After Easter

Surely all our hearts are full, reminded once again of the great truth of Resurrection Day: Christ was raised from the dead, and so we too can be raised with him.

Throughout Christ’s life he prefigured his own resurrection by doing signs that involved raising. Here are some examples:

• He then said to the paralytic – “Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home.
• “The girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But … he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.
• Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and … he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her.
• Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up.

Specifically, the work that you Barnabas Partners do reminds me of this narrative of raising:

• There was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.

When we encounter situations or organizations whose challenges leave them unable to “straighten up” on their own, we aim to free them from their “disabilities” and help them raise up and stand straight, which in turn brings glory to God. So all throughout Holy Week I thought about the ways that you live out the significance of Christ’s resurrection. Imitating him, you lift up the vulnerable in the community and raise struggling ministries to stand straight again.