(School Mass): Friday, September 17, 2004

Many years ago, there was a very famous magician by the name of Harry Houdini. One of Houdini’s amazing talents was that he was an excellent escape artist. Let me give you a couple of examples.

Houdini had a special act with handcuffs. He told his audience that he would give anyone $100 who could lock him in a set of handcuffs that he couldn’t get out of. Never once did he have to pay.

Then, Houdini came up with another act called the Chinese Water Torture Cell. It was a big metal box that was sealed up with chains and locks. Harry was tied up in a strait jacket, and hung upside down by his feet inside the chamber. They filled it up with water. Every single time, Houdini managed to escape very quickly.

As Houdini’s fame grew, so did his stories. He told people that there was nothing he couldn’t escape from—not even death! In fact, he promised that even after he died, he’d come back to life.

Well, on Halloween in the year 1926—it will be 78 years in just a few weeks—poor Harry Houdini died when someone punched him in the stomach and his appendix burst. And ever since, Houdini’s fans have been waiting for him to come back to life. But of course, he never has; we all know that that just doesn’t happen.

Or does it?

There is one proven case where a person who was dead actually came back to life on his own. It’s a very remarkable and unique story.

This man was very mysterious. He was supposed to be born in an inn where travelers stay, but his parents couldn’t get a room there. So they had him in the only place they could find shelter—a stable. Not very glamorous, but he didn’t seem to mind very much.

All through his life, this fellow seemed to be able to do very unusual and incredible things. One time he needed money so he told his friend to go fishing and to cut open the first fish he caught; there would be money inside. Sure enough, it happened!

Another time, he wanted to feed a lot of people and he didn’t have much food—but he told his friends not to worry about it; just start serving the food and there would be enough. And there was!

When he came across people who were sick, he could just touch them and they’d get better.

And he did tons of other amazing things like that.

But there was one thing he said he was going to do that not very many people believed. Not very many at all.

Like Harry Houdini, he said that after he died, he would be back. Many people shook their heads and laughed at him. “Yeah, right,” they said. “Everybody knows that people don’t come back from the dead.”

Well, you may not believe this, but three days after he died… he came back! He was just as alive as we are right here and now. And there were tons of witnesses.

Who was that? I think you all know that I’m talking about Jesus Christ: the only man who ever died and came back to life again. Never happened before. Never happened since.

Did you ever wonder how or why such a thing could happen? There is only one possible explanation.

The explanation is this: Jesus has to be God. Who else but God has the power to bring himself back to life after dying? No one else in the whole wide world could do that. Not even Harry Houdini, the greatest magician of all time.

And you know, the most amazing thing about Jesus is not just that He came back alive after being dead—even though that is pretty amazing in itself!

No, I think the most amazing thing is all the other promises that Jesus made—like the promise that we, too, will come back to life after we die. We will have a “resurrection” just like He did! You mean: someday I’m going to die, and then I’ll be alive again?

Should we really believe Him? I’d like to believe it’s true; but is it?

I say we should believe Him. You know why? Because you’re smart; I think you can generally tell when people are reliable. If I keep promising you things, and I always do the things I promise, then you’re going to believe me if I tell you something else, right? Now look at Jesus. He always did the things He promised—even the one thing that we would have thought impossible: coming back from the dead. So if He really, really did that, why shouldn’t we believe everything else He tells us? — including the promise that He’ll raise us back up, too! He already proved that He can do the most difficult thing; everything else is pretty easy!

So when Jesus talks about being with Him forever in heaven, He really means it! When He talks about how great heaven is, He really means it! And when He tells us that He will bring us there with Him if we’re good, He really means that, too.

All He asks in return is that we love Him back… that we try to be good and loving towards each other… that we believe in Him and trust Him and follow Him always. That’s not so hard to do.

Today, I ask you to really think about Jesus’ wonderful promises. They’re promises just for you. Thank Him for His special blessings and love, and remember that He is with you always.

Amen!