Remembered

If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. . . But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15:14,20

“He’s not really dead as long as we remember him.” “As long as we have memories of her, she will always be with us.” In times of grief, it’s easy to say these things. Well-intended? Yes. Solid and meaningful? Not really.

For instance, how much do you know about your great-great-grandparents? In terms of real years, they walked on this earth not too long ago. And yet, for most of us, they are little more than old pictures in an album. Memories fade. Quickly. And the same will apply to you and me. Sure, there might be smartphone footage of us uploaded into the cloud. But do people truly remember us after we’re gone? Real memories rapidly go away.

Which brings us to Jesus. When God the Son entered our time and space, he did not come to soothe us with sentiment. He did not come to comfort us with clichés. He came to confront what was killing us. What was killing us was the guilt of our sin. The consequence of our having severed our relationship with God was that sin and death rushed in to fill the void.

And so God the Son arrived in the person of Jesus Christ. On our behalf, he lived the life of perfect love that you and I have failed to live. In our place, he suffered and died at Golgotha to pay our debt of sin in full. And then—to make clear that he really is who he claims to be, and he really has done what he has promised to do—Jesus rose from the dead.

In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul does not simply say that Jesus is alive in our memories. He speaks of it as an actual event. And he’s candid. “If Christ has not been raised,” Paul says, “our preaching is useless, and so is your faith.”

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,” Paul later says. Jesus lives. And because he does, we too shall live. Not through others’ memories. But in reality. With Jesus. Forever.

Prayer:

Living Lord, in you I will never be forgotten. Never. Praise be to your holy name. Amen.