15th Station of the Resurrection

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters[c] at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.

The life, death, and resurrection of Christ is the culmination and importance of the whole Bible. It demonstrates fulfillment of God’s great plan and proves He keeps His promises. We know the Gospels to be true and with these witnesses to resurrection we know HE is true. What more can we do than follow the instructions of Jesus and bear witness?

Our job is to recognize the significance of what Christ did, and to share that with one another. We are to rejoice in His resurrection and to worship and praise God. We can be eager to continue His work on earth as we love and serve His people.

But do you recognise Christ in your own life or do we miss His appearance in our lives?

Sometimes, we burrow into our own concerns or our work. We become distracted and often think we can make it on our own. We neglect to recognize that Christ is the vessel of our salvation and we can do nothing apart from Him.

Why do you think people who witnessed the resurrected Savior were often afraid or shocked? Did they not trust who Jesus was or what He had said?

As ours often is, the faith of these early followers was likely lacking. They may have claimed to believe what Jesus said but did not grasp the fullness of it, as we see with the disciples. Or they may have been too distracted to understand and when they did see Christ were terrified by the shock.

How can we carry out Jesus’s calls to spread His news?

We daily fulfil His commission by finding opportunities to love and serve others, and to set an example of humility and compassion in all we say, do, or think. We can pray for others and pray that God will work in our lives to genuinely care for them. We can model ourselves on His life and what that means. In this time of Covid-19 we need to extend our call to share with those who have yet to know the love of God. We are seeing more kindness within our own communities, with people offering to help their neighbours in need. These people, along with the NHS and Key Workers are showing the love of Christ for everyone, whether they believe or not. Can the people we don’t know God see Christ for themselves in us. Do we model His behaviour? Do people see you and want what you have, whatever that is?

I want to share something that I’ve seen this week – Churches are essential, we already knew that. When the faithful are scattered in every age, due to persecution, disaster, or plague, we persist in worship and service, in sacrament and sacrifice – feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, being good news to the poor, working to free the oppressed. Our highest and holy calling is to BE the church, not go to church. So

A small challenge for the next week – be the church and share the love…We don’t need to necessarily be risking our lives in foreign countries to spread the good news of Christ. This week, make an effort to show kindness and love, whether through a smile, note, or just being present. Listen to people and make eye contact and think about how will you carry on God’s love this week?

Louise