Resurrection Life

I’m making my annual trek through Middle-earth right now. Deep longing for Middle-earth hits me in the spring of the year when I am spending a lot of time in my yard and garden. As the quest begins, Frodo and the fellowship find themselves in the mines of Moria. There, Frodo gets squired by a spear thrown by a giant Orc. Everyone assumes he is dead as they watched the force of the spear hurl him back into the wall of the cave. As the company beats a retreat, he is carried out. When they are at a safe distance, they pause to catch their breath and notice Frodo stir. They are all stunned. No one could have withstood that spear thrust. Later, as they take off his cloak to tend the wound, they discover the secret of the mystery Frodo has on a coat of mithril mail, a gift to him from Bilbo. Mithril is the most prized and precious metal in Middle-earth, it could be beaten and worked like copper and polished like glass. It was lightweight and harder than still, and unlike silver, it never tarnished. When Gandalf sees it, he exclaims that the value of that coat was worth more than the whole Shire where Frodo lives.  We are going to look at a similar happening in our I AM text this Sunday when Jesus says, “I AM the resurrection and the life.” Martha, being a devout Jewish believer, believes that at the end of time her brother will be raised from the dead. But then he says something mind-boggling. The power of the resurrection is not something we only experience when we die, but is actually in us right now!It is a staggering truth to think about, one that, like Frodo, we possess but rarely think about or lay hold of in the messiness and brokenness of life. We will talk about it on Sunday. Also, we have a couple of baptisms—one infant and one a believer. Promise and fulfillment are playing out in the water before our eyes. I can’t wait!