Dear Friends in Christ:
Is there anything greater for us to say on Easter Day as a confession of our faith than this: “I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who… on the third day rose from the dead”?
I came across a beautiful story about a woman named Rosemary Kadrmas who works in the Alzheimer’s unit of a nursing home. Rosemary and a colleague named Arlene brought the residents together on a Good Friday afternoon to view Franco Zeffirelli’s acclaimed movie Jesus of Nazareth. They wondered whether these elderly Alzheimer’s patients would even know what was going on, but they thought it might be worth the effort.
When they finally succeeded in getting everyone into position, they started the video. Rosemary was pleasantly surprised at the quiet attention being paid to the screen.
At last came the scene where Mary comes upon the empty tomb and sees that Jesus’ body is not there. An unknown man, in reality the risen Christ, asks Mary why she is looking for the living among the dead. Mary runs as fast as she can back to the disciples and tells Peter and the rest with breathless excitement, “He’s alive! I saw Him, I tell you! He’s alive!” The doubt in their eyes causes Mary to pull back and say, “You don’t believe me… You don’t believe me!”
From somewhere in the crowd of Alzheimer’s patients came the clear, resolute voice of Esther, one of the patients, who said, “We believe you… We believe you!”
Esther, I believe it too. My life makes no sense without it! Jesus Christ rose from the dead! He is alive and available to all people in our world today!
May this Good News of our faith make this Easter a most joyful celebration for you!
I thank God for these words of Bill and Gloria Gaither in their Easter hymn, “Because He Lives”:
“Because He lives I can face tomorrow, Because He lives all fear is gone; Because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living just because He lives”!
— Pastor David Fetter
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