Easter 2017
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Ever had a dream that you didn't want to wake up from? I often do. Sometimes I dream about some material thing like a new motorcycle or a my own jet airplane. Other times I dream about people that I have lost over the years. People that I was close to; that had a significant impact on my life. There they are alive again and it feels so good, so refreshing. Often part way through the dream something triggers in my brain that this is too good to be true. I must be dreaming, but I still hope that I am not. I don't want to wake up, but I know I will. The great German romantic poet Novalis said that: "Our life is no dream, but it should be and will perhaps become one."
Jesus resurrection is a dream come true. But is it too good to be true? Is it really possible, in a skeptical age such as ours to believe that someone could rise from the dead? Since the enlightenment it has become increasingly difficult for people to believe in an event such as the resurrection. David Hume one of the Enlightenment's leading philosophers argued that, since miracles violate the natural order and fly in the face of everyday experience, they can never be taken as actual historical events. In other words they are ruled out from the outset; a priori as philosophers are wont to say.
It matters not how much anecdotal or eye witness evidence can be brought to bear on the event - miracles are just not allowed in a closed universe. It would be wrong, however, to think that such skepticism began with the Enlightenment. In fact we encounter it in the pages of scripture itself. The one thing that becomes clear when reading the various resurrection narratives is that the first witnesses took pains to make clear that this was a real historical event. Not that it was like other historical events, but that it was situated within space and time.
They wanted their readers to be clear that they weren't seeing a ghost. One event that makes this most clear is the report in . We read there about a very personal encounter between Jesus and one of his closest followers - Thomas. Now if you have been listening to me for any length of time you know that I have an affinity for Thomas. I suspect that many of us have our favourite biblical character and it is likely someone with whom we share certain characteristics.
Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
Thomas comes across as a no-nonsense disciple who is committed to Jesus' person even when he doesn't understand His mission. Consider Thomas believes that Jesus mission is doomed, but he has come to love him so deeply and believe in him so profoundly that he would rather die WITH him than live WITHOUT him. It is a tragic irony that Thomas has become known as the doubter. In reality I believe he displayed the deepest faith and devotion of any of the twelve disciples.
So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
His was a faith like Jobs. A faith that wasn't afraid to ask questions. No doubt between Good Friday and Easter Thomas experienced the same bitter disappointment that the other disciples experienced. In spite of his willingness to die with Jesus in Jerusalem he too had abandoned Him in His moment of greatest need. He had trusted Christ. He had trusted God. And he had been completely let down.
Job was in a similar situation. He had trusted God. God had blessed his trust and faithfulness. And then God let Job down. Without explanation he lost everything he loved and his faith was rocked to the core. Everything he believed about how God managed His creation was called into question. His friends attempts at comfort only worsened his despair. He needed to bring his case to God directly. Nothing else would do.
Thomas experienced a similar disappointment. Everything he believed about the messiah and the restoration of Israel had been called into question and now he was likely fearing for his own life.
Then, suddenly, the silence of Thomas' despair is broken. "We have seen The Lord". Anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one understands how Thomas must have felt when he heard these words. No doubt he wanted to believe them. No doubt he had shed many tears hoping that somehow things wouldn't end this way. He can't endure another disappointment.
Another illusion of a new Kingdom that would somehow overthrow the oppression and injustice of the Roman Empire. No, he needed proof before he would be willing to take that risk again. John doesn't tell us how the disciples responded to Thomas' demand for empirical proof directly. However, we can deduce it from the simple fact that he records that eight days later when the disciples were gathered together Thomas was with them.
This is one of those remarkable and subtle statements that are made in the gospels the significance of which can be so easily missed. Thomas was with them. They had not rejected him along with his doubts. They had not allowed there own fears to cast him aside. The institutional church has often excoriated the Thomas's in it's midst. When we witness the faith-struggles of others sometimes it stirs up our own fears. This does not happen in this case. The disciples who have experienced the risen Christ are so overwhelmed and overjoyed that even Thomas's doubts cannot quell their new found joy. They embrace Thomas with all of his doubts. They want him to experience the risen Christ as they have.
