Family Talk - Where the Lord Can Be Found

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WHERE THE LORD CAN BE FOUND

Rev. Lorenz R. Soneson

Lesson: Luke24:1-9

"Why do you seek the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5)

Can you imagine the disappointment of Mary Magdalene and the other Mary when they arrived at the tomb on Easter morning? They were seeking the body of the Lord to anoint it with sweet spices. Of course, they were pleased to see the heavy stone rolled away, but very sad to find the body of the Lord was not there. It was not until the angels spoke to them and reminded them of the Lord's own words - how He would rise from the dead on the third day - that they became happy. And it was then that they learned the true meaning of Easter.

Many of you have surely experienced a similar situation. How often have you asked yourself, and others, "Where is the Lord?" The answer given to the women who came that first Easter morning was, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!" Can you and I also learn from those angelic words?

Perhaps you have looked for the Lord in the right places, but did not know what to look for. For example, is the Lord in the Word? Or is the Word like a tomb, a place of the dead? After all, books are not living, are they? Can we see the Lord in His holy temple on the Sabbath? Does this mean that He is in a building? Buildings don't live like you and I do. Can we find Him in the words describing the first Easter in the book of Luke and the other gospels? Or are those just stories, read from the printed page? What can we learn from the Easter story about where to find the Lord?

Our best clue can be found in what we often bring to the Lord in His church on Easter morning. We bring flowers, which are a sign of new life in the earth. Now, just looking at the flowers does not in itself show us the Lord, although they may be very beautiful. No, we must see that spring flowers are a sign of new life. They live! And we know that the life within them comes from the Lord Himself. In fact, life, wherever we find it, is a sign of the Lord. The Lord not only provides life in all flowers, but in you and me as well. Whatever lives does so because the Lord flows into it with His life. We live because our Lord lives.

Then why do we say that the Lord can be found in His Word? It is because His words contain great truths within them, like life within a flower. Those truths from the Lord are living, especially when we begin to live according to them in our own lives. As we obey the Lord's Commandments, we begin to live the life of an angel, which is to really live. And, when we apply the teachings of the Word to our life, using them to guide our steps toward heaven, we can feel the presence of the Lord's joy in our minds and hearts.

We can also begin to see the Lord in our neighbors, as they, too, practice His teachings in their lives. We can see love in them, and this love is a glimpse of something of the Lord. The same thing is true in the Lord's church, sometimes called His temple or His house. As we come before the Lord with songs of praise and joy on Sunday morning, we can feel the presence of the Lord around us. He is with the living, that is, He is with all loving people who are our true neighbors. Their presence in a church reflects the Lord's presence there.

Easter morning is a time for rejoicing. We know that the Lord lives and is present among us. He is not with dead things. We cannot find Him when we are thinking false ideas, or when evil loves are in our hearts. Evil is the absence of the Lord. He is not present there, for evil is like a tomb. No, the Lord lives and is felt when we see truths like the light of heaven in our minds. He is present where love reigns, for that is where life is.

And so, if we wish to seek the Lord, we have only to turn to what is living around us. He is present in all of nature, as in the Easter flowers. He is present wherever His Word is - in our copies of the Word, and in our memories. He is as near as loving parents and friends. He is in His temple when we come to praise Him. And He can be within us, if we will seek Him in the great truths we have learned and in the good loves we feel when we reach out to help our neighbors.

Yes, the Lord is not among the dead, but among the living! Wherever there is true life, the Lord is present - in the world of nature, in the faces of those around us, in the love He teaches in His Word, and in our own hearts when we keep His Commandments. Let us be like the women that first Easter morning. "They remembered His words. Then they returned from the tomb, and told all these things" (Luke 24:8-9). For they understood the angelic news: "He is not here, [in the place of the dead], but is risen!" (Luke 24:5). So we, also, can live from the Lord and feel His presence, if we will only invite Him to dwell within us!

Amen.  

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