INTRODUCTION
Easter is not an argument for immortality; it is an affirmation of the resurrection. Immortality implies a quality of man that is indestructible. Resurrection implies the transcendent power of God, who, because He created, can re-create, and who, because He gave, can give again.
Unlike ancient Greeks, who emphasized immortality of the soul, New Testament Christians focused on the resurrection of Jesus.
Matthew reports that toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala and “the other Mary” went to the tomb provided for their Lord’s burial by Joseph of Arimathea. To their astonishment the stone was not in place. Standing in a mood of wonder, they heard a voice: “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead.’”
Filled with awe and joy, the women ran to tell the disciples. En route, Jesus met them and said, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Confusion continues as to what actually transpired in Joseph’s garden: Dr. Hugh J. Schonfield in The Passover Plot claims that Jesus did not die on the cross. He was drugged, taken down as dead, and placed in the tomb. Later he was revived, talked to friends, then expired and was buried elsewhere. There are those who believe that the disciples, being mentally unstable, experienced a holy hallucination. Rudolf Bultmann asserts that we cannot accept the biblical framework of thought in which the resurrection story appears; Scripture must be demythologized to arrive at its essential message. On the other hand, Karl Barth declares, “We must not transmute the resurrection into a spiritual event.” But, notwithstanding the perceived contradictions in the various accounts of the resurrection, one clear, indestructible fact runs through the New Testament: Christ was alive!
From the encounter of the two Marys on Easter morning, to the discouraged and frightened disciples behind closed doors, to Cleopas and his companions walking toward Emmaus, to the more than five hundred individuals who encountered the risen Lord in the forty days and nights following His crucifixion, to the miracle of Pentecost, one glimpses the reality of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Furthermore, the early disciples made no attempt to explain the resurrection; it explained them.
Note then, three realities of the resurrection:
I. THE RESURRECTION REALITY IS A CONTINOUS ACT OF FAITH
The reality is that life as we know it will someday be changed. Death takes no holiday. It is inevitable. Yet, we live in a day when death is carefully camouflaged—from reporting of casualties on highways and in war, to impersonal funeral services, to cosmetic treatments by the mortician, to the virtual isolation of the dying from the living. All these point to the make-believe world we prefer.
We all act differently to death. Louis XV, king of France, decreed that the word “death” should never be uttered in his presence. On the contrary, Philip II, father of Alexander the Great, commissioned a servant to come before him every morning and announce, “Remember, Philip, thou must die.” Dag Hammerskjold declares, “In the last analysis it is our concept of death which decides our answers to all the questions life puts to us.” Paul says it even better: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:56–57).
Early Christians believed death was dead. Therefore they were invincible.
II. REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION
Paul believed in a bodily resurrection. He believed the faithful would possess a new kind of body, more than a resuscitation of a corpse. He referred to a re-created nature, a newness, a definable self.
The Easter message is more than a promise we shall live forever, or synonymous with endless life. Easter affirms that nothing can destroy Jesus Christ and those who love Him. If you trust this approach, then life becomes precious indeed.
Recently a journalist conducted a poll to ascertain purposes for which people lived. He discovered that ninety percent of those interviewed were living for some imagined tomorrow, a suspended fulfillment. These were characteristic answers: A college senior said he could not wait to graduate, “get married, settle down, and have a family.” A weary mother replied, “I hope I can stand the strain until the children are grown and married and my husband and I can be alone and have a life of our own.” A Hollywood actress confessed, “I am just existing until I can get my divorce and marry ‘X’ and then I will really begin to live.”
We are acquainted with such people because we are such people. Wisdom of the world, pains, and appetite of the body dictate, “Live it up. You can’t take it with you.” By contrast, Christian faith asserts, “If you can’t take it with you, you don’t have it.”
The King County Medical Center in Seattle has been experimenting with malfunctioning kidneys. The clinic has a faceless advisory committee of seven laymen and physicians who make recommendations as to who may be eligible for treatment that costs over $10,000 a year. Admission criteria include emotional maturity, duration of the disease, ability to pay, value to the community, and potential for rehabilitation. This program has been referred to as “Who shall live?” What a haunting question!
Transformed Paul puts life in perspective when he writes, “For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21).
III. ACCEPTANCE OF THE REALITY OF THE RESURRECTION
The question is: is my faith a sentimental attachment to a dead hero or identification with a living presence? Christian faith is more than a credence. Faith is more than intelligent assent to what the Bible and the church teach about God and Christ. Faith is more than a form of knowledge. It is a fact of experience. It demands an individual encounter with Jesus. Faith, therefore, requires action. It is living in the eternal now! This is more than an extension of time. It is a dimension of life. Life everlasting does not begin at the second coming, but with the moment of spiritual birth—or rather, should we say, rebirth?
The impact of the resurrection was so powerful that early disciples expected to see Jesus wherever they went. In time He disappeared from their eyes, but never from their hearts (Heb 13:5, NKV; John 14:3, ESV; John 14:27, KJV).
CONCLUSION
Easter confirms the fact that God has kept His promise. What Jesus was to early disciples, He may be to us: Lord! He is alive and present in ministry; present in work, in learning, in forgiveness; present in service; present in prayer. When we invite Him He comes, as of old, to comfort and forgive; to convert and generate personal power; to bring healing and hope in the sickroom, direction in dilemma, courage and faith in the future. That is resurrection reality! How many of you would like to thank God for the empty tomb and invite Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? Let’s pray.
Rex D. Edwards is a former vice president for religious studies at Griggs University
