Chavez is Dead, Jesus is Alive

    In a vain attempt to keep him “lifelike”, the body of Hugo Chavez, like the bodies of many other totalitarian heads of state before him, will be embalmed and placed on permanent (sort of) display in a glass sarcophagus near his presidential palace. Most are familiar with the display of Russia's Vladimir Lenin in Moscow's Red Square. Others include Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong (China), Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), and Kim Il Sung (North Korea).
    Russian historians say that Lenin and Stalin’s bodies on display have given current leaders a sense of legitimacy. I’m sure the same could be said of Mao, Minh and Kim and their successors. But even with these regimes, over time, their influence will dissipate and their memory will fade.
    And with the best of scientific embalming practices, the “lifelikeness” of embalmed bodies also fades over time. CNN recently reported that Lenin and Stalin are both looking waxy and plasticky. And no matter how they look, these guys are dead. Just as dead as the guys buried under ground. I added “sort of” to “permanent” in my opening sentence, because eventually, even the best of embalmed bodies will be reduced to dust.
    The one man who really changed the world was never put on display. His enemies would have wanted that. But they couldn’t, because his body didn’t stay dead. Jesus defeated death, he rose again. We will see him again! But it won’t be in a lifeless state sealed in a glass case, looking waxy and plasticky. We will see him in the flesh, alive, vivacious, interacting with us, loving us, receiving us!
    That’s the celebration season we are entering into. The greatest holiday of the Christian calendar, because it is the reason we are Christian. It is the resurrection of Jesus that is the foundation of our faith. His death provided for our forgiveness. His resurrection provides for our eternal life.
    He is not dead! He is risen!