May 28, 2002

"GRAVITY IS LIGHT TODAY"

How's that for a bumper sticker? It's one you'd have to think about.

Aren't there days when you feel that way? You get out of bed, stretch, and just know that this is going to be your day. You can tackle anything. A job that is usually a struggle for you seems easy, because "gravity is light today." There's a spring in your step and a song in your heart.

Of course, gravity is always the same. It's a constant force in the natural world that has the same effect on every object of equal weight on earth, animal, vegetable, or mineral. It's indiscriminate. And it doesn't change from day to day.

So the change has to be in you. Your response to gravity changes. When you are burdened down with cares, gravity feels "heavier." When the cares are lifted and hope is renewed, you can suddenly feel light as a feather. Gravity hasn't changed, but you have.

We also use the word "gravity" to refer to things that are very serious. If you try to insert a little humor into a heavy conversation, you may be admonished, "You don't seem to understand the gravity of the situation."

The gravest of grave situations is the realization that your own death may be just around the corner. You may be in the hospital after a serious surgery, and you notice that doctors are conversing together with low voices. When they talk to you, their words are guarded, and they seem to be avoiding eye contact with you. You can actually feel gravity getting heavier. Your spirit is being pulled down. You don't feel like eating or watching television. The weight of psychic gravity seems too great.

Jesus knew his death was approaching, long before his trial and imprisonment. He could feel more gravity with each step toward Jerusalem. Why was the gravity heaviest there?

After enduring abuse, both physical and emotional, after his closest followers had left him because they couldn't stand all that gravity, finally Jesus went to the cross. His suffering was real and intense (just as yours may be in that hospital), and then death claimed gravity's victory (an experience you will also face).

Gravity was never heavier than during the next two days. The grave (what a fitting name!) held him securely; its door was sealed with a stone and guarded by soldiers. There was no movement, no energy, no hope.

And then, on the third day, the spirit of Jesus said, "Gravity is light today!" And he arose in an unbelievably powerful reversal of gravity. He arose not just to his previous state of human life, but far beyond that into the realms of Eternal Life, where gravity has no power whatsoever.

May the day when you face the gravity of your own coming death be a day when you think about the lightness of Jesus. May the memory of his pioneer journey through death to Eternal Life cause you to say on the morning of that day, "Gravity is light today!"

–Pastor George Van Alstine