“Message Received" - By Rev. Mark F. Phillips
On June 18, 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, Champion of the French Forces, took on the Duke of Wellington, the British Commander. All of England awaited word on who had won the decisive Battle of Waterloo. They had signalmen on the ships across the channel waiting to signal the news as to who had won the battle. In addition to the men on the ships, there were messengers posted on the cliffs and as soon as they received the message, they would take it all through Britain.
After waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, the first signalman on the first ship go the word and signaled it out: Wellington Defeated! The words spread across the channel from ship to ship to ship to ship: Wellington Defeated! Wellington Defeated! Wellington Defeated! As the message spread, all of Britain was plunged into gloom as the fog rolled in.
The next morning, after night of despair and defeat, a ship made its way through the fog to the shore and the signalman excitedly said, “There’s more to the message!” Well, the people already had their fill of the message. They really didn’t want to hear anything else. What else did they need to hear? Wellington had been defeated! Hope was gone. They had lost.
The signalman, however, persisted. He said, “No, you only have half the message. You never got the second part of the message which is The Enemy! And suddenly they put the message together WELLINGTON DEFEATED THE ENEMY! That news changed everything! The ones who thought they had lost had won! The tragedy had turned into triumph and their despair was turned into hope!
Easter is not simply an annual rite of spring in which we celebrate the blooming of flower, the lengthening of day, and nature’s new life all around us. I believe with all my heart that the greatest event in the history of the world is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Without it, we are a people without hope. Without the resurrection we only have half the message. Without the resurrection we have no nope of forgiveness of our sins or of eternal life. But if the complete message is true, as I believe it is, then we are a people of hope. Despair and discouragement and disappointment are not the final words on today. We can truly believe that our sins are forgiven and that God will bring triumph out of tragedy. More than that, if the resurrection is true then the message is truly complete, Jesus Christ Defeated The Enemy!