the power come from to run the race?”
As he continues, the rain slows and then stops while one by one the umbrellas are folded away, and as everyone stands in the now glorious sunshine of the day he answers…
“It comes from within…the Kingdom of God is within you…through the love of Christ.”
“That”, Eric continues, “is where the power and hope comes from to run the race, it comes from within.”
We are now on the other side of yet another Easter Sunday celebration, and I wonder if we still feel that sense of power within. That power of the Risen Christ is what we were reminded of again yesterday in the activities and recollection of that day which occurred over 2,000 years ago.
It was a day so long ago which began in continuing despair from what had occurred three days earlier, where the disciples and other devoted followers like Mary Magdalene had seen Christ hanging dead on the cross. Three days later they came to the tomb where Christ had been laid to anoint—what they thought would still be—his lifeless body with spices.
And He was not there. And the angels at the tomb had to remind them of what Christ had earlier told them—that He would be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, buried, and on the third day rise to life again.
He was risen. They remembered His words.
And in that moment at the tomb, Mary, those disciples and others present, went from tragedy to triumph. They remembered. And they realized what He had done for them—and for you and me—on the Cross. And they returned that Easter Sunday morning to find that Christ had indeed risen from that cold dark tomb. And in that moment they were lifted from the tragedy of Friday to the triumph of Sunday—all through the love of Christ. And now they saw, now they remembered, and now they believed.
Where does the power come from? It comes from within. It comes from a belief deep within each of us—a belief in the risen Lord.
Are you still at Friday in some part of your life? Do you still seem to have more to do than you can possibly handle? What is it that has just hit you full in the face and which you never saw coming—an illness has returned, a diagnosis of cancer, a relationship has ended, your child is struggling, your job has ended abruptly? What is it that is trying to pull you down and drag you to the side of the curb?
Whatever it is, remember—the power of the risen Christ is within you and will never leave you. That’s the message of Easter. His work on the cross for us is finished. The tomb in which He was laid is empty and He is alive. And that no matter what we are going through, no matter what we face—Christ is risen and alive, and will never leave us. He is alive to restore our hope, to redirect our lives, and to help carry us on and make a path through whatever we are facing today and every day.
Christ has risen. Christ is alive.
And that’s all the power within that you and I will ever need.
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2011. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
