By Pastor Dave Holland
My title may remind you of the rude relative who is inappropriate at a family funeral. You know, the one who lets his cell phone ring and then talks loudly. Or they cry noisily on your shoulder. No, I’m talking about Jesus.
Jesus is the rudest funeral guest ever. Every funeral Christ attended he raised the dead person back to life. That will ruin the best of funerals, especially when it’s your own. The ladies at the tomb discovered it’s hard to prepare Jesus’ body for burial because he just won’t stay down. Since the Holy Spirit raised Christ from the dead, it prompts several questions for me.
Who is Jesus? What did He say? What did He do? What does that mean for us? 80% of Americans cannot answer these questions with any reasonable amount of certainty or faith. This fact disturbs me and drives me to share this living message of Jesus.
The Lord wakes me up every morning to write the answers to these questions from the Gospel of Luke. You are holding the result in this paper. Each of my four books focuses on the Jesus chronicled in the Gospel of Luke. Each of these books contains 40 daily devotional studies written for the common person. Without theological, denominational, or religious bias, my books are well received. I am humbled by the reader’s response.
Though I pastored over 40 years, I’ve discovered most people today are not looking for God in church. They are searching for a God who will be active in their lives. That’s what Jesus came to be. He gets into the nitty-gritty and the grime, the laughter and the agony. He wants to live in the sanctuary of people’s hearts.
Funerals are not an attractive look for the title of a story. But we see Jesus assaulted at every turn in Luke. The religious community is at the point of attack, stabbing at Jesus as he marches toward Jerusalem. They feel threatened by the upstart rabbi from Galilee. Finally, they have him killed by the Romans. But like a life-preserver dragged deep in the water will continually rise to the surface—Jesus ruins the funeral. He rises to save all who believe.
Your Bible can be a tomb that condemns you to death and dust forever. Or it can be the birthplace of faith and resurrection power. Society thinks of Jesus as a dead, inactive figure buried in the tomb of history. But Jesus won’t stay dead. He gets up, walks and talks with people. He’s ALIVE.
I’m haunted by a young lady I met on an airplane years ago. Her hair was half shaved off her head, and she had various colored tattoos and facial hardware. She asked about my books and when I described Jesus from the Gospel of Luke she said, “I would read a book like that, I would like to know that Jesus.” How many others want to know Christ without religion?
I think we need to have a great, big ol’ funeral for Jesus. But look out because dirt is going to fly. Hell will shake. Jesus will rise with a roar and dead people come to life. Somewhere along the line, the Holy Spirit will join us and show us the resurrected one—Jesus. That’s when the fun starts.
Dave Holland pastored churches for over 38 years before retiring in Destin. He released his devotional-Bible study based on the Gospel of Luke called “Every Day Jesus: Experience the Jesus Who Ignites Your Soul.” You can get a copy of this book from his website, DaveHolland.org, or Amazon.com. Contact him at davidvholland54@gmail.com. Pastor Dave is available to preach and teach at churches and conferences.
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