There are some people who claim that the Resurrection simply means that the teachings of Jesus are timeless and eternal—much like the plays of Shakespeare or the music of Mozart. Others say that the Resurrection means that the memory of what Jesus did will never die, and that the example he set for us will live on forever. Still others suggest that the Resurrection should not be taken literally, because the story is written in the language of poetry. That is, it points to a profound truth, even if it didn’t actually happen.
For the Apostle Paul, however, such talk is as empty as the tomb on Easter Sunday morning. “If Christ has not been raised from the dead,” he tells the Corinthians, “then we’re all wasting our time and the world should pity us” (1 Cor. 15:12-19). When Paul speaks of the Resurrection, he means—quite literally—that Jesus got up from the grave and is alive again. Not as some shimmering ideal of goodness or the enduring power of hopeful thought, but as a real, flesh and blood, human being. Paul did not encounter a metaphor on the road to Damascus, he met the risen Christ!
Actually, if you read the gospels, there’s very little poetry in their accounts. The Resurrection is simply proclaimed as a fact. If the gospel writers had wanted to tell a make-believe story in order to convince the world that Jesus rose from the dead, they would presumably have done it with all the dramatic skill and creativity they could muster. But here there are no extraordinary fanfares, no literary flourishes. They seem to be telling it the way it happened.
Of course, there were doubters then, just as there are today. There have always been those who claimed that the tomb was found empty because Christ’s body had been stolen by the disciples, or misplaced by the soldiers. But in the final analysis, it wasn’t the absence of a corpse that made people believe that he had risen from the dead. It was his living presence.
And make no mistake, what we celebrate on Easter is our Lord’s living presence—his actual, physical, literal living presence—not just that his memory, or his teachings, or his example lives on. If that’s all the Resurrection represents, then I should probably turn in my certificate of ordination and take up a more honest profession.
For the Apostle Paul, however, such talk is as empty as the tomb on Easter Sunday morning. “If Christ has not been raised from the dead,” he tells the Corinthians, “then we’re all wasting our time and the world should pity us” (1 Cor. 15:12-19). When Paul speaks of the Resurrection, he means—quite literally—that Jesus got up from the grave and is alive again. Not as some shimmering ideal of goodness or the enduring power of hopeful thought, but as a real, flesh and blood, human being. Paul did not encounter a metaphor on the road to Damascus, he met the risen Christ!
Actually, if you read the gospels, there’s very little poetry in their accounts. The Resurrection is simply proclaimed as a fact. If the gospel writers had wanted to tell a make-believe story in order to convince the world that Jesus rose from the dead, they would presumably have done it with all the dramatic skill and creativity they could muster. But here there are no extraordinary fanfares, no literary flourishes. They seem to be telling it the way it happened.
Of course, there were doubters then, just as there are today. There have always been those who claimed that the tomb was found empty because Christ’s body had been stolen by the disciples, or misplaced by the soldiers. But in the final analysis, it wasn’t the absence of a corpse that made people believe that he had risen from the dead. It was his living presence.
And make no mistake, what we celebrate on Easter is our Lord’s living presence—his actual, physical, literal living presence—not just that his memory, or his teachings, or his example lives on. If that’s all the Resurrection represents, then I should probably turn in my certificate of ordination and take up a more honest profession.
posted by Dr. Robert Crilley at
4:17 PM
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