A letter from President Earle Treptow with an Easter greeting was mailed recently:

“Because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19).

That was Jesus’ promise to his disciples on Holy Thursday evening. He wanted to prepare their hearts for the horrible things they would witness in the next 24 hours. They needed to know that a gruesome, shameful death hanging on a tree would not be the end of his story. Death could not, and would not, hold him.

And his story would be their story, too. “You also will live.” They would suffer because of their relationship to Jesus and they would die. But Jesus’ resurrection guaranteed that they would rise.

“You also will live.” On the day you were baptized, the Lord clothed you with Christ and granted you life. Because Jesus lives, you live before the Lord as his precious child, the delight of his heart. You get to live each day for God’s glory and the benefit of everyone around you. Though you will die, if Jesus doesn’t come first, you will live with the Lord in paradise.

When Jesus returns, you will live in the way God always intended for you to live. Your Risen Savior will raise your body from the dead, glorify it, and reunite it with your soul. And you will live in the home of righteousness forever. Jesus’ resurrection guarantees that.

Because Jesus lives, you also will live.

In Christ, our Risen Lord,

President Earle D. Treptow

Thoughtful people who give gifts to the seminary help us prepare men who proclaim that message every day. For more information on donating to Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, visit https://www.wisluthsem.org/friends/give/.