"Why Do You Look for the Living Among the Dead?"

Alleluia, Alleluia!  He is Risen!

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words...

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

 ADDED:  But wait, there's more!

People tend to think or act like the Bible simply comes to a stop after Jesus is raised from the dead. There are, however, an awful lot of pages left after His resurrection. In fact, almost half of the New Testament occurs after Jesus has already been crucified and raised from the dead. That is quite a few books to fill with empty pages if nothing really happened after the Resurrection. Those books are filled with the accounts of what the disciples did after Christ was risen, but what many people do not always really think about, even if they know it intellectually, is that Jesus Himself appears several times in the Bible after His Resurrection. He does not simply disappear straight to heaven. In fact, Acts 1:3 tells us that after the Resurrection there was a period of 40 days in which the risen Jesus appeared to His disciples. If He was here, what did He do? For the 40 days that Christ continued to reappear on the Earth, what was He doing?

Scripture, of course, answers that question...

As our country continues to pray for  New York City -- the sins of inequity being laid bare there -- we are seeing a return to the country's Christian traditions. 

As we continue to self isolate and work toward reopening the country -- with more smarter work, trade and travel polices --

• we will continue to protect, shelter, feed and clothe one another; 
• to use more wisely our national resources and skills to benefit our own nation's peoples in competing in a global business competition with deadly consequences; and 
• to work toward a more just society that amply rewards the most productive and efficient, not those who can most easily exploit ill-gotten advantages for never-ending personal gain...

Happy Easter 2020!  He. Is. Risen. 
(#Never Forget...)