I came across this text the other day, and it won’t let go of me. It’s in Luke 24, the first part of the chapter. Luke describes the activity on the first day of the week, that first and glorious Easter Sunday. The women came to the tomb of Jesus early in the morning to find the stone rolled away from the tomb. They entered, looking for the body of Christ, but He was nowhere to be found. Suddenly two men appeared before them “in clothes that gleamed like lightning (24:4)”. The women fell to the ground, but the men consoled them with words that are almost haunting: “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! (24:5-6)”

All too often, those words ring true in our lives. We’re experts at looking for life in all the wrong places. How often do we get caught up in the greed & materialism that defines our age? We think if we can just get a bigger house, if we can move up one more rung on the ladder, if we could just have a little bit more…THEN we would be content. Our lives can all to easily become an insatiable quest for status and possession. We’re driven to achieve a certain quantity to our lives. Security, prosperity, a nice home, a loving family, good friends…these are the DNA of a “good life”.

And somewhere, off in the distance, the Word rings softly…why do you look for the living among the dead? Why look for life among dead men’s bones? The writer of Ecclesiastes experienced it all: power, wealth, wisdom, sex. Yet he found them all lacking. He concludes his writing with these cryptic words: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man,” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full,” (John 10:10). Looking for life outside of Christ is akin to searching for a pulse in a graveyard. Jesus exemplifies for us the model of true life: a life centered on others, not self. Whoever loses his life for the sake of Christ will truly find it.