The Empty Tomb – He Qi
Christ is risen so we proclaimed yesterday in our churches. The sanctuaries were festooned with flowers and rang with shouts of Alleluia. Most of us were decked out in our new spring outfits and the kids excitedly hunted for easter eggs. But today that excitement seems to have passed and life as usual is the order of the day.
How do we regain the excitement, the awe, the wonder of Christ’s resurrection and live into it every day of our lives? We are God’s resurrection people, the first fruits of the new creation and unless we live as resurrection people God’s new life has not really taken root in our hearts.
Some theologians think that the whole theme of the Gospel of John is that of new creation. Most of the book of John (chapters 12-20) takes place during one week in the life of Christ. John’s gospel is not chronological, it concentrates on themes. One theme is that Christ will redeem all of Creation (not just souls) through Re-Creation. In many ways Jesus death was like the planting of a seed (Unless a seed is planted in the soil and dies it remains alone, but its death will produce many new seeds, a plentiful harvest of new lives (Jn 12:24). Jesus suffering began in the garden of Gethsemane and then in John 20:15 as Mary visits the garden tomb where Jesus was laid after his crucifixion we read: “she thought he was the gardener” Why did it matter that Mary Magdalene thought that Jesus was the gardener? It matters because he is the gardener of the new creation.
The gospel of John begins with the words “In the beginning”. This immediately harkens us to the book of Genesis which opens with the same words. John then lays out a series of events in the life of Christ that mirror the Seven Days of Creation. Read more
In the beginning God planted a garden – the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:8). Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden. Now, in the beginning of the new creation brought into being by the resurrection of Christ God in the form of the risen Christ, is once more seen as a gardener inviting humankind back into the garden of creation.
The Scriptures tell us that the Son of God began His sufferings in a Garden and brought them to a close in a Garden. That is an absolutely amazing display of God’s wisdom. After all, Jesus is the second Adam undoing what Adam did and doing what Adam failed to do. Read the entire article
The hope and promise of these words which we so often skim over is incredible. As we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.”
And in Romans 8:19-23
“For the Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God;
for the Creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him
who subjected it in hope; because the Creation itself will be set free from its
bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We
know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and
not only the creation but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan
inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ”
New life has sprung forth in the person of the risen Christ, a new creation has begun and we catch glimpses of it every time we reach out to help someone in need, heal someone who is sick, cry out for justice against oppression and set free those who are bound. Christ’s resurrection carries with it the promise of many lives renewed, restored and bearing fruit and we have the opportunity to be a part of this transformation. Imagine what would happen in your life and in mine, and more importantly imagine what would happen in our world if we gave ourselves fully to this dream.
Where do you plan to proclaim the life of God’s new creation today? Where do you plan to show yourself as one of God’s resurrection people?