I’m breaking protocol this morning. Instead of taking the next section of verses and working through them, my eyes stopped on this ONE – the second half of verse 19. Jesus told the Disciples, “Because I live, you also will live.”

As I write these words, Easter is just a few days away. Maybe that’s why I so want to pause and ponder what Jesus says in this verse. This is the most encouraging, beautiful, hopeful word God can give us in this messed up world.

Notice, Jesus speaks these words just hours before guards would come to arrest Him. He knows what is about to happen. The cross casts a dark shadow over the night. Yet, Jesus also knows the end. He knows the cross will not destroy Him. He knows the grave won’t hold Him. Even during the darkness of Friday night, He knows that Easter is just around the corner.

In a sense, that is God’s message to us, too. You see, the resurrection wasn’t just about Jesus. It is also about us. Jesus says, “Because I live, you will live, too.” In a dark world full of danger and pain and death, we NEED that message of hope. Frankly, it’s our only hope. Because Christ rose from the dead, we can do the same. Because Jesus lives, we can live, too.

Fredrick Buechner once wrote, "The resurrection means the worst thing is not the last thing." We all experience death. Sometimes we all feel hopeless and buried. But the worst thing is not the last thing. We have this great hope – the hope of life!, found in three remarkably impactful words: “BECAUSE I LIVE.”