Jesus is alive and speaking

Last updated on: April 15, 2017 at 9:00 pm by Brad Roth

Jesus is alive and speaking 2017-04-15T15:22:53-05:00 Brad Roth

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

he is risen

Easter is a celebration of new life in Jesus. He’s not dead. Jesus is alive, risen indeed and going before us into Galilee and Antioch and Rome and Moundridge. But Easter isn’t just about new life in a general sense. It’s not about life-force, some zap of life to pizzazz up our dreary existence. It’s the life of Christ continuing among his church and his people, guiding them, empowering them, speaking to them.

In the gospels, we see Jesus’ resurrection life not just in the ways that the earliest disciples feel compelled to re-order their lives around his teachings (like Acts 2:42-47)–a moral life–but also in the ways Jesus speaks to his people. He calls Mary’s name outside the empty tomb (John 20:16). He tells Peter and Thomas and the sons of Zebedee where to drag up the deep fish (John 21:6). He tasks Peter with apostolic ministry (John 21:15-19) and the whole church with apostolic mission (Matthew 28:16-20). Jesus speaks and teaches (Acts 1:3). Jesus speaks and breaks bread with his people (Luke 24:36-49). Jesus speaks and walks with his people (Luke 24:13-35). Even beyond those first heady days when it seemed so obvious that all Death’s dark knotted evils were coming undone, Jesus keeps on showing up and speaking to his people (Acts 16:7 and 22:8). One of the preeminent signs of Jesus’ continued resurrection life is his speaking to his people.

I know, I know–it’s easy to get this wrong. A lot of half-baked scheming is passed off as Jesus told me to. But all real communication is filled with miscues and misunderstandings. Truly hearing another is always hard. It takes attentiveness and vulnerability. The same goes for truly hearing the voice of Jesus. Despite the dangers of hearing wrongly, it’s the constant witness of the church–from Peter to St. Francis to the mom next door hunched over a Bible and an early morning cup of coffee–that the risen Jesus keeps speaking.

The ways Jesus speaks to his people are varied. There are the tamer ways of being convicted by a word from the Scriptures or having a sudden leap of intuition. But there are also the scarier ways of hearing Jesus speak: dreams and visions and his voice. They’re the sort of thing we tend not to mention in polite company. Jesus shakes up our neat and tidy world–the world we’ve been passing as materialists in–with words like these. But why should this surprise us? If Jesus is alive like we say he is, shouldn’t he still be speaking like the gospels say he did?

I think so. I’ve sat with Jesus’ followers in their living rooms enough times to know that if you take the time to listen, people have stories of hearing Jesus’ voice.

So on this Easter, when we celebrate resurrection life, what’s Jesus speaking to you?

He is risen! And he is still speaking.

Happy Easter!

Previous Post

April 4, 2017

Fragility and the cross

Next Post

April 19, 2017 4 ways Christians can love the soil on Earth Day

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month January 2023 November 2022 May 2022 April 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 December 2020 November 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which Christian denomination believes in seven sacraments?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Catholic Lutheran Presbyterian Baptist

Books by This Author Books by Brad Roth

See All Titles »