Our oldest son ran down the stairs this morning, proclaiming "He is risen, he is risen, he is risen!" He is risen indeed!
What a wonderful wake-up! Our oldest has autism and routine is very important to him. He says much the same thing every morning, "Hi Mom! Can I have a show? Toast (or bagel) please." For him to break out of his routine and to be thinking about the significance of this day was just a little bit of a miracle this morning. And it made us smile :)
Then he continued, "Jesus is risen. He is not here. You are out of luck."
Well, not quite what the angel said, but in his own way of paraphrasing, it works. If you were one of the women returning to the tomb to properly prepare Jesus' body for burial, you were indeed "out of luck" - his body was not there!
And then I thought about it some more. What a statement to Satan, to guilt, to shame, to death, to separation from God - "You are out of luck!" While their influence will still be felt as long as we are here on this earth, Jesus has the final say. In dying and rising again, He has already won the ultimate victory.
"Just as everyone must die once and then be judged, so Christ was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people. And He will come a second time, not to offer himself for sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him... let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, because we have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold firmly to the hope that we have confessed, because we can trust God to do what he promised." Hebrews 9:27-28; 10:22-23 (NCV)
