Beautiful gifts of Easter
Conclusion

Finally, in Christ’s giving of himself back to his disciples, they were no longer orphans, but they discovered who they were. Now they had identity. Now they realized who they were.

Earlier in the death of Jesus, all that they were and hoped for in terms of life’s meaning had been lost to them. The Master, who was all of life’s meaning, had been taken away from them, and it had left them lost even to themselves for they had only known themselves in relation to their Master.

I have been talking with an elderly woman whose husband is ill of a debilitating disease. She says they have lived and loved together for so long that she wonders how it will be when he is gone for as she said: “He has given me the meaning of my own life.” In my visits to her husband, he has said essentially the same thing about his wife being life’s meaning for him.     

In a much deeper sense, this was what Jesus was to those with whom he had associated in Galilea. He had said: “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” And he did come back to promise them he would be with them till the end of time.

But not only that; they will be known as his friends if they were to love one another, if they were to be fruitful, to have joy in his Presence.

What happens when the living Christ takes possession of us?

I witnessed years ago a religious service in our church that moved us so much that we were drawn to the front of the altar call. The guest preacher was Dr. Frank Laubach, the missionary who was spending his life in Mindanao to teach Muslims how to read and write. He told us he had his own temptations to go home to his comfortable life in America. In the midst of his spiritual struggle, he would go to Signal Hill in Lanao. One night, as he was deep in prayer, he felt from the depths of his soul, God speaking to him: “Frank, your mission is with these people. Forget about the comfortable life in the U.S.A. I need you here. Here’s where I want you.” Laubach stayed in Lanao.

My friends, the living Christ does speak our name. He gives us identity and a task to do. For in Him, “none of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself; whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”*

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