FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF KANSAS CITY KANSAS

“Lord," Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again." Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"  “Yes, Lord," she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."    John 11:21-27

Living even though we die! Is this a contradiction of terms? What Martha was faced with was the stark reality of what we all face: that is our own demise. Yes in fact her brother had died. But faced with that reality she (and we) know that one day that will happen to us also. Death of someone we know and love is a reality check. It certainly was for the disciples when they saw Jesus hanging on the cross. They knew it was the beginning of the end. Yet they were startled when Jesus showed up on the third day materializing out of nowhere. Startled, yes! Overjoyed? Most likely overwhelmed! How would you have reacted? What Jesus told Martha that day was now a reality. Put bluntly, a reality check of the possibility of resurrection! These were no longer just words that Jesus spoke. They came to form the hope that Martha had the moment she confessed: “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."  Yes she witnessed the resurrection of her brother at the command of Jesus. But the certainty that he and she would one day pass from life to death still lingered. When Jesus was seen in His resurrected state, there would no longer be any doubt as to the power He has over death, even His own. Her brother’s death, her death, and even for us our own death. Jesus said to her, "“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” She told Jesus that yes indeed she believed what He said. However doubt was still lingering in her mind just as it does ours. We face that actuality of our own death and of our loved ones but in the hope of resurrection that when we pass from this life into the next, Jesus will be there to transport us over the threshold into eternal life! How can we be so sure? All we have to do is look at Jesus! He Is Risen! No barriers for Him and now no barriers for us! What sin had brought into this world is now a part of the past. Jesus dealt with sin’s blow and the devil’s scheme of separating us from God. We live the resurrected life! From the moment of confessing Jesus as our Lord we are ‘born again’ into this new reality. It is just as certain as we now live in this realm. Paul said: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”(Ephesians 2:4-7) Welcome to the resurrected life!!     In His Love, Pastor Bill