Jesus is what life is about

From Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel (pg. 130 & 131) for The Fourth Sunday in Easter, preaching on John 16:16-23:

Jesus is what life is about.  He is with us, and we are with Him, flesh of flesh, bone of bone.  Jesus’ death is the ultimate connection of us and God, for in Him we and God go together.  Jesus points His disciples forward to that death as a birth of new life.  No Good Friday, no Easter.  Or following the arrow of the life that God lives and shares, if Good Friday, then Easter, and if Easter, then Pentecost, and if Pentecost, then on and on past our little death that we have already left behind at Calvary and received in exchange a birth…

Jesus, His mission–that is what life is about, that is what we are joined into, His name on us with the water and the Spirit, born His child.  He is with us, as food to our bodies and, more profoundly still, with bread and wine, His body and blood.  We are incorporated, connected, together.  Jesus is alive in us.  We are alive with His life that is always forward and more.