{"id":1243,"date":"2018-03-30T16:09:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-30T16:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/?p=1243"},"modified":"2018-03-31T23:18:10","modified_gmt":"2018-03-31T23:18:10","slug":"beyond-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/30\/beyond-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Words…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Copyright by Shea Oakley<\/strong><\/p>\n

All rights reserved<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many Christians have written of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The number of words devoted to this event is likely only surpassed by the many accounts of His death. In a sense this seems unfortunate. It is not that His Passion is to be trivialized. The story of the cross is the story of the ages and it is certainly true that without Good Friday there would be no Easter. But for all its meaning the physical death of Christ was not as singular an event as His triumph over that death. All men die. Only one has returned to life\u2026so far<\/p>\n

In some sense it is futile to try to capture the full meaning of the Resurrection in words. No matter how much is written on the subject human beings will always fall short in trying to adequately communicate its implications. What happened outside of Jerusalem in a rich man\u2019s tomb on that long ago morning in some sense defies description. Yet we who find our best expression of devotion in writing continue to try.<\/p>\n

So many words come to mind when a believing heart considers Easter morning; strong words like victory, triumph and glory, softer ones like hope, joy and restoration. We find ourselves thinking about a frightened, deeply depressed band of disciples suddenly being delivered from despair by the One who was delivered from death. Their experience reminds us of the moments when we, too, have been rescued from the same kind of hopelessness by the Spirit given us by Jesus after He went to be with His Father\u2026and ours.<\/p>\n

We are also reminded of the hope of our own resurrection some day. The Easter story is one that tells us not only of a happening from the past but also one yet to come. The raising of Christ guarantees the raising of His followers when God brings down the curtain on the history of the world as we now know it. Easter is, in this sense, the ultimate prophetic event. For those who dwell in a world still fallen it generates a hope so blessed that it, too, is beyond the expressive power of words. This is the hope that flows with the contemplation of the stone being rolled away someday from our own empty tombs. It is what enables the Christian to go through the deepest of waters and come out on the other shore.<\/p>\n

Perhaps it is in starting with the word “hope” that we best find a place to honor Easter to the extent it can be done so in writing. Christians are people of hope. Our Savior has been called “The Blessed Hope” and we who know Him rejoice in the ultimate reality of the phrase. It is at this time of year we are reminded of its meaning. Resurrection Day, and all it implies, speaks to us of why we are who we are and why we follow the One we follow.<\/p>\n

The truth is that, whether it is in one word or ten thousand, we are always just scratching the surface when we write about the events of that morning. It was too great to be captured by our faculties, too wonderful to be grasped by the finite efforts of men. What happened was for us<\/em>, but fully describing it remains beyond us<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Many Christians have written of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The number of words devoted to this event is likely only surpassed by the many accounts of His death. In a sense this seems unfortunate. It is not that His Passion is to be trivialized. The story of… <\/p>\n

Read more Beyond Words…<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6GkOA-k3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":275,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/09\/20\/beyond-words-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1243,"position":0},"title":"Beyond Words","date":"September 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Beyond Words Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Many have written of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The number of words devoted to this event is probably only surpassed by the number used in the many accounts of His death. This seems unfortunate in a sense. It is not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":400,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2013\/08\/22\/when-relationship-is-not-enough\/","url_meta":{"origin":1243,"position":1},"title":"When Relationship is Not Enough","date":"August 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"When Relationship is Not Enough Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved There is a tendency in the church today to put a great premium on the concept of \u201chaving a relationship with God\u201d. In fact the phrase is so overused that it has become a clich\u00e9. It is true\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/13\/the-only-answer-to-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":1243,"position":2},"title":"The Only Answer to Sin","date":"April 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Only Answer to Sin Copyright 2012 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved \u00a0 We can only progress in our sanctification if we trust Christ to bring it about. This may seem like a spiritual \u201cno-brainer\u201d but it has become somewhat of a revelation in my life of late. After\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":502,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/17\/identity-and-the-words-of-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":1243,"position":3},"title":"Identity and the Words of Others","date":"April 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Entering into the identity given us by God often requires that we receive His knowledge of our true selves through others. In and of ourselves we are not able to see who God made us to be in Christ. We need the perspective\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1036,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/10\/gods-power-and-our-motivation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1243,"position":4},"title":"God’s Power and Our Motivation","date":"May 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright\u00a0 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved We are often counseled to look at the difficult requirements of the Christian life from the perspective of comparing what we are asked to do for God with what God did for us on the cross. This counsel is valid, but the reason\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":371,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/02\/371\/","url_meta":{"origin":1243,"position":5},"title":"The Only Way to Stop Sinning","date":"May 2, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Every believer is called upon to resist temptation and avoid sin. Our sanctification depends on a progressive rooting out of sin that continues throughout our earthly lives. The problem is how to successfully overcome the temptations we face on a daily basis. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1243"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1246,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1243\/revisions\/1246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}