A Brother, an Epiphany, and the Resurrection

so my little brother, who is a mere thirteen years of age, is one of the most hilarious people ever. he is sweet and funny and he loves Jesus and i just think he's awesome. anyway, while i was at home this weekend, he left this on a digital post-it note on my computer:
Things to do in the big D:

(1) give KJ a big hug

(2) give KJ $50

(3) give KJ a video game

(4) pet the dogs without washing my hands right after (EWWWWWWWWWWWW)

don't you just love little brothers? :-D (ps all i actually accomplished was #1, but i did that repeatedly - we're a huggy family; what can i say? and he did offer to buy me a ringtone so i don't have to deal with the laughing baby anymore.)

my epiphany was related to the scripture meditation i heard at my home church on good friday. actually, it centers on a verse that rev. settle didn't comment on at all, but it struck me. those of you who know me in person will not be surprised that it relates to the whole sabbath thing.

luke 23:56b - on the sabbath day they rested according to the commandment.

context: Jesus has just died, and joseph of arimathea has taken His body to be buried in his family tomb. then we get this in verse 55 - "the women who had come with him from galilee followed and saw the tomb and how His body was laid." so Jesus is for sure dead. but get this: their resting on the sabbath day was the first REAL sabbath since the Fall.

when Jesus said "it is finished," He meant it. our redemption was accomplished. and since the sabbath is all about the fact that it is the work of God that makes us holy before Him, not our own (see exodus 31:12-17), it seems to me that since that first sabbath after the crucifixion was the first one on which the work needed to make us holy in this way was done. crazy-cool, huh?

so guess what. my pastor at home preached an amazing sermon on easter, or as we like to call it, "resurrection sunday," about the necessity to our faith and the gospel for a historical resurrection. bashing such highly regarded theologians and philosphers as bultmann and van buren, he talked about how important it is for Jesus to have actually come back to life. without a real resurrection, dead people cannot come to life. in fact, there is absolutely no hope for mankind if Jesus did not rise from the dead. so all this warm-fuzzy stuff about having "an easter event in your heart" is hogwash without a living Lord to make it possible.

theology is more relevant than we could imagine, folks...