The Hope of the Resurrection.

 An interesting protocol is in place for when a king or queen of England passes away. One of the more unexpected details is that the BBC will suspend all comedy programming for 12 days after their death. There will be no laughing in England during the time of mourning. 

 If you love your leader, you’ll mourn their death. If you despise your leader, you’ll likely celebrate their death. However, in the death of Jesus, everything is different. Those who love King Jesus do not observe his death with mourning but with celebration because they know it’s not final. They know it means victory. 

 If you’re skeptical about the resurrection, we get it. But I always find what Chuck Colson, Nixon’s special counsel on Watergate and henchman, said, ‘I know the resurrection is a fact. And Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified that they had seen Jesus raised from the dead and then proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Everyone was beaten, tortured, stoned, eventually killed, and put in prison- they would not have endured it if it weren’t true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in Washington DC, and they couldn’t keep a lie for three weeks.”  

 This Sunday, we celebrate the most significant event in history, the moment that death was broken and our hope was given life.