A Living Christ

By Roy Loney

[Page 8]

     Both Matthew and Mark tell how the women came to the sepulcher of the crucified Lord early in the morning of the first day of the week to embalm his body with spices. Their love for him was deep and true and they wished to perform this last tender service. They worried as to how the heavy stone could be removed from the door of the tomb. In all the world's history there was no greater surprise than the news which greeted them: "He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Instead of ministering to a dead body, they were given the gracious privilege of bringing to the world the glorious news that he lived. This news, the most important to the world since the shame of Eden, gave wings to their feet as they ran to tell the downhearted disciples. Three days before they had seen him die, and in his death there died their hopes that he would be the expected Messiah.

     The same day the risen Lord met two disciples walking with saddened heart to a nearby village. They grieved for one whom they "hoped would redeem Israel." The Lord walked and talked with them, yet their eyes were "holden that they should not know him." The Lord was with them, but they knew him not. They had buried their hopes with him.

     After Christ had appeared to ten of his disciples, they reported to Thomas, "We have seen the Lord" but poor, doubting Thomas, just as blind as many are today, stated with solemn finality, "Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." The physical appearance of the Lord who invited Thomas to put his finger into the nail prints in his hands and to thrust his hand into his side, caused him to cry out in deepest penitence, "My Lord, and my God."

     I often think that the tragedy of Christ was not the shame of his betrayal, the mockery of his trials, nor the sufferings of the cross, but the stupidity and unbelief of his disciples, then and now. Throughout nineteen hundred years since he triumphantly came forth from the grave, thousands who profess to believe in him have been "fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Thomas thought he had a Lord who would live on in his memory of a remarkable past. The crucified and buried Lord held for him no hope of the future. He had to learn from the risen Lord that "I am he that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death."

     The greatest trouble with Christ's disciples today is that to them he is only a historical character of the long ago. They believe in the New Testament history of One who spoke as never man did; of One whose tears fell in deep sympathy with those who mourned, whose gentle touch healed the infirmities of the masses; but they fail to believe that the One who comforted Mary and Martha in their hour of unutterable sorrow, can also comfort them today. He who stilled the tempest on Galilee is unable through our unbelief to still the tempest of our troubled hearts. In the hour of our affliction, we never feel "the touch of his hand on ours" and the historical revelation of his life can effect no abatement of our troubles.

     We assemble to worship him, not as a living being, but as one who gave his life for humanity, and to us he exists only in the cold immobile casket of lifeless emblems. That is about all we can see or believe. If we were told that he now lived and walked among men, doubtless we would go to the ends of the earth to see and hear him, foolishly forgetting that every moment he stands at the door and knocks, eager to enter and fill us with the radiance of loving grace. His promise made so long ago that "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" is all but forgotten by a materially minded gen-

[Page 9]

eration that can perceive no spiritual truths. How few there are who will leave the assembly with the consciousness of having met the living Christ. A brother once wrote me of a very spiritual service, "I felt we got so close to Christ today that I could touch the hem of his garment." It is a pity so few can gain a perception of our Lord's presence among us. Much of our worship is purely mechanical. We go through the mechanics without having the Lord in our hearts. We worship him with our mouths but our hearts are holden that we do not spiritually perceive his presence.

     The problem of our unspirituality will not be solved by giving a cold "It isn't so" to many of our past cherished beliefs and practices, but by bringing the living Christ into the hearts of those who need him so much. The answer is not in scholarship but in Christship, not in theology but in Christology. Until Christ "dwells in our hearts by faith" all the scholarship in the world will be but "sounding brass and tinkling cymbals" in a barren life. Understanding all mysteries of the sacred writ can still leave a heart barren of spirituality unless we center every iota of knowledge in Christ. There is no greater command than to "Put you on the Lord Jesus Christ" and such a matter is simplicity itself. It is a matter of knowing Christ as an affectionate, sympathetic, understanding friend. We will love him when we learn how intensely he loves us. Paul's great cry "that I might know him" needs to be echoed in every heart today.

     Academic learning often serves to inflate the ego of the learner, but love for the compassionate Christ will lift the souls of men to the highest heavens. Our need is not to cross the far distant seas of ancient history, nor scale the lofty peaks of intellectual knowledge, but to walk in the verdant plains of real spirituality, to walk hand in hand with Christ in a sacred and happy companionship. The power of the early church was in the passionate zeal of its common members who went everywhere preaching the word. They employed not the enticing words of man's wisdom but with fervent simplicity told the story of him who died and rose again. Their secret was a life that was hid with Christ in God.

     Christ must be something more to us than a statue of chiseled marble, or an inanimate memorial of glory that is past. He must be a friend who will share our sorrows and multiply our joys, who will feed our hungry souls and fill our hearts with the idealism of his divine nature. Then we will be fired with compassion for those having no hope and without God in the world. The resurrection message was not meant for the Galilean fishermen alone, nor to the people of that age. The glorious news "He is risen is for all mankind. Let him live daily in us -- "Christ in you the hope of glory."