Yet for a few there was a tearful, joyful, hope-filled reunion. .
I feel something like that occurred this day. I have times when the love of God startles me, awakens me, brings tears to my eyes, makes me fall to my knees in spontaneous worship as it did Jesus' followers.
But there is a word of instruction in the resurrection accounts that points to something even greater than the astonishing and wonderful discovery that Jesus was alive. Having made clear to those who came to the tomb that Jesus was raised, the angel asked, "Why do you seek the living One among the dead?- (Luke 24:5). That is, "Why are you so surprised that he is not here? Why did you come here assuming he was still dead?-. When Jesus walked along with the companions on the road to Emmaus and taught the Bible to them, he said, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!- (Luke 24:25). I think He was chiding them lovingly but clearly: No one took Jesus' life from him "he gave it away. This sacrifice had been in the mind of God since the human race chose to rebel against him and invited death to be its shepherd. The crucifixion was a voluntary choice by God to go to battle with sin and death for the sake of his love for us, intending all along to win the battle and offer us life and an eternal future. He gave up the ultimate sacrifice for his sons and daughters to come.
One metaphor relating to this idea is of slaves being set free, and the other is of a priest cleansing sinners. These both come out of the history of the Jews and are grand Old-Testament themes. In the exodus, slaves in Egypt were set free. .
Jesus' death was an act of war. We have an enemy of our souls. The devil, who hates God and all those God loves, has held human souls in bondage all their lives. Jesus' death came to break the shackles used by our enemy to enslave us.
What makes us slaves? What holds us in patterns of behavior that are self-destructive and hurtful to others? This slavery works by the power of death, specifically the fear of death.