In Romans 8:31 a core truth of the Christian faith is articulated in the form of a question: "If God is for us, who is against us?- Now, we can easily think of candidates for opposition to people like us: pain, boredom, phoniness, chaos. But if God is for us, the opposition cannot stand. He will be our companion when we go through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4). His strength is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). We will have a home with him forever (John 14:2-3). The threats, struggles, and confusion that we live with, even if the sufferings that we don't understand, are in his hands. God understands, and he is making something beautiful and good from all of the hard circumstances that we face (Romans 8:28). Yet recall that Romans 8:31 is a question: "If God is for us, who is against us?- Can we know that there is a personal God who has created the world we live in, who loves people and keeps his promises, who is on our side? Easter above all other days rings with the sure announcement that the tomb of Christ is empty " hopefully God is for us.
The first ones to discover the resurrection of Christ and to begin to understand its implications were those of his followers who had stayed closest to him to the end. First there were some women, later the apostles, and finally some whose names we don't know. We are told this in their stories in the gospels. .
The despair of Jesus' death and burial, the sense of finality and loss, was undone on resurrection morning, the resurrection of Christ. That discovery was captivating to those people. The same pattern of despair, incredulity, joy, and proclamation was repeated in almost every case. .
Remembering the events of September 11 and the experience that a small number had of finding loved ones they had thought were gone because they were in one of the twin towers when it collapsed. Hours had gone by with no word, and they had felt that all was lost.
