The Conquering King Lives! (John 20:1-18)

Walk through a cemetery at dusk. What do you feel? Is it sadness as you think of loved ones now gone? Is it fear as you sense that it will not be long before you too are buried deep in the ground? Those are natural emotions. For in the normal realm of human existence, dead is dead. Someone dies, and all you have are pictures and memories. Every day that goes by only brings you one step closer to the end of your story. So, it is natural that mortals would walk through a cemetery with tears and fears.  But Jesus lives. That changes things. Jesus is the resurrection first fruits for the harvest of humanity. Dead is not dead forever. Death is not final at all! The one brought low by his mortality will be raised immortal! So, your deceased Christian loved ones are not gone. You will see them again, hug them again. When you walk through the doorway of death, that is not the end. It is the beginning. When we face death knowing that Christ is risen, we experience a completely different set of emotions—for our Conquering King lives to dry tears and remove fears.