Before Jesus was resurrected from the dead on that first Easter Sunday, he was walking in his resurrection identity. Four days after one of his closest friends, Lazarus, had died Jesus went to visit his friends (Lazarus’ sisters) who were grieving, and into the middle of their grieving and pain he makes a declaration about his identity saying “I am the resurrection and the life.” In that moment Jesus is communicating something powerful and profound about his identity and nature. His statement “I am” is not only an identity statement, it is a statement of presence in the present. Jesus is calling Mary and Martha out of the past (and the disappointment of what he didn’t do for them) and also out of the future (what might happen) and into the present. I am here now and I am the resurrection and life. Jesus is calling us today out of a life of bondage to the pain and disappointments of the past and out of a life dominated by anxiety, fear and our need to know and control the future. Jesus is inviting us to live with him and receive his resurrection power in the present.