Resurrection Power: the victorious Jesus Above All Rulers

We’ve spent this week reading about how Jesus’ resurrection revealed the reality of his victory over death and evil. Miles Steele sent us a reflection on an altar piece painted in 1553 by French artist Léonard Limousin centered on the resurrection. Miles is a non-traditional student currently studying web design and digital media at JCCC after graduating from KU with a BA in Art History. When he has the time Miles can be found coding at his desk or working on a personal project in the JCCC ceramics studio. To see Limousin’s altar piece with Miles’ commentary guiding you through the details, click here.

Ephesians 1 asserted that “his body, the church, is the fullness of Christ.” At that time, “church” didn’t mean mainly buildings or policies, but a community of deeply committed people who served God and their society together. (Ideally, it still means that.) When faithful to God’s calling, the church is where God’s people can live into God’s power more fully—the breathtaking cosmic power at work on Easter as Christ rose from the dead (verse 20). Like Ephesians, Revelation spoke first to Christians living in the first-century Roman Empire, a reign of terror that called its emperor “Lord” and divine. John’s vision boldly said God, not Caesar, was “Lord of Lords and King of kings.” “It is easy for modern readers to miss John’s audacity: banished… he recounts a funeral dirge over the most powerful empire the Mediterranean world had ever known. Rome was close to the height of its power; the church was growing but may have constituted less than 0.1% of the empire’s population.” *

• In Ephesians 1:18-19, Paul prayed that “the eyes of your heart” will see “what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers.” How would tapping into that hope and power at work in your daily life deepen your workdays and your worship? How did this Easter attune you more fully to God’s awesome power? Rome was hardly unique. Human rulers have often claimed divine status (e.g. Nazi soldiers wore belt buckles that said, in German, “God is with us”). “The basis for the Lamb’s victory [in Revelation 17:14] is that ‘he is Lord of lords and King of kings’…. Just as the Babylonian king [in Daniel 4] was addressed by this title, so the king of latter-day Babylon (Rome) in John’s day was similarly addressed…. The Lamb exposes as false the divine claims of the emperor and others like him.” ** Do you trust that Jesus is “king of kings” over all human rulers, one you can trust as your “place of safety” (Psalm 46:11)?