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Kids Talk about God: What if Jesus Rose Today?

Carey Kinsolving and Friends

If Jesus rose from the dead today, how would you announce his resurrection? "I would be screaming," says Meg, age 9, "'Jesus is not in the tomb.' I would be telling everyone in the world. I think everyone would be going crazy over that."

 

Meg, I would like to think everyone would join in your joyous scream, but only two disciples ran to the tomb upon hearing the news of Jesus' resurrection.

 

"I would get my mama, and I would tell her, 'Jesus is alive!' Then, I would take her for a ride on my bike, and we would go into the city and shout, 'Jesus is alive!'" says Jake, 5.

 

That's it, Jake. Tell your mama about the Lord, and then, take her for an evangelistic bike tour. When Jesus told a woman that he had living water to quench her thirst, she went into town to tell everyone that she had found the Messiah.

 

Have you ever considered the people Jesus empowered to tell others about him? There's not a single professional clergyman among them. The 12 disciples were known as unlearned men from Galilee.

 

Recently, I met a Christian who said he is selling his boat and truck to proclaim the good news of Jesus' resurrection in Panama. The boat is his only means of livelihood, and the truck is the only other substantial possession he owns. He said his wife "found herself" and left him. She now owns the two houses he used to jointly own with her. Instead of throwing a pity party, this brother is pressing on in wild-eyed anticipation of proclaiming the good news in a foreign land.

 

I asked him if he knew Spanish. He said he was teaching himself through listening to tapes. I didn't ask if his trip had been approved by a mission board. Most Christian mission agencies wouldn't dream of sending this man out under their auspices.

 

As a Bible college and seminary graduate, I believe in preparation. But I also believe every Christian carries the hope of Jesus' resurrection and the responsibility to proclaim the Lord's victory over death. Christians don't need anyone's approval to proclaim Jesus' resurrection victory. Jesus gave his disciples a commission to preach the gospel to people of all nations.

 

"I might have ridden on a horse and shouted it out like Paul Revere shouted, 'The British are coming!'" says Kalen, 10.

 

Noah comes to mind as a Bible Paul Revere. Americans believed Paul Revere, but the people of Noah's day ridiculed his warning. Nevertheless, God vindicated Noah by saving his family in the ark. God will vindicate and reward Christians who faithfully proclaim Jesus' resurrection as the ark of safety from God's judgment.

 

Whether you sell a boat or build a boat, just don't miss the boat!

 

Kasey, 6, would be a spiritual Paul Revere by saying: "Jesus is alive! Jesus is alive! An angel appeared to me saying, 'He is risen!'"

 

I can see Kasey would like to have been at the tomb when the angel appeared to Mary Magdalene and declared, "He is risen." These three words summarize the Easter story and separate Jesus Christ from all other self-proclaimed messiahs.

 

"And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!" wrote the Apostle Paul (I Corinthians 15:17). It's all or nothing. If Jesus remains in the grave, Christians should be pitied because they hoped, believed, preached and lived in vain. But if Jesus conquered death on Easter morning, all the other promises of heaven by some other means are reduced to pompous puffery.

 

With the confidence of a taunting boxer who knows his right hand contains the knockout punch, Paul wrote: "O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" (I Corinthians 15:55).

 

Inspire your children by reading this column with them and visiting the Kids Talk About God website at  www.KidsTalkAboutGod.org. Bible quotations are from the New King James Version. Copyright 2003 Carey Kinsolving.