THE AMEN CORNER: “THAT’S DEAD!”

THAT’S DEAD

by Deacon Write

Luke 24:1-7, tells of the events following the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. The women—Mary Magdalene, Ramona, Mary the mother of James, and some other women not named—are on their way to minister to Jesus’ dead body. According to Mark 16:1, the women had been fretting and worrying, on their way to the tomb, about how they would roll the stone away from the opening, but when they arrived they found the stone already rolled away.  And, when they went into the tomb, it was empty.

Of course, the women were confused, and to make matters worse, two “men” appeared to them and demanded, in verse 5,” Why do you look for the living among the dead?”, then they exclaimed to the terrified women, as they kneeled there before the men in fright, “He is not here, but has risen!” The women were then commanded by these men to go back and tell the disciples what had transpired.

When they did as they were told, the disciples did not believe them, because they had not witnessed the events with their own eyes, prompting Peter to go out to the graveyard and check out the situation for himself.  But, even seeing, he still left befuddled and wondered how this could be possible.

The men who appeared to the women were, of course, angels; messengers of God. But, what about the question they asked these women; “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” I thought about this question as it applies to our lives today; “Why do we sometimes look for the living among the dead?”

Too often we find ourselves in dead-end situations. Maybe it’s a dead-end job or a dead-end relationship. Once we find ourselves in these dead-end situations, do we dwell there, looking for some sign of life; a tiny spark of life to give us hope that things will get better?

When we do this, we’re effectively looking for life in a dead situation.

At some point in life, you may have gone out to start your vehicle, but when you turned the key—nothing—OR you heard that “clicking” sound that let you know that your battery was DEAD! On those occasions, if you were lucky, you had jumper cables and a second vehicle with a good battery and were able to “jumpstart” that dead battery back to life. Sometimes, we have to do the same thing in our physical and spiritual lives.

You have something which, if applied to your dead situations, will “JUMPSTART” your life out of those situations. If you connect your life to the Word of God you can put that SPARK back into your life. Sometimes, however, no matter how much you try to jumpstart a dead situation, it just won’t work. In those cases, the Word acts as a “VOLTMETER” and lets you know that you need a brand-new battery. In other words, “Don’t look for the living among the dead.”

According to the URBAN DICTIONARY, when someone says, “That’s dead!” they mean: “something is not true; not happening; forget about it; I don’t want to, or; it’s too stupid to attempt.” The Bible says that even FAITH without works is dead. If you’ve got that kind of faith, it’s time to do some resuscitation.  “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” It’s just not there.