The Bungee Cord 3-4-24

Hello,

Yesterday I watched history in the making. I saw Caitlin Clark make a free throw that made her the all-time scorer in college basketball. I watched her step up to the free throw line as if it was just another free throw. I saw her take a deep breath as she put the ball to her side. I saw her raise the ball to her forehead, flip it at the basketball. I saw it drop through the net, and I saw her make history. But what amazed me more than the shot that she made was that she made no demonstrable cheer for the accomplishment that she had made. As a matter of fact, when the reporter talked to her just after she made the free throw as she was on her way to the locker room for half time, she gave a short and mild response to the reporter’s question about the accomplishment she just made, and then she quickly went on to talk about her team and what they needed to do to win the game.

I am sure that somewhere down in her soul she was smiling ear to ear, but by her outward response it was clear to me that she understood something that the announcers did not: it was just a free throw. The announcers, however, said otherwise. The announcer, as Caitlin stepped to the line said, “She is about to take a shot for immortality.” Granted, it was a shot to put her name on the pages of history, but as the announcer lifted that shot to the level of immortality, I thought to myself, “Isn’t this just a basketball game?”

As remarkable as the feat was that Caitlin accomplished, did it have the power to overcome death? The same question might be asked of all sorts of other people’s accomplishment; the Wright Brothers, Jonas Sauk, Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Amelia Earhart, Bill Gates. True, we remember their names and the things that they have done, but the fact is that in all of their cases, death won. Humans are mortal, and personally, I have become increasingly aware of my own mortality after my run in with cancer. The day will come when our faces won’t be seen, our touches won’t be felt, and our voices will not be heard. Death will win.

But that is the wonder and joy of the Easter tomb. There is one, a completely mortal one who was at the same time completely divine, for whom death did not win. When Jesus walked out of the tomb, he left death behind. His face was seen again, his touch was felt again, and his voice was heard again. Jesus won!

Death has been swallowed up in victory.’

55 ‘Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?’

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15)

Jesus, however, wasn’t the only one who won. “3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6). We are victors, too. Our names are not just written in history books so that we will be remembered forever, our names are written in the book of life and we, like Jesus will live again, live eternally.

To some, I know, it all seems too good to be true, but when I consider the love in my heart for my mortal children, love that would lead me to do anything to have them with me, it seems more than just likely that the one whose power created the universe and holds it together, would have the power to overcome the one thing that would keep me and you away from him, death. I can hardly wait for the victory party to come!

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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