The Greatest Sign of New Life

From the pages of St. Luke's Journal of Theology comes the story of Philip. Philip was a happy eight-year-old boy who also happened to have Down's syndrome. He never realized that he was different from the other kids until he turned eight. That's when the distinction of his appearance and speech suddenly became clear to the kids in his Sunday school class. And when it came to differences, the kids weren't very nice. But there was one distinction about Philip that no one realized... until one particular Sunday morning.

It was a beautiful spring day and the kids were ecstatic when the teacher announced that they were going to spend some time outside. To their surprise, he had brought in a bunch of large plastic eggs. Giving one to each child, he instructed the class to wander through a nearby field that was bursting with spring. There, each of the children were to collect one thing that symbolized new life. Then they were told to put it carefully in the egg and bring it back to the classroom where they would share their "treasure" with everyone.

After all of the running and giggling, they made it back to the class and eagerly gathered around as the teacher slowly opened the eggs. In one, there was a pretty flower... and they all oohed and aahed appropriately. He opened another and found a butterfly... and they all nodded in agreement. When the teacher opened another egg, however, there was nothing there. The children all protested: "That's not fair! Somebody cheated. They didn't do it right!" And then the teacher felt a little tug on his shirt. He looked down to find Philip standing beside him, shyly whispering, "That one's mine."

Well, the children really let him have it. "There's nothing there! You don't ever do things right, Philip!" they shouted. And that's when Philip did it. This "different" little boy revealed his comprehension of a monumental truth. Standing his little frame as straight and tall as he could, Philip proudly announced: "I did so do it right. This is life... the tomb is empty!" I'd say Philip hit the nail on the head. And besides being the central part of the Gospel message, perhaps it is also the greatest evidence of God's love. The tomb is empty.

In 1 Corinthians 15:17-20, the Apostle Paul reminds us all of the importance of fully embracing the fact of Jesus' resurrection.

"...if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins... But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead."

Because Jesus rose from the dead, He enables us to do so as well. If we will come to God through Jesus now, when our earthly lives are over we will have eternal life. All because of His resurrection. And this is just what Paul says in verse 22.

"Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ... will be given new life."

It's as simple as that. Little Philip had it right. The greatest sign of "new life" that the world has ever known is the empty tomb. On that morning, Christ arose in mighty power. Because of the love revealed by the empty tomb, someday, you and I will too.