Bowling Green Covenant Church

“So they rushed back from the tomb to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several other women who told the apostles what had happened. But the story sounded like nonsense to the men, so they didn’t believe it.”—Luke 24.9-11 [NLT]

When Forbes magazine celebrated its 75th anniversary, it published a special issue focused on the theme “Why Do We Feel So Bad When We Have It So Good?” The editors invited authors, philosophers, psychologists and poets to write an essay in response to that challenging theme. One contributor was Peggy Noonan, a former CBS News correspondent and speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. The premise of her essay was simple: our culture has forgotten that we live between two worlds. She wrote,

“Our ancestors believed in two worlds, and understood this to be the solitary, poor, brutish and short one. We are the first generation of man that actually expected to find happiness here on earth, and our search for it has caused much unhappiness. The reason: if you do not believe in another, higher world, if you believe only in the flat material world around you and if you believe that this is your only chance at happiness—if that is what you believe, then you are not disappointed when the world does not give you a good measure of its riches. You are despairing.”[i]

The women who went to Jesus’ tomb believed in two worlds. Whether or not their disappointment had fermented to despair is uncertain. Certainly they were sad. Through bitter tears they watched Jesus die. With grief-filled hearts they watched Him be buried. Jesus was dead. Their hearts were broken by the disappointment of His crucifixion. Had they abandoned hope?

Hope is a fragile thing if we do not believe in two worlds. In fact hope is pointless if not fixed on something reliable. The women and the apostles fixed their hope for happiness on Jesus. They hoped He would be the Messiah who would rescue Israel. That hope died when Jesus died. But had they not heard when He said, “It is finished”? Such is the power of disappointment that it deafens us to what can give us hope. And hope is found in what Jesus said. The women understood “It is finished” to mean the hope of Israel is dead. However, by saying “It is finished,” Jesus meant something far different. “It is finished” is the declaration of triumph. It is the mournful prelude to an even greater overture, “He is risen!”

If the death of Jesus introduces the possibility that we live in two worlds, then His resurrection is the proof. Let those who scoff believe the resurrection to be nonsense. For all their scorn they have failed to answer a simple question: where is the body?

There has been no body produced because we live between two worlds. The resurrection of Jesus gives us hope beyond this life. The resurrection fortifies our hope in the reality of an eternity we see now only through a glass darkly.

Hope is the courage God gives us to believe that we can endure and overcome whatever life throws up at us. The source of this courage is the Lord Jesus Christ, Savior, Messiah, the Way, the Truth and the Life.

We believe in two worlds. We do not believe our happiness comes from what this world has to offer. Our hope for happiness comes by grace through faith in the One who left the real world to wear our flesh to die on the cross and forever redeem our “solitary, poor, brutish and short one.” You think about that and proclaim with all joy and boldness, He is risen!

MM