Grace Notes 2024-04-03

Ostriches actually don’t bury their head in the sand thinking they can escape danger. But they do dig holes in the sand and stick their heads in the hole. This is because they dig in the ground to make a nest, and they will stick their head in the hole to turn the eggs.

No, it’s not ostriches that think that if they cannot see danger then they must be safe from danger. That attribute actually falls to human beings!

You would think that there could not possible be a more pressing issue than investigating, so much as it is possible, as to whether there is credible evidence for the Easter claim, that Jesus rose bodily from the tomb on the third day. With the state that He was when taken down from the cross, it is not scientifically possible that He rose and was in the amazing condition He was witnessed to have been by over 500 people over the course of 40 days.

There is a lot of compelling evidence to suggest, as unlikely and unbelievable as it may seem, that nothing short of this miracle took place. But does everyone want to actually investigate this matter and consider the evidence? No. And it appears that many do not want to. Why?

Why? This is easy to answer. If there is a good chance that this extraordinary event took place, then everything that Jesus claimed is likely to be true as well. He claimed to be one with the heavenly Father. He claimed that indeed Scripture is the Word of God, and it cannot be broken, unbound, or dismissed (Jn 10:35). He claimed that He is the way to the Father, and that no one comes to God but through Him (Jn 14:6). And He promises to return to righteously judge the world.

Friends, Jesus’ resurrection would prove that He is Lord over all, Lord over the living and the dead, and that we belong to Him and are to live for Him. We dig a hole and stick our head in it for a different reason than the ostrich.

Since You Asked…

How are we to understand the Easter Feast?

“Easter is to be understood as the crown of the whole year, the queen of feasts, and as such it lasts not for a day, not for a week, but for a week of weeks – a week not made up of seven days but of seven weeks.

So the Sundays of this season are called the Sundays of Easter. It is one extended feast. … The Gospels for the Sundays of Easter present the themes of resurrection, ascension, and the sending of the Holy Spirit as aspects or stages of the Easter Mystery…” (from the Manual on the Liturgy a companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship, publ. by Augsburg)