First Man I am busy reading a fascinating book by James R. Hansen called First Man, The Life of Neil A. Armstrong.  You may not know this but when I was ten years old, I was, like 100 million other ten year olds, fascinated by the space race.  I memorized the names of the astronauts, I collected the articles about them and my dad even made a miniature bronze Apollo space ship, which I carried with me all the time.  So when I read the biography on Neil Armstrong all the references to the space mission brought back childhood memories: NASA, Gemini, Apollo, "Buzz" Aldrin, Mike Collins, Eagle, and "That's one small

step for man, one giant leap for mankind."  When I mentioned to Marie that I remember names like John Glenn, Dave Scott, and Frank Borman, she responded: "They were actually real people!" And they certainly were real people, real American heroes.

This month, we will again celebrate Easter.  We will remember Jesus Christ who suffered and died, we will hear names of men like Judas who betrayed his friend, Peter who denied Jesus, Pilate who said that Jesus was innocent, Simon Cyrene who carried his cross, and Joseph who took his body, washed it, and laid it in a new tomb.  We also will hear names of women like Mary Magdalene and the other Mary who discovered the empty grave.  We will hear the familiar phrase: "He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said."

Most of us know the story very well; we have heard it since we were kids.  We need to remind ourselves that this is a story about real people and real events.  These people were witnesses of great things.  We also need to remind ourselves that Jesus lived as one of us, a real person.  He was born, was raised, lived, and died as a real person, a real human being.  And he was raised from the dead by a real God.  We will worship God on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter because God has shown us salvation through the death and resurrection of a real Person.  This is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:45: "The first man, Adam, became a living being; the last Adam (that is Jesus) became a life-giving spirit.  The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven."  No wonder he ends that paragraph by saying: "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory thought our Lord Jesus Christ."

My prayer is that during Holy Week and Easter, God will work in and through us to remind each other and the world that God's love for us in Jesus Christ is for real people! 

Johan

Back to Top