This past December we were in Vancouver visiting family and friends. We had just returned from a gathering late one evening to my parents' home. We stumbled up the unlit back porch and I fished for the key. As I opened the back door I looked past the darkened kitchen and into the living room. My dad was always there in his rocking chair, washed and sitting serenely in his pyjamas and plaid bathrobe watching an animal program or the late night news. As we entered the house, he would always turn his head, smile, and ask us if we had a good time.
But this time was different. He wasn't there. The chair was empty. You see, my dad passed away about six months ago. This past Christmas was the first time without him. It was quiet and different. And we miss him every day.
What about you? Are you missing someone terribly? Do you think about this person every day? Is there a pang in your heart? Do your eyes still tear up? Do you cherish something they wrote with their own hand, a video of them, pictures, their photo album, a piece of clothing they once wore, something they said to you, a personal card or gift to you?
As I write this, it's Easter Sunday. This is a very special day for many people because it gives them hope. Today we celebrate the risen Saviour, Jesus Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords. He died and rose again. This was not an isolated incident. During Jesus' ministry He raised several people back to life again. There was the widow's son (Luke 7), the ruler's daughter (Mark 5; Luke 8), and Lazarus who had been dead for several days (John 11).
The chair may be empty. Your heart may sometimes feel empty but we can filled with the knowledge that the same Jesus who raised people from the dead will raise your loved one. As Jesus told grieving family and friends, "Stop wailing. She is not dead but asleep" (Luke 8:52).
"But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I'll probably never fully understand. We're not all going to die - but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes - it's over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we'll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who's afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three - sin, guilt, death - are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!" (I Corinthians 15: 51-57 - The Message).
