The Resurrection

My long-time, dear friend - from 2nd grade is Ben Ross. He is now a pastor in Illinois. The following is an excerpt from his excellent sermon for the 3rd Sunday of Easter: "Touch Jesus to See".

"One of the reasons why the resurrected Christ appeared to His disciples is to convince them to believe, to have faith, and to bear witness to Him. How does Christ convince His disciples about His resurrection? When He saw the fear and doubt and confusion in their faces as well as their minds, He invited them to touch and to see His hands and feet with the healed wounds. This provided them with concrete proof of His resurrection, their conviction that it is real.

The perspective that supported their conviction regarding the resurrection was that he asked them to give Him something to eat. They responded with a piece of broiled fish, and he ate before them. They were astonished and then filled with great joy, the true joy of having the resurrected Christ in their presence, having touched the resurrected Christ, which gave them joy to witness. The resurrection of Christ from death attested to His deity, but His request for something to eat attested to His Humanity; he remains empathetic with His disciples as humans, yet clearly, to be resurrected proves His deity.

We also touch and feel Christ in our Daily life whenever we receive Holy Communion. We touch Christ whenever we read His Holy Word and contemplate Him. More importantly, we touch Christ whenever we are kind to our poor and downtrodden brothers and sisters, whenever we love the unloved, and whenever we bring reconciliation and forgiveness to our fellow humans, we embrace the resurrected Christ.

The second perspective leads them from conviction about Christ’s resurrection to the assignment of their mission, as the resurrected Christ gave them a mission. Their mission continued Christ's purpose from God to bring to all people the Good News that through the resurrected Christ, the sins of all people and all nations are forgiven starting with Jerusalem. "

If you have not read our book, The Assignment: A Prophetic Message and Mission," I encourage you to do so and re-engage during Eastertide with the power of Jesus' resurrection and how ALL who believe in Him are to carry out His assignment. Available at www.visiblelight.org and www.amazonbooks.com