The resurrection of Jesus was an event that surprised the earliest followers of Jesus and forced them to rethink everything they thought they knew about Jesus, themselves, and the world. They believed that the risen Jesus inaugurated God’s new creation, making it possible to become new and different kinds of humans in every aspect of our lives.
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So what will we look like in the resurrection? We can look at Jesus for some hints. But what bearing does that have on us today? Actually, it has a lot because, if we think all this will be thrown away like trash, then we may treat it as trash. But what if this body is eternal?
“Ack!” said Cathy. “Ugg!” said all the others when another situation comes up that is frustrating beyond words. But Jesus comes into those groans and helps us see glory is being produced through them.
Gold, a precious metal, becomes more so when it goes through the refiner's fire. Peter also went through the fire as he denied his own savior. But Jesus restored Peter, giving him the eyes to see how his suffering connected to Jesus'.
They were dejected, “We thought that Jesus was going to take over the world, but the world ended up taking him.” They said to this stranger they met on the road. But who is that Stranger and how can this trip down the road give us eyes to see.
If your house was about to be destroyed, would you clean it? Would you fix the leaky faucet? Would you take care of it. Perhaps our care of creation follows when our hope is in its destruction. But the resurrection gives a new hope, not in destruction, but in a restorative God who's making all things new again.