Advent Day 31: The Resurrection & the Life / Way, Truth, & Life

The Resurrection of Christ, Maja Lisa Engelhardt, 2018. Gilded wall relief, 31 x 18 ft. Plaster gilded with gold. Calvary Chapel , Biola University, La Mirada, California.

Jesus on the Shore, Maja Lisa Englehardt. Oil on canvas. Altarpiece from Turup Church, Denmark.

“I Am the Resurrection and the Life” from the album Songs of Eternity. Composed and performed by Karen Davis and Steve Carpenter, music arranged by Gabriel Alonso.

Poetry:

“Resurrection”
by Alice Gustava Smith (Sister Maris Stella)

from the deep sea wrack
from the green light under the sea
from the coral caves men will come back

on mountain tops where
dropped from the air
or hurled
against the world
their bones grow cold
among the old
rock-frost above the tree-line
they will rise up with the divine
breath breathed into them again
as on the first of men
Adam, newly conceived of clay
on the sixth day
God breathed even somewhere Adam will rise
opening again his eyes
on the world to find
nothing much changed but of a mind
that he was blind before
Abel, first-slain
having lain
longer in earth than any other man
and Eve with the look of the new Eve
upon her but still Eve
they will rise up having known
the terrible trumpets blown
would cry: this is the doom

this is the crack of doom

who will record the innumerable horde

in hope to see
what publican will mount into a tree

what wind what weather what bird
will shout unheard
against the sound

of whole tribes and families growing up out of the ground

what earth does every spring
is only a hint of the thing

The Resurrection and the Way, Truth, and Life

Around this time each December, news outlets list names of the notable who passed away in 2025: musicians, politicians, journalists, actors, authors, athletes, among others.
At Biola University, two sudden deaths in recent months hit us hard. One was Avarie, a beautiful 20-year-old student who died from an allergic reaction while studying abroad in Italy. Another was John, our beloved 54-year-old campus safety chief, among the nation’s most sought-after college law enforcement professionals. Maybe you, too, experienced one of those deaths that seemed so untimely, so unjust, so senseless.

In John 11, we find Lazarus and his sisters, Martha and Mary, who Jesus loved deeply. Despite his love for them, Lazarus still died. Martha was beside herself. She asked Jesus, “Why? Why didn’t you come sooner? Why didn’t you heal him? Why now? Why him? Why, God?”

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

I’ve been posing that question over these two, precious members of Biola University, asking like Martha, “God, if you only had done this or that, Avarie and John would be among the living.”
Though Jesus knew the resurrection would have the final say, he still wept tears of deep sorrow. He wept because of these sisters’ heartache. He wept because of his profound compassion on those at a loss for why this man died, who were so broken and despairing. Even though Jesus knew that in a matter of minutes Lazarus would come back to life, he felt the pain, the loss, the despair, the devastation, the questions, the heaving agony that came over this family like clouds of deep darkness, unutterable sorrow. Jesus knew. And Jesus wept.

Jesus’ tears give us permission for our tears.

Martha’s “why” questions give us permission for our “whys.”

Yet that’s not the end of the story. Wiping the tears from his own eyes, Jesus walked up to that crypt entombing Lazarus’ body, and after he prayed, he said these words, “Lazarus, come out!” And the Gospel says Lazarus came out of that grave, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a death cloth around his face. Then Jesus said to those around, “Take off the grave clothes, and let him go.”

I remember as a boy hearing a preacher tell that story of Christ’s summoning Lazarus from the dead, saying these words, “Had not Jesus called Lazarus by name, every grave would have opened to resurrected life.”

One day, we will see clearly that the sting of death will be eclipsed by the power and glory of Jesus. Until then, despite our sorrows, despite our questions, despite our doubts, Jesus will have the final word, even as we Kleenex the tears from our own eyes.

Maja Lisa Engelhardt the Danish artist who so vividly depicts the Resurrection in this stunning relief on Biola’s Calvary Chapel, is living in hope having earlier this year lost her husband and my friend, artist Peter Brandes. For Peter, for Avarie, for John and for those you name, remember, as Sister Maris Stella says in her poem “Resurrection,”They will rise up with the divine, breath breathed into them again.

Sister Maris helps us soak in the indescribable day of Resurrection, its scope and its glory, even as we are all battling foes that seem to be far bigger than our mortal selves can defeat.

Prayer:
Jesus. Giver of life,
Help us to believe amidst our doubts.
To see life amidst our sorrows.
To truly and deeply believe you are the Resurrection and the Life.
And from our belief, give us the courage to move forward in unbridled obedience.
How life-giving you are, even in our doubts, questions and fears.
How we love you.
Amen

Dr. Barry H. Corey
President of Biola University