Pastor's Column

Dan Mueller

Published Friday, March 28, 2008

Walk through most any cemetery and you will see by the tombstones and grave markers; vases with flowers, pictures, stuffed animals, letters, etc.

People put these things there to honor the memory of a loved one who has died. It is a way to feel close to the departed person.

Two thousand years ago, a few ladies were bringing spices to the grave of a loved one they had just seen die. Here is the way the story is told in the Bible.

Luke 24:1- NLT — But very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. So they went in, but they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus.

As they stood there puzzled, two men suddenly appeared to them, clothed in dazzling robes. The women were terrified and bowed with their faces to the ground.

Then the men asked, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what he told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that he would rise again on the third day.”

Then they remembered that he had said this. So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples — and everyone else — what had happened.

Look at all the religions that claim to have the answers to this life and the next. All of the founders of these religions are dead or close to it.

Jesus Christ rose from the dead, thus proving that He is God. Who else would you trust with your life?

A young Muslim African man was asked by his friends why he converted to Christianity.

He said, “Let’s say you were walking down a road and it forked in two directions. You didn’t know which way to go and then you notice two people by the fork. One was dead and the other was alive. Which one would you follow? I chose to follow the one who is alive!”

If you would like to honor Jesus Christ for paying the penalty for your sins so that you could live forever with him in heaven; when you go to the place where they buried Him, don’t bring flowers.

Dan Mueller is the pastor at Hilltop Celebration Church in Fergus Falls.