Title: The Resurrection Lord on the Rock
Contents
▒▒▒ Bible : Psalm 40:1~3
The event of the resurrection of Jesus brought about a tremendous change for the whole of mankind. After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to Mary and other women. He appeared to the disciples who were trembling in fear. He also appeared to the disciples who had left Jesus and were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
The appearance of Jesus before the Resurrection and after the Resurrection is clearly different. Before His Resurrection, Jesus was bound by space, that is, place and time, that is, time. But after his resurrection, Jesus transcends place and time. With the death of Jesus, the disciples were hiding behind the door. But Jesus came in through the locked upper door. He appeared to the disciples through the closed door. The Lord of Resurrection transcends time and space.
The text draws us out of the deep pit and puts us on a rock. I say. A bog is the end of a puddle. The bottom of the puddle is a bog. There is water in that swamp. So the more we walk, the deeper we fall into it. Emmaus is located west of Jerusalem. West is the side where the sun sets. The life of the disciples as they left Jerusalem and went down to Emmaus was a life of drowning. They moved westward from the light of Jesus in Jerusalem. There Jesus appeared. Their hearts warmed as they shared the word with the resurrected Jesus. It was dinnertime and their dark eyes were opened as they ate. At last I saw someone in front of me. And they turned from Jerusalem to Emmaus in the west, and turned to the east of Jerusalem where the sun rose. A precious history of moving from the swamp to the rock took place.
Chapters 5-7 of Matthew are the Sermon on the Mount taught by Jesus. The conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 7:24-27. This passage is the parable of the man who builds his house on the rock and the man who builds his house on sand. Our lives are determined by where we lay the foundation of our faith and build it. He who builds a house on sand is the one who lays his foundation on sand. On the other hand, the one who builds his house on the rock is the one who puts his foundation on the rock. The most important thing here is the foundation. The foundation of our faith is the Resurrection. When we base our lives on the risen Lord, our lives are like an unshakable rock.
If we base our lives on God, we can say, “God has put praise on our lips,” like the praise in verse 3 of the text. After Jesus' death, Mary Magdalene visits the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body with spices. Surprisingly, Jesus' tomb was empty. When Jesus was not seen, Mary Magdalene was weeping by the tomb. Then Mary hears the voice of Jesus who should be Mary. To the voice of Jesus, Mary replies, “Raboni.” The resurrected Jesus made Mary go from sorrow to joy. In Mark 14, Jesus praises him as he walks toward the cross. He was able to praise even before suffering because He saw the glory after suffering. He saw the resurrection beyond death.
As we go through life, there are times when our life of believing in Jesus is like being trapped in a puddle. Sometimes it hits the bottom like a swamp. There are times when you find yourself in a beleaguered situation. At that time, the resurrected Lord first approaches us and reaches out to us. And the Lord will bring us out of the pit, and out of the depths of the pit, and put us on the rock.
2008-04-04 09:53:42