Beyond

As I am writing this the Masters Golf Tournament is playing in the background.  It is interesting how much hype is spoken by the announcers.  A shot is remembered as heroic.  Another shot is touted as the downfall of a golfer.  The roars of the crowds rise and fall with the changes on the leaderboard.  And, being a pretty avid golf fan, I can get caught up in all of it.  I have been there, and it is pretty exciting!  But, if I am honest with myself, it isn't that important.  My life won't be altered by anything that happens on that beautiful golf course.

But there was an event that changed everything.  The course of history.  The direction of the whole world.  It was, and is, beyond expectations and belief.  One morning disciples found an empty tomb. A woman wept in a garden. And they all learned something beyond belief.  Jesus was not dead ... He was alive!

They all should have known.  The prophets predicted it.  Jesus talked about it.  But no one could place what was happening inside the realm of their belief.  It was beyond reason, beyond belief, and beyond the scope of this world.  Carolyn Moore calls it supernatural.  Wesley called it "Amazing Love."  What do you call it?

In the Gospel of John, Mary calls it sight and hope.  "I have seen the Lord (John 20:18)," Mary exclaims!  Her statement is appropriate ... for John is all about teaching us to see beyond worldly vision, to what and how Jesus sees the world.  In John 1:50, Jesus tells the new disciples they will see "greater things."

Also in John (20:22), disciples call it power.  "Receive the Holy Spirit," Jesus said.  Do you live in the power of the Holy Spirit, or do you rely on the powers of this world?  We are called, and blessed, beyond the power of this world!

For the Church, what happens in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is the defining purpose of every person who calls himself or herself Christian.  We are called to Christ, to Jesus' place, to His eternity that is beyond even time.  Do you see it?  Do you have hope and faith that Jesus is truth, direction, and life?  Do you live in the powerful name of the one who was, is, and is to come?  

We will sing about this beautiful and powerful mystery this Sunday.  Holy Song says, "What mercy to me Lord, to choose me for your own, that you would make my heart your dwelling place."  That is beyond reason, beyond what we deserve, and beyond imagination.  But, it is not beyond a God who loves us so much that He would die to save, forgive, and claim us from beyond earthly reach, to bring us to Himself.  For He is risen ... He is risen indeed!  AMEN