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“You came back!” Sadly, the homeless man was surprised. It was 12am.
I finished rolling silverware at the end of my shift, so my manager and I were getting ready to close down.
My manager gave the young man and his girlfriend some tacos (El Chico tacos!) and took off. They had tattoos on their faces, wore hippy clothing, and traveled the country by hopping on trains. Before I left, they asked if I would be willing to give them some cash or go to the Wal-Mart across the street and pick up some milk.
I didn’t want to give them cash so I went to the store. When I approached with the bag of groceries, he exclaimed, “You came back!” Evidently, not many would return. They quickly downed the milk.
At the time, I was a college student who scarcely comprehended the importance of keeping our word. Midnight, in an empty parking lot behind a restaurant, I understood its value. People judge and trust us in accordance to how we keep our word. And we should do the same with God.
The resurrection of Jesus is important to Paul because it reveals God’s “yes” to his promises. At least four hundred years before Jesus, God spoke through people like Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Malachi. God promised he would return and restore Israel—and through them, the world.
Paul believed the resurrection was such a big deal because it was the supreme evidence that God’s “yes” to bless the world and restore his people began in Jesus.
God kept his word even though it wasn’t exactly like they anticipated. Some disbelieved and said it can’t be true because God didn’t say “yes” in the way they wanted. Paul replies, “Actually, Jesus’ resurrection, coming by the power of the Spirit, proves that he is God’s sent one.”
And it gets better.
Paul says any today can receive that same Spirit by which Jesus resurrected. He says that any who believes can receive the Spirit along with a renewed life as a down-payment previewing our participation in the transformed world with a transformed body.
God’s faithfulness, revealed in Jesus, is important to Paul because it is God’s way of bringing a piece of the future judgment, future world, and future blessings into the present time. Shocking.
God is not hiding, silent, ambivalent, or capricious. He has spoken plainly. He is not pushy. And he does what he says.
He made the new way clear, revealing that the normal course of life cannot give what we really want nor does it last. The new way will last forever. He promises.
Thanks for Reading,
Aaron