He Is Risen!

I wish I knew how to say it, and not have it sound like a cliché. But I have to say it: Jesus is risen! On this day, when so much pain encompasses the world, when the very land of Jesus is wracked with violence and suffering, I must speak the truth. He is alive!

The problems of the world seem so overwhelming. I find that despair is often at my door. But we can know in our heart of hearts that the pain we see will not have the final answer.

The pessimist would say that all of the suffering in the world is reality. He would say that Christians who are joyful and have hope really only have their head in the sand. Yet the pessimist misses the fact that the joyful, the beautiful, the sacred things that happen are just as real as the evil that we see. To see only the evil is to despair. To see only the good is to deny reality. To see the evil, but to see that God will eventually be victorious, that good will win, and that truth, beauty, and mercy will have the last say, is to be a Christain.

I’ll say it again: He is alive! Jesus is risen!