“He Is Not Here; He Has Risen!”

by Bill Love

The angels did not just tell Mary and the others that Jesus was risen. They also said, “He is not here.”

In the next few weeks following Christ’s resurrection, these ladies and several other disciples would have astounding encounters with their risen Lord. But after his ascension they would see, hear, and touch him no more.

The mixed good news of Christ’s resurrection and ascension demands that we grow up in our faith. On the one hand, the Father’s bringing Jesus forth victorious from the grave underwrites our whole existence and establishes our hope.  On the other hand, Jesus’ removing his physical presence demands that we walk by faith and not by sight.

The obsessive appetite some Christians have for ecstatic worship experiences and for signs and wonders in daily life is, ironically, evidence of a lack of faith. It’s the kind of pre-cross,   pre-resurrection, and pre-ascension faith the disciples had. It’s faith arrested at an early age of development. Like unbelievers, these brothers and sisters say, “Seeing is believing,” and “we walk by sight, not by faith.” With guilt and fear they confess, “If I do not feel and know his presence with me at all times, I have no faith.”

Jesus told the twelve that they could not fully know him until he went away and sent the Comforter. Strange as it seems, the physical presence of a person may divert our attention from his or her real essence. When absent from him or her, we may actually come to know that person better, to value the relationship, to appreciate the wonderful mystery of that unique personality.

Jesus served us by coming to be with us. He also ministers to us by removing his physical presence and calling us to walk with him by faith.

“He is not here, he has risen.”