"What must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16)
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If you want to know Jesus, you need to know that He is our risen King. Our hope is in Him.
Read chapter 24 of the gospel according to Saint Luke here.
The Resurrection of Jesus changes everything.
Jesus conquered two enemies, sin and death. He conquered sin by facing the worst of sin but not succumbing to sin. He conquered death by rising from the dead.
The essence of death is finality, the conclusiveness of death. But Jesus rose from the dead, and we can rise from the dead if we believe in Him and follow Him. That means death isn't death anymore. It's a transition. It's like a second birth - painful but ultimately joyful.
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:54-55) (quoting Hosea)
At the center of Luke's resurrection narrative is the story of the journey to Emmaus. Cleopas and an unnamed disciple are leaving Jerusalem, their faces downcast. Through them, we get a glimpse of what the world would be like if Jesus had not been raised. "We were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel," Cleopas says. We were hoping He would be the one to save us from our sins, because we can't do that ourselves. We were hoping He would be the one to deliver us from death, because we can't do that ourselves. We were hoping He would be the one to reconcile us to the Father, because we can't do that ourselves. Now He is gone, and our hope is gone with Him.
Yet unbeknownst to them, Jesus is right there with them. He is not dead. Death has no hold on Him. He is risen! He explains to them that this was God's plan all along - that He would send His dearly beloved Son to suffer and die for our sins, to be raised on the third day, to open the gates of Heaven so that we could follow Him there. The whole of salvation history - the Creation and the Fall, Abraham and Moses, David and Solomon, the exile and the return from captivity, Elijah and all the prophets - have all been building up this climactic point. Jesus has won the victory. Jesus has given us hope. And not a wishful thinking hope, not a cross-your-fingers hope, but a hope that is founded on the fundamental assurance of an empty tomb, a rolled away stone, a glorious morning, a risen King revealed to His friends in the breaking of the bread.
"For in hope we were saved. Now hope that sees for itself is not hope. For who hopes for what one sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance." (Romans 8:24-25)
Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day for the salvation of souls.
Michael Haverkamp Jr. is a lifelong member of the Roman Catholic Church. He is grateful to his parents for raising him in the faith. He resides in Columbus, Ohio with his amazing wife and three sons. By day he is a (usually) mild-mannered grant writer. You can read more of his writing at his blog, buildonrock.org.
