As I drive in the Midwest of the United States to events during the Spring months of the year, I witness the evidence of the changing seasons. I see the foliage return to the trees and the beautiful spring flowers busting forth from the ground adding color to the expansive green. The dullness of the winter with its cold, gray sky and landscape is being renewed with the beauty of God’s paintbrush at work in spring. There is death transformed into new life.
In John 11:25 Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.” The context of this quotation is Jesus visiting Mary and Martha after Lazarus has died. The community is grieving Lazarus’ death and Martha even challenges Jesus’ timing when she says, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). The desperation of loss and death creates a cloud of grief, which touches the depth of Jesus’ heart when he joins the sisters and the community in their weeping (John 11:35). Loss is experienced, yet the presence of Jesus begins to break through the cloud to bring new life.
The ”I AM” statements continue to proclaim the truth of who Jesus is for the world. In John 1:4, we witness the introduction of Jesus when John writes, “In him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” Jesus is life for our whole being. He is our physical life, our mental life, our emotional life, our relational life, and our spiritual life. It is only when we are in Jesus and Jesus is in us that we experience the fullness of life. Apart from Jesus we may be alive, but we are not truly living. There is something missing because Jesus’ promise to us is, “I have come that they may have life, and have life abundantly” (John 10:10).
This new life we live in the present when we are in Christ also has the hope of our resurrection and new life in our death. The season of Lent is a reminder of our mortality. At Ash Wednesday when the pastor imposes the ashes on our forehead and says, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” we are invited to a life of humility realizing the frailty of life. Yet, as we approach Holy Week and Easter, we know our mortality is swallowed up in resurrection and we proclaim with Paul, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55).
As we continue in our Lenten Adventure we are invited to experience the fullness of life. Are we living in Christ and experiencing the fullness of life? Or are we trying to form our life in the image of someone or something else, missing out on the Truth of Jesus being the fullness of Life? I pray you will experience the fullness of life and the hope of resurrection in Christ as we continue through Lent and into the celebration of Easter.
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus that you are my resurrection and my life. Forgive me for the times I allow the gray of life to overwhelm your promises of life and resurrection. Thank you for your reminder of life and resurrection during the change of seasons. In Jesus’ name. Amen.