Reflections on Resurrection

"But your iniquities have separated you from God.  For your hands are stained with blood, and your tongue mutters wicked things.  No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity.

We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows.  Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.  He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him."

(selections from Isaiah 59)

 I took portions of scripture and fitted them together here.  I don't think I've changed the meaning of the overall passage.  Please, follow the link to Isaiah 59 or open your own Bible to read the whole thing.  I'm not discussing the finer points of the composition or the deep theological issues of this.  Just think of what today represents.

It's the Resurrection of Jesus.

I read the passage in Isaiah and I think of me.  Of us today.  That those descriptions fit us.  Our iniquities have separated us from God.  Our hands are stained with blood.  (maybe not literally, but remember what Jesus said about just being angry with a brother...)  Our tongues mutter wicked things.  We walk in deep shadows because we cannot find the light.  Truth is nowhere and anyone who rejects evil...is prey!

I'm tired of being that person.  I'm tired of being separated from God.

We do not have to be separated from him.  He already fixed everything.  "So his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him."

God made the way back through the darkness.  Back to the Truth.  We can come out from beneath our iniquities, our wicked tongues, and blood stained hands and be with Him in the light.

Jesus is that salvation worked out, the sustaining righteousness.

The coolest thing is that it is done.  We just have to embrace him.  To acknowledge who he is.  Then we live life changed, different, out of darkness.  We follow the lessons and commands he left for us.  We live life according to the salvation Jesus provided through his resurrection.

Enjoy the flowers and eggs and candy today, but remember there is so much more to it than that.  "Easter" is a holiday.  The Resurrection is a way of life.  Live it.

grace, peace + hope

-Jesse