Episode #47 Wonder at the Resurrection- For the Fun of It

Hey friends, I'm Jen and welcome to Good God Talks, the podcast that exists to help you have uncommon conversations with God in everyday moments. And today we're starting a new series, and I've titled it "For the Fun of It" because I have found that oftentimes we can get into these habits of only engaging with God about serious matters. It's good to approach God with intentionality and reverence and awe. But we can also approach God to enjoy him, and we can have shared experiences with God that include having fun.

I feel like I need to give this kind of headline up front here that, yes, some of the things that we see as fun in our sinful nature, in our own carnal desires need to be yielded to God as he transforms what we desire, as he orders our lives. But as we come with the awareness of, okay, yes, sometimes our desires need to be transformed, it's also really good to come with an awareness that we can desire because God gave us that ability.

Think about it, our ability to enjoy life, to experience pleasure, even our ability to laugh or to have preferences in style or music or food, all of these abilities come from God. And so in this series we're going to be exploring what it can look like to connect with God in uncommon ways, sharing in delights with God, just for the fun of it. And starting today, we're going to be talking with God about the wonder of the resurrection day. And if you've been a believer for some time, like I have, we can start to gloss over the amazing details of what it actually was like the day Christ resurrected from the dead.

I have been a believer for over 30 years. I have been in church community my entire life, and so I have known the resurrection story and the details of what happened and who went there and what happened with Jesus and who found him, and then what he did, since I was a child. And it's beautiful that we get to know Christ's story so well. This is part of God's grand story of his loving rescue and redemption for humanity. It's part of our stories as those who get to come to Christ and receive life in him because he died for our sins and was resurrected.

But it's also hard to wonder at what is so familiar. The definition of wonder in the dictionary means a feeling of surprise mixed with admiration. It's caused by something beautiful or unexpected, something unfamiliar or inexplicable. And so in these few minutes, we simply want to approach the Easter story, and in particular, resurrection day, looking for what was unexpected. What surprise in their day was caused by something extraordinarily beautiful? This story is familiar to us, but for these people who lived in the New Testament time, nothing was familiar. I wonder just how incredible these events felt to the real life Christ followers who were present that day.

The passage I'm going to read is from Matthew 28:1-10, in the ESV version. As I read, I invite you to ask God to spark wonder in you as you hear the events as they unfolded. And then as usual, we'll end with a question to then continue that conversation with God.

"Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who is crucified. He is not here for, he has risen, as he said. Come see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell the disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell the disciples. And behold Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

I hope that you have experienced some of that wonder spark in your own mind at heart as you reflect on the extraordinary reality of Christ rising from the dead and meeting with his disciples and the way that they got to come and experience his resurrection. Let's continue in this place of wonder and talk with God more about it, for the fun of it, for the engagement of wonder as we experience that surprise caused by something beautiful in the resurrection of Christ. And so here's our question to ask God:

God, how can I embrace this opportunity for wonder?

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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