Focus On Faith

Mark 16:1-8  New International Version (NIV)

‘When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 

Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.  “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.’

The Easter story may seem ‘anti climactic’ with an empty tomb and some bewildered women running away in fear. Especially so, as human drama is spelled out daily in the meditations of the past week.

Who hasn’t experienced the euphoria of success, failure, disappointment, deep friendships, great company, great moments, betrayal, disillusionment, exasperation, hope? We can easily relate to these. The meditations are anchored in our experience.    But an empty tomb?

For those who are having difficulty with the last story:

Let me put it this way. We have choice in life.  The women chose to visit the tomb. They didn’t want to ‘let go’. It was their choice to do something which they believed was the right thing to do. They were hoping to glean something from the experience.

Hope is the active force that provides the opportunity to create life or life opportunity from every moment.  Even the last moment. Even the moment that appears to be on the opposite side of death.  That is why the refrain is repeated, “Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.”  The emptiness of the physical space, the void does not offer life opportunity. The hope in the Christ offers opportunity. The Christ does not dwell in empty places.  For the living it translates like this.  We have a life. We can build it with a purpose in mind or we can trash it through arbitrary experience. The choice is always ours. Much anger is expressed in life because the choice is our own. There is comfort in blaming others for giving us ‘thirty pieces of silver’. Those thirty pieces are never sufficient. They never satisfy. And as Judas discovered, they cannot be returned.

It’s very simple: ‘Don’t allow the interests of others define what  you are going to do or who you are to become. Own your own life! Go and do something with your life. Make something of your life. Let it be a life guided by a purposeful mindset that leads to a meaningful life not just a multitude of experiences.

The Holy Week meditations give a taste of the Christian life mindset. Christ teaches us the most meaningful and worthy perspective on life and all that it involves. A Christian mindset is founded in eternal principles. You will need more than a week to understand the Christian mindset and to reveal what it means in your life. It starts with focus on your life.

Seek your life purpose or renew your purpose and go for it!  Don’t be afraid of your purpose. Fear only what is holding you back. And it usually is fear. Get out of the empty tomb. Go for it with Christ’s blessing! Common experience runs away from faith and belief in what God enables us to become. It is a short step to make ourselves the center of the universe with our priorities. It is a shorter step to discover self as the victim of the world around us.

Jesus could have blamed everybody too. But there is a difference between describing the world through the eyes of our circumstances and describing the world through unchanging principles of truth. Jesus says ‘Forgive them’. This means we can always start over our ‘life choice’. We can ‘make it’ or ‘trash it’! Jesus describes the world through principles that are eternally true not circumstances which are subjective and changing; temporary.

The resurrection story invigorates. Its richness is not found in the written words. The story’s richness is found in our lives as we meet or read about those who start over everyday and create a world filled with God’s blessings. The resurrection story is proved true every day in the living of Christ’s example. Life truly is in the living. The simple words of the story are rather dull until you place your own life in the mix. Add the Christ. Then it comes alive.

Have a wonderful life in Christ!