Null and void

On the way they said to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb? (It was a very large stone.) Then they looked up and saw that the stone had already been rolled back. So they entered the tomb, where they saw a young man sitting on the right, wearing a white robe – and they were alarmed.

‘Don’t be alarmed’, he said. ‘I know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is not here – he has been raised! Look, here is the place where they put him.’
(verses 3-6)

Read Mark 16:1-8

Recently, when I attended the funeral of a man who had died from cancer in the prime of life, I was reminded that everything – absolutely everything that the church believes and confesses – hangs on the resurrection of Christ from the dead. During the first hymn the congregation sang these words:

Yours is the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory over death you won.

What a strange paradox! Here before us was the dead body of a beloved husband and father. Yet, in the face of this tragic death, God’s church was faithfully proclaiming the remarkable fact that Christ has conquered death, proclaiming that, like the tomb, death’s power is null and void. And, by virtue of that fact, you too will experience resurrection!

I know that my Redeemer lives. What comfort this sweet sentence gives. Amen. Alleluia!

by Contributing Author, in ‘Direction for each Day’ (LCA, Openbook, 2006)

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