The cross and the empty tomb are all about taking our failures and turning them into stepping stones. The disciples knew that the
resurrection that really mattered took place not only in the garden that first
Easter morning, but also in their own dejected hearts and sins in the days that
followed. We see Thomas with his doubt and Peter with his denial. They had
failed. They had been afraid. They had forsaken Christ when He needed them
most. But God will not allow His people to be failures. Christ came to them and
began a reconstruction project in their minds and souls. Out of the ashes of
their failures came the most dynamic group of men and women the world has ever
known. Now, with joy, boldness, courage and purpose, the disciples move out
from behind locked doors. From all the accounts of the gift-spirit, it is quite
apparent that this gift means action. This is not a gift to place on the
mantel, or in a trophy case, or to hang on a wall with the other symbols of
specialness. This is not a gift to preserve and protect, grateful for having
been so blessed to receive. Rather, this gift sends us out as Christ’s
representatives in the world. We are sent out as modern day disciples. We go
with the strength and power of God. We go with His commission, “I send you.”
And he follows it with the task to be about the work of forgiveness and the
ministry of reconciliation and the word of grace. We are empowered to breathe
new life into a stale world that yearns for a breath of fresh air, the hope of
new action and new life for the 21st century.
God provides us with a foundation that will not crumble. About 80 years ago, Japan asked the famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a hotel for Tokyo that would be capable of surviving an earthquake. When Wright visited Japan to inspect the site where the Imperial Hotel was to be built, he was appalled to find that the soil there was only about eight feet deep. Beneath that was 60 feet of soft mud that slipped and shook like jelly. Every test hole he dug filled up immediately with water. Now a lesser individual probably would have given up right there. But not Wright, since the hotel was going to rest on fluid ground, Wright decided to build it like a ship. So instead of trying to keep the structure from moving during a quake, he incorporated features that would allow the hotel to ride out the shock without damage. Wright knew that the major cause of destruction after an earthquake was fire, because water lines would break and there would be o way to put out the fire. So he insisted on a large outdoor pool in the courtyard of this hotel, “just in case.”
On September
1, 1923, Tokyo had another great earthquake. There were fires all over the
city, and 140,000 people died. News reports were slow in getting to the U.S.
One newspaper wanted to print the story that the Imperial Hotel had been
destroyed, as rumor had it. But when a reporter phoned Frank Lloyd Wright about
it, he said that they could print the story if they liked, but they would only
have to retract it later. He knew the hotel would not collapse. Shortly afterward,
Wright got a telegram from Japan. The Imperial Hotel was completely undamaged.
And when the fires that raged all around the hotel threatened to spread, bucket
brigades kept the structure wetted down with water from the hotel’s pool. Frank
Lloyd Wright knew about foundations. So does Jesus. He wants his followers
equipped with the gift of the Holy Spirit: the Power of God. With that power,
we can turn pain into pearls, problems into possibilities, and failures into
stepping stones for the future.
Go with God,
Pastor Qualley
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