John 20:17  Go to My brothers and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God."

It's the most utterly vile and cruel death ever invented - crucifixion. Jesus felt the Roman whip on His back, the blazing sun while He carried His cross, the thorns on His head, and the nails in His hands and feet. For six hours, Jesus hung on a Roman instrument of shame and death. They all mocked Him. Soldiers. Scribes. Chief priests. Elders. Pharisees. Sadducees.

Three days later, the angels ask the women, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?" Then this cry rocked the world: "He is not here, but has risen." John outruns Peter to the tomb, looks in, and believes. Jesus says, "Mary" and Mary Magdalene cries out, "Raboni!" The Emmaus disciples recognize the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread. Sin is forgiven. The grave is defeated. Death is dead. "I know that my Redeemer lives!"
 

People saw Jesus - literally. They didn't see a phantom or experience a sentiment. Funeral eulogies often include phrases such as "She'll always live on in my heart." "I'll remember him forever." The disciples never said that. That's because they saw Jesus, and He had a body - a body marked with scars.

Jesus didn't rise from the dead and then leave in secret. He appeared to more than five hundred people on ten different occasions! Jesus was physically and factually risen from the dead. That's why, like Mary Magdalene, we announce Christ's victory to the world!

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,