Four thousand years

After I Corinthians 15:3-6, 20-26

Four thousand years

of history funneled

into a cave with a stone.

Four thousand years

collided when the stone

rolled away from the cave.

Four thousand years

bore witness to a flash

of time breaking, history

breaking, the air shimmering

in the light of triumph.

Photograph by Roland Larsson via Unsplash, Used with permission.

The beginning and end of death

After I Corinthians 15:3-6, 20-26

Our death began with a man,

an Adam, the sin encoded

into our cells, our DNA, our brains

and hearts, it began with a man

the dead are now raised

through a man, breaking through

our cells, our DNA, our brains

and hearts, death ending with a man

a man who used his death

to take our sin, our death

away, triumph over death,

vanquishing death, in three days

three days to destroy death

three days to raise to life

three days to establish the kingdom

three days, only three days

it was sufficient and

it was good

Photograph by Russ Baum via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The evidence stands

After I Corinthians 15:3-6, 20-26

A phrase: according to the Scriptures,

a phrase we might ignore or

we’ve seen it so many times we pay

scant attention. But the phrase

stands there, refusing to be ignored,

because it was according to the Scriptures

that he died for our sins, and it was

according to the Scriptures that

he was buried and rose again. Scriptures

were the testimony, the evidence.

And the witnesses: the women

at the tomb, Peter and John and

the eleven as a group, and then

the five hundred. They all saw,

they touched, they were touched,

it was him, not a lookalike

or a poser but him, his voice,

his flesh, his spirit, his heart,

him there among them.

The evidence:

according to the Scriptures,

according to the witnesses.

Photograph by NASA via Unsplash. Used with permission.