In Good Faith: Easter delight is knowing Jesus has risen

Apr. 8—Farmer Ole didn't get out much.

For his son Obert's 13th birthday, Ole and Lena took Obert to the city. In one big store, father and son watched in amazement as an elderly lady in a wheelchair approached two large silver doors that opened. She went in, and several lights lit up above the door.

In a minute the sliding silver doors opened and a beautiful young woman stepped out. Ole quickly turned and said "Son, go get your mother."

Ubetcha. Now that is a machine Ole could get excited about. This was way better than even his beloved International tractor. (Ole had always loved the International over the John Deere. He "wouldn't be seen driving green".) To have a silver chamber where one could transform from old to young sounds better than any machine he had seen. This was the Fountain of Youth, right? Alas, it was just a misunderstanding, as Ole would soon be finding out.

How we do long for health and energy and youth. We so enjoy the earthly gifts of life: the beauty and strength and activity that the good Lord provides for us. As we age, we notice that the body ain't what it used to be. Someone told me that "being in your 20s in the 70s was lots more fun than being in your 70s in the 20s."

Indeed. We live in the flesh, and we want to be hale and hearty. We work awfully hard in America to try to preserve those things. What a multibillion dollar industry it is: beauty creams, medicines, health clubs, salons, plastic surgery, etc. We sure try to stay young. We put off our decline and demise as long as we can.

However, as you know, there is no stopping the tick of time. The body ages and we weaken. Some say that "after 60 it's patch, patch, patch." Although we should take good care of ourselves with diet and exercise and healthy habits, we should not pretend that we are immortal here. We are creatures, not gods. The body is temporary. The earthly days are finite.

Blessed we are to get to enjoy God's gift of earthly life. His spigot is open, and the flow of pleasures come to us year after year. Until one day they don't. And then? I hope that you know that the grave is not the end. God is so good, that he has made a way for us to enjoy his company forever! By the victory of hs son, Jesus Christ, the doors are blown off death. On Easter morning Jesus rose triumphant, and the worst that could happen — suffering and death — became the means by which love and life won.

Ole briefly thought that he saw the presto-magic of the silver chamber; but hopefully he knew the far greater power of the resurrection to life eternal. Our days on this side of eternity are never hopeless because we trust the Gospel: Jesus Christ is risen! "For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"(II Corinthians 5:1)

Oh, happy day. Rejoice in the greatness of God. A happy Easter to you all.

Chris Brekke is a retired pastor who served Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Rochester for 13 years and Trinity Lutheran in West Concord for 10. He and his wife live in Roseville, Minn., where he keeps busy with volunteering, church and family.