We live in a day of disappointment. The current pandemic, along with our protective measures, has already managed to take away much of what we love and look forward to, and it seems there is no end in sight.

School and sports activities, NHL playoffs, Spring Break trips, outings with friends, visits from grandchildren, high school graduation ceremonies, church worship gatherings and more have been wiped clean from our calendars, leaving only square upon square of blank, empty space.

We prefer to speak of these things as having been “postponed” instead of “cancelled.” But, as time passes, we realize that at least some of the things we’ve postponed we will never enjoy. Time keeps on plodding relentlessly ahead, leaving behind a graveyard of dashed hopes and unmet expectations. 

When the Apostle Paul summarized the gospel, that which is “most important” for Christians to know, believe, and rejoice in, he reminded his readers that Christ was buried. Christ the Messiah, the Lord, the hope of Israel—the one who spoke like no one else, who healed the sick, who fed the hungry, and who even raised the dead to life again—this Christ died, and was buried. His heart stopped, his flesh went cold, he was placed in a tomb and shut inside, accompanied by nothing but darkness.

The burial of Christ brought untold grief to those who not only loved and followed him, but had set their expectations on him: “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Luke 24:21), said the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. In the moment of grief, it must have seemed that all their hopes had been buried in the tomb along with Jesus, never to be seen again.

But, as Paul reminds us, “he was buried” is not the end of the gospel message: “he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:4). The miracle of Jesus’ resurrection happened just as God had foretold, according to the time God had planned, and by the power that God alone possesses. And along with Jesus’ resurrection from the tomb, the
disciples’ hopes were also raised to life again, although in a new, unexpected, and even better way than before.

Belief in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ doesn’t shield us from disappointment in this life. But those who have set their hope on him have every reason to be confident: “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his” (Romans 6:5). In Christ, every good and godly hope that has been buried will be raised to life again, in new, unexpected, and even better ways than before. Being with him will make up for every loss, and seeing him will outdo even our best expectations. In Christ, nothing that is truly good is ever cancelled, but only postponed, until the day we are raised and
reunited with him.

Pastor Jonathan Kroeker