1 Samuel 15:24-35; Acts 9:32-43; Luke 23:56b-24:11

Today in Luke we encounter the resurrection of Jesus.  Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women discover this, and they can’t sit still!  The Spirit had set them on fire.

Then Peter catches the bug – unable to believe “the women” he runs to the tomb “stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.”

Three things:

1) I am thankful the message of the good news was entrusted to women.  How fitting for a story that turns the world’s expectations on its head.

2) I can’t imagine the energy and chaos after the resurrection.  I am tempted to think that questions would have flooded my mind.  What happened?  How can I be sure?  What does all this mean?  What next?  How do I fit in?

3) I love the winsomeness of the Bible.  Most people miss this.  It is with a childlike curiosity we peer into the tomb with the women.  What are we expecting to find?  It is with childlike wonder we need to approach the text, lest we miss its point completely.

When the terror had settled down, and the reality of the situation sunk in, and when the resurrection appearances started getting more plentiful, the future would probably overwhelm me.

But God doesn’t call us to that, does he?  We are told not to worry about tomorrow, but for tomorrow to worry about itself.  And for me that is the downside of “Long Range Planning Committees”.  The question is not what should we be doing as an organization 10 years from now, but what is it about who we are that leads us into action today?

The worst thing for the disciples to have done after the resurrection would have been to sit down and come up with a 5 and 10 year plan.  Those plans would have been thrown out the window within 6 months, because so much would have changed.  Who would have thought that things would grow so fast and so virulently?

This doesn’t mean we treat our Christianity with any less seriousness.  It doesn’t mean we head into it without a plan completely.  It means we need to approach our faith with childlike wonder and exuberance.  We need to get caught up in the story, and be equally excited and playful as those first disciples were, venturing into new and exciting adventures.

When we come with that kind of innocence to the story, we come without our agendas and presuppositions.  We come open and ready for God to move us.

We are called, as a Gospel people, to not worry about today.  Oh, we can dream, and we can know some things about the future.  But we cannot know the future, only who holds it.  With that in mind, let us leave the tomb and share what we have seen and heard.

-Matt