Christ Is Alive

A Hindoo fakir, with matted hair and ash-besmeared body, was sitting under a tree in deep meditation. His eyes fell on the leaves of a torn book which someone had tossed away. It was part of the New Testament. He smoothed out the crumpled pages, and read words which brought strange comfort to his hungry soul.

He set out to seek for someone who obeyed the Book. He found an Englishman who confessed he obeyed it. The fakir, delighted, noticed that the Englishman wore a black band on his arm, and concluded that this was the distinctive sign of a Christian. So he put a black band on his own arm, and when people asked him who he was, he pointed to the band, and told them.

Sometime later the fakir wandered for the first time into a church building, and listened to a Christian preacher. At the close he announced that he too, was a follower of this way, and pointed to the band as a proof.

They explained that it was an English sign of the death of some loved friend. The fakir mused for a moment; then he answered: “But I read in the Book that my loved One has died, and I shall wear it in memory of Him.” Before long, however, he grasped the truth of the resurrection, and when he realized that his loved One was alive for evermore, a great joy filled his heart. He took off the band from his arm, and the light of the resurrection shone in his face as he witnessed of the resurrected Lord.