Dr. Eric Hankins

Lead Pastor

 “Why do you seek the Living One among the Dead?” This is the question of Easter. This is the question asked of the followers of Jesus since that very first Resurrection Morning. This promise of God has always been clear: “Those who seek Me will find Me, if they seek Me with all their heart” (Deut. 4:29, 1 Chr. 28:9, 2 Chr. 15:12, Ps. 119:2, Jer. 29.13). The desire of Christ is that we would know His presence. He is not playing “hide-and-seek.” He has not burdened us with some enigmatic treasure map, esoteric list of clues, or exacting set of tasks. Instead, He gives us Himself in the immediacy of His presence. He wants to be found not by only those who are quick-witted or qualified but by the foolish and the weak.

So, if you are not walking intimately with the Savior, could it be that you are simply looking in the places He refuses to be? In the resurrection accounts in the Gospels, we find Jesus meeting people everywhere, under all kinds of circumstances, encountering people with various dispositions of belief. He meets them on the road, on the beach, behind locked doors. He meets them in their fear, their ignorance, their doubt, their failure, and their patent unfaith. But He will not meet them as a dead man, a ghost, or a vision. He only meets them as the Living One. He wants them to touch his wounds that they may know for certain that Death has done its best to defeat Him but that He has won decisively. Even though Jesus is still in the graveyard when He finally speaks with Mary, He is outside the tomb, anxious to leave, and refuses to be held in place.

So, where are you hoping to find Jesus this Easter? Safely and quietly locked away? Entombed in cool, mysterious darkness? Close enough to commemorate yet far enough away that his Life and Words remain muffled, indistinct, and unbinding?
He will not meet you there. He will not meet you like that.
He is Alive!
Pastor Eric