This Sunday is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.  Since 1973 54,559,615 people have been killed in name of "choice."  That is greater than the 2010 population of Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Vermont, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Mississippi, Montana, Arizona, Oregon and Alaska.  And people in this country wonder why we have too many houses on the market and why Social Security income is not keeping up with payouts.  It is no mystery but we don't like to look in dark places for things we can make up other answers for.  How do we respond to this culture of death and deceit?  We are people of the resurrection.  We are called to overcome evil with good.  We are not to use the weapons of the flesh but to break down strongholds with prayer and the truth of God's Word.  Doing this will not be flashy and it usually doesn't grab the headlines but the "gracious disturbance" of a life giving life will be a catalyst to this endeavor.  Pastor and author Michael Horton coined that phrase "gracious disturbance" in writing about the resurrection.  The resurrection started something.  The age to come quietly slipped into the age that is and believers are now a part of this conspiracy of goodness and righteousness in the fight for life.  Join the disturbance.

I'm sure I have said to a group of students at some point, "There are no stupid questions."  But truthfully, we've probably all heard some that were pretty close!  One thing we can be sure of, Jesus didn't ask dumb, stupid or bad questions.  His questions were not because He didn't know the answer but because He wanted someone to think.  His questions forced introspection.  Sometimes parents ask these types of questions, "Why did you do that?"  The kids may know or perhaps they were just...being kids.  Kids don't always think before they act, often they act first and think about it later...some kids never get over that  .  The questions of Jesus always get to the core of who we are.  That is the case with our text this week.  Mary Magdalene is driven back to the tomb by strong love for Jesus.  She thinks He has passed away, never to be seen until the final resurrection.  She, like the other disciples missed what Jesus had been saying all along.  They also missed the theme of the Scriptures.  They missed His deity.  In the Garden Tomb Mary meets the Lord and He asks her two qusetions we should often ask ourselves..."Why are you weeping?  and Whom are you seeking?"  These questions help us think about our emotions and our pursuits.  The truth is, sometimes we can get in a "tizzy" over things that really don't matter.  Sometimes we are very disappointed in other people because we expect from them what only God can deliver.  The questions of Jesus force us to the core of our expectations...that is worth thinking about.