Becoming a Resurrection People — Jennifer Burnett

Buried.

Raised.

Scarred.

The heart of the Christian story will always be Jesus and the cross. Jesus and the empty tomb. To be a resurrected people is to steward this story; it is to invite this story to be told over every other story, every other circumstance.

A resurrected people know they are broken. Oh we might pretend that we have it all together, or can fix things in our own power, but in the quiet and still places the Truth catches up to us. The Truth reveals the hidden places of our hearts where we have tried to keep our shame and fear. But the more hidden in the secret dark, the more they have been allowed to take root and grow. So Jesus, the Truth meets us in the dark tomb-like places. Until we enter the place of ultimate brokenness, we cannot make the necessary move through death to share in the resurrection.

This year, we have tasted loss, grief, division, oppression and death. We have lingered here much longer than any would choose. But Jesus moves towards the afflicted. He meets them, us, with his own death scars. And invites all to know the power of resurrection.

Resurrection is the transformed, hope-filled result of letting the scarred Jesus lead us out of the  tomb places.

To be a resurrection people is to hold up our own scars as a declaration that wounds can be transformed. Scars proclaim that there is rich, full life to be had beyond the brokenness.

When Jesus appears in the throne room of heaven, his scars are still evident even as his victory over death—His and ours—is demonstrated.

To steward the resurrection story is to audaciously proclaim that what others think is the end of the story, is precisely where triumphant Life longs to step in and redeem.