Tuesday, February 12

The Resurrection and the Life

I thought this selection from Jack's sermon a couple weeks ago was particularly thought-provoking...just wanted to share. :)

You see, secularism, Christianity criticizes it not because it doesn’t sufficiently comfort people in this dying. It does it all too well. Christianity’s quarrel with this acceptance and normalizing of death is that it has turned God’s creation into a cosmic cemetery. It has simply eliminated God and accepted death, normalized it. And there is something so profound – so telling about the fact that the Prince of Peace, the Life, the Resurrection – seeing death, seeing grief – His heart shatters. He is deeply moved in spirit to see what the principalities of darkness and powers have done to God’s creation. We have a quarrel with death. Jesus is come not to ease our way into dying He has come to trample death to death.

3 comments:

Jason Pratt said...

Nice tacit use of 1 Cor 15's universalism passage there, too. {g}

JRP

Rachel said...

Ha! I didn't even realize that! Guess it's becoming more deeply ingrained into my subconscious. :-)

Jason Pratt said...

For the sake of any readers who wonder what we're talking about:

1 Cor 15:20-28 (NASV) "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own proper order: Christ, the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end when He delivers up the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put all things in subjection under His feet (as it is written in the Psalms). But when He says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that He is excepted Who put all things in subjection to Him. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also (in like manner) be subjected to the One Who subjected all things to Him, that God may be all in all."

JRP