{"id":12420,"date":"2026-04-07T16:57:53","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/?p=12420"},"modified":"2026-04-07T16:58:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:58:04","slug":"expect-life-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/expect-life-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Expect Life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWhy do you look for the living among the dead?\u201d – Luke 24:5<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At dawn on a Sunday morning, about 2,000 years ago, a group of women went to see a tomb. They were prepared to see death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course they were prepared to see death. They were walking to a tomb \u2013 to the tomb, where they had seen Jesus\u2019s body laid two nights before (Lk. 23:55). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course these women were prepared to see death. They had seen so much death in their lives already. Friends who died in childbirth; children who didn\u2019t survive to adulthood; men who left home for work and never came back. Disease, starvation, the cruelty of people in power, violent rebellion. They had seen so much death; they expected only to see more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can be a lot like those women. We, too, have seen so much death. In news alerts; in history; in our family; in hospital rooms and funerals. We have known death, too; and we expect to see more of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what we expect, we prepare for. Maybe we go into the world bearing grief and anger; we go with our defenses up. Maybe we go ready to fight or hide away, to keep other people out. Maybe we go ready to give up hope in life in the face of the reality of death, much like the women who approached the tomb of Jesus: the person in whom they had placed all of their hopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The women arrived at the tomb, the stronghold of death. If there was any place to feel certain of death \u2013 to feel certain that death wins \u2013 this was it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But death was gone. The stone was rolled away; a spring breeze whistled into the empty tomb. Two living men appeared and asked the women, \u201cWhy do you look for the living among the dead?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They weren\u2019t looking for the living. They were looking for the dead. They were prepared once again for the harsh reality that death had taken someone they loved. What they weren\u2019t prepared for was life. They weren\u2019t expecting the power of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJesus is not here,\u201d the men told the women, \u201cbut he has risen\u201d (Luke 24:1-12)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Easter message calls you from your old belief in death to a new belief in life.\u201d <\/a>(Craig Koester, Luther Seminary)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what those women were confronted with at Jesus\u2019 empty tomb 2,000 years ago: life. They were confronted with life where they didn\u2019t expect it \u2013 with hope, where they predicted only despair \u2013 with possibility, where they\u2019d admitted defeat \u2013 with healing, where everything was broken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had been prepared for death. They had been prepared to live their lives in the shadow of death. But now\u2026how were they going to live in the expectation of life?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Easter, we Christians celebrate that God raised Jesus from the dead. In this act God showed us that Jesus is the messiah. In this act God also gave us the greatest image of the messiah\u2019s purpose: Resurrection. Life. New life. Impossible life. Life in peace and justice because of the power of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are the people of the resurrection. Living in God means living in the power of the resurrection \u2013 and the expectation of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does that change the way that we live?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia, alleluia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 Pastor Kate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. Katherine Museu<\/a>s<\/em> and Rev. James A. Wetzstein<\/a> serve as university pastors at the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University and take turns writing weekly devotions<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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