Shedding Graveclothes
My wife and I were watching “I Can Only Imagine 2” last Sunday evening when the text came in. I knew the person who sent it… and upon reading the request, I also knew that God was behind the invitation. “Is there any possibility you could fill in for me by giving a presentation on reconciliation and resurrection?” That’s how the question was framed, but there was exactly zero doubt that my answer wouldn’t be “yes” or “no,” but surrendering to God’s will or directly rebelling against it. So… unless you’re really speedy, I’ll have shared that message by the time you read this!
If you’ve seen the original movie or the sequel, you know that reconciliation is the clear theme in both. In the first, the topic is reconciliation with Bart Millard’s abusive father. (Bart is the lead singer for the very well-known Christian band, Mercy Me.) In the second, the overarching plot line is the reconciliation between Bart and his son.
Resurrection and Reconciliation
What does reconciliation have to do with resurrection? Besides everything, of course? For starters, there can be no resurrection without a death. Resurrection isn’t a paint job or a minor repair project - it’s what was dead now coming alive, the lost now found. Much reconciliation is the same song following the same tune. In most circumstances where reconciliation is required, death-to-self is the one way street to get there. Reconciliation starts with humility, and humility is the secret sauce to most Kingdom values.
Good Friday is good only because of Sunday, the Resurrection. The crucifixion is darkness and ugliness at its worst. Our self-centeredness doesn’t need a good pep talk or a fancy self-help video; it needs a cross. Jesus’ cross is the price that must be paid for reconciliation to take place. Certainly that’s true for all reconciliation with God. No road arrives at reconciliation with God except by passing through the cross. But it’s equally true for our reconciliation with one another.
Hidden Graveclothes
I can bring this article full circle to the opening paragraph with just one more piece of data. Sunday morning I had preached on the story in John 11 of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. The story ends with the four-days-dead man coming out of the tomb wrapped in grave clothes, and Jesus saying, “Untie him, and let him go.”
As I wept through the sequel (“I Can Only Imagine 2”) almost as intensely as I had through the original back in 2018, it was painfully clear that some graveclothes were still attached to my story. Right after I said to my wife, “Apparently my healing and reconciliation work isn’t entirely finished yet,” I read the text, which was essentially God saying, “There’s no time like the present. Let’s work on that tomorrow.”
From Resurrection to Unity
If we’re still dragging graveclothes with us, let’s listen for the voice of Jesus. What needs to be untied? What still smells of the grave instead of the fragrance of new life? Anywhere that reconciliation is still required, graveclothes have yet to be abandoned.
Unity with others starts with uniting with Christ. That’s what Jesus prayed hours before He was hanging on a cross, and the empty tomb is what makes it all possible.
Blessings,
Dave Drum, Founder of J17 Ministries