It is also no coincidence that it is when they are together that Christ appears in their midst. Although Christ appears a few times to individuals most of His appearances occur when they are gathered together. This is a literal fulfillment of His promise to be with them when two or three gather in His name. The risen Christ is for the church. He is experienced in the Church because the Church is His body. And the Church is for all Christ's followers, even those wracked with doubts or in the midst of suffering. It is a living body because the living Christ dwells in its midst.
The good news of Easter is that life has triumphed not just over, but in the very midst, of death. In Jesus says that He came to give us, not just life, but life abundantly. In Paul said that Christ is a “life-giving” spirit.
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
By extension then we can confidently say that the Church is a life-giving institution. Of what other human institution can this be said? Hospitals don’t give life, they manage death. Political institutions don’t give life, even though we are constantly disappointed by this brute reality. The entertainment industry and the arts don’t give life. At best they can make the death with live in the midst of more palatable and provide a momentary distraction.
Now none of these things are inherently bad. Modern medicine can make life more bearable and extend it . Music has the power to lift our spirits like no other art form. Without it Nietzsche famously stated, “life would be a mistake”. Democratic political institutions create the possibility of a peaceful society. Physical pleasures like eating and sex were created by God and should be seen as gifts of His grace.
However, none of these things on their own give us the life Easter makes possible. The tragic paradox is that each of them, when idolized turn and destroy us. Evil is not a thing-in-itself. It has no independent existence. It is always the perversion and negation of something good.
So this then begs the question, “What is the life that Easter celebrates?”. In other words, how does Jesus resurrection counter what a recent Pope referred to as “the culture of death.”?
Easter tells us the although death has a ‘say’ it is not the final word.
Easter tells us, not that a new day is coming, but that it has already dawned.
For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
this world of death and the coming world of life are no longer set over against each other like two different periods of the world. Believers no longer live in this unredeemed world of death. In that one man the future of the new world of life has already gained power over this unredeemed world of death and has condemned it to become a world that passes away.
Now the proclamation of the Easter witnesses that God has ‘raised’ this dead Jesus ‘from the dead’ amounts to nothing less than the claim that this future of the new world of the righteousness and presence of God has already dawned in this one person in the midst of our history of death
this world of death and the coming world of life are no longer set over against each other like two different periods of the world. Believers no longer live in this unredeemed world of death. In that one man the future of the new world of life has already gained power over this unredeemed world of death and has condemned it to become a world that passes away
The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology 2. Jesus’ Resurrection from the Dead
Now the proclamation of the Easter witnesses that God has ‘raised’ this dead Jesus ‘from the dead’ amounts to nothing less than the claim that this future of the new world of the righteousness and presence of God has already dawned in this one person in the midst of our history of death
Now the proclamation of the Easter witnesses that God has ‘raised’ this dead Jesus ‘from the dead’ amounts to nothing less than the claim that this future of the new world of the righteousness and presence of God has already dawned in this one person in the midst of our history of death
Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 171.
Easter transforms our present life through the power of hope.
Now the proclamation of the Easter witnesses that God has ‘raised’ this dead Jesus ‘from the dead’ amounts to nothing less than the claim that this future of the new world of the righteousness and presence of God has already dawned in this one person in the midst of our history of death
Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 170–171.
Easter tells us that God’s righteousness has prevailed. How?
Jesus resurrection vindicates His message
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Crucified God: The Cross of Christ as the Foundation and Criticism of Christian Theology 2. Jesus’ Resurrection from the Dead
In the apocalyptic expectation this was no longing for eternal life. ‘Resurrection of the dead’ was not an anthropological or a soteriological symbol, but a way towards expressing belief in the righteousness of God
Jesus resurrection assures us that there will be a final reckoning. Wrongs will be put right. The problem of evil will not be left unresolved.
Belief in resurrection was not founded on the idea of living forever, but on the demand for God’s righteousness to prevail.