Easter

Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Jeremiah 31:1-6
John 20:1-18
Acts 10:34-43

He is risen…He is risen indeed! Happy Easter! I was reviewing what I wrote I about Easter before and came across this quote from N.T. Wright in Surprised by Hope, “Take Christmas away, and in biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don’t have a New Testament; you don’t have a Christianity... This is our greatest day. (Surprised by Hope)

Of course we need Christmas and the birth of Jesus to also have Easter and his Resurrection. But the Point Wright is making is that only because of Easter, only because of Jesus’ death and Resurrection, do we have Christianity at all. Paul makes this point succinctly in 1 Corinthians 15, particularly in verses 17-19, “and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.”

Densely packed, Paul makes the points that one our faith depends on Christ’s Resurrection. Two, without the Resurrection we are still in our sins. Third, those who have fallen asleep, died, have perished presumably forever. Fourth, our hope in Christ must extend to beyond this life or we of all men are most to be pitied. The Resurrection of Christ provides the hope for us in this life and in the future that we also will follow Christ in the Resurrection.

Our Gospel account comes from John, and true to form John differs from the three Synoptic Gospels.  His narrative differs in some things and adds some others such as things about Peter and the disciple whom Jesus loved coming to the tomb after Mary Magdalene runs and tells them the stone has been rolled away. But the Gospels are mostly narrative accounts of the events, they don’t spend much time reflecting and theologizing.  We have to turn towards Acts and the words of the early church as well as to the Letters of the New Testament.  However, Jesus does point to Mary towards his final Ascension to heaven.

Despite the fact that the Gospel accounts don’t spend much time on theology, they point to the reality and historicity of Jesus’ Resurrection.  Their accounts, rooted in history and each slightly different, argue that Jesus actually did rise from the dead despite rumors and doubts to the contrary.  Even when these Gospels were written, just like today, there were doubts and other explanations for Jesus’ Resurrection. Matthew addresses this problem in his Resurrection account where the soldiers supposed to have been guarding the tomb are paid to say that Jesus’ body was stolen by his disciples. (Matt. 28:11-15)

The Resurrection cannot be scientifically proven, historically verified, or reduplicated today. It takes faith. God is alive and his Spirit is moving, calling all things to Godself to accept this Resurrection.

Let us live into the power of Christ’s Resurrection, through his Spirit. The Resurrection provides the beginning of our faith in Christ and for our future hope in Christ. One more time, He is Risen…He is Risen indeed.

Grace and peace.