LIFTING UP IN PRAYER:

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Our nation, military and leaders The persecuted church

THE EASTER STORY

“Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29).

Today the Christian world celebrates Easter, the resurrection of Jesus. This special day in the church calendar ends forty days of fasting. From any number of points of view, people study and ask questions concerning Jesus Christ. The word “Easter” comes from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible where in Acts 12, it translated the word “Passover” as Easter. It was the one of the few versions that have done this. The influence of church history, tradition, and theology in 1611 was very strong that neither King James nor the church hierarchy would allow any change.

Since then there have been many ideas associated with Easter from both theological and cultural perspectives. We are familiar with bunnies, eggs, parades, and hats that surround the holiday. When I was growing up, “Good Friday” was always a school holiday. It was a day when certain Christian traditions assembled. Now in the retail world, Easter is just another day to sell baskets and candy with little or no thought to the meaning of the day.

In many churches, Easter is a special day for people who only come twice a year (Christmas being the other day) to show up, as if for some reason it makes everything right. Losing sight of the Biblical implications of the historical event for some makes it seem hypocritical. But then again, if we do not understand at least some of the theological implications of the resurrection, we too can appear hypocritical. In our increasing secular culture, so accustomed to one day being like another, there are times that we do not even realize that Easter has come.

There are those who deny in any sense miracles and see the resurrection as a spiritual idea rather than a physical, bodily one. This has been popular among liberal theologians. In the late 1990s, a group got together in what was known as the Jesus Seminar to determine what was true and what was not true in the Gospels concerning Jesus. This was all a media rage as these theologians came to the conclusions that Jesus was not physically raised from the dead. A few of these authors continue to write in this vane and remain popular among the media elite.

The evidences for the resurrection have been addressed both in theological and popular books. N.T. Wright has been a leader in showing not only that the resurrection occurred but it has many important theological implications (1). Josh McDowell has written a classic on a popular level examining the evidences of the death and resurrection of Jesus as well as other aspects using history, archaeology, and scripture itself. The material is available for those who seek.

Others deny any historical evidences to Jesus being in any sense God in the flesh, or for that matter, actually existing. The militant atheists of the last few years are trying to make a case that God does not exist. It seems that they are spending an awful lot of time and effort to “prove” the non-existence of a God they do not believe in anyway. They have a distorted view of religion often mixing different actions of one group with another. Christianity certainly has had its low points in two thousand years of history. Some of that has been misstated and is historically inaccurate. Dinesh D’Souza has pointed this out in his book and debates with various atheists. Tim Keller also looks at some of this from a perspective of postmodern culture.

While Christianity has its critics, we often look at ourselves and see that there are many areas where we need improvement. We are often our harshest critics. We struggle with our hypocrisy and our poor attitudes. We often ask for forgiveness and we repent when we are confronted with our sins. We realize that we are not perfect. Today we live in a cultural shift, always a difficult situation. Two or three cultural influences are clashing. Some see this as a denial of certain traditions and heresy. Others ask that we considered the changes and the redefinition of words and ideas. How to deal with moderns, postmoderns, and whatever other ideas are coming to the front has been a major discussion of recent years.

In today’s climate, with the financial situation as it is, and the threat of radical Islam, we are finding that the answers that have been offered in the past are not sufficient. We have thought and acted as though the right government officials in the right place will bring about better situations. Isaiah thought that way until King Uzziah died and in a vision saw God, high and lifted up (Isaiah 6:1-6). The power of Jesus’ day was Rome. We know that without Roman help, Jesus would not have been crucified. While Pilate attempted to free Jesus, he finally washed his hands of the whole thing. The proclamation by the Apostles in the Roman world would be that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar, eventually bringing Christians into conflict with the ruling authorities. Such a proclamation today is a challenge in many parts of the world. We might even find in our country that such a claim, Jesus is Lord, will be answered with ridicule, with words that state that we should keep that to ourselves, and even with censorship.

There is a greater implication of the resurrection in relation to civil authorities. In Oscar Wilde’s Salome, Herod hears that Jesus is going around healing people and raising the dead. He doesn’t mind the healings but raising someone from the dead is another story. “I do not wish him to do that. I forbid him to do that. I allow no man to raise the dead. This man must be found and told that I forbid him to raise the dead” (2). Power is threatened by this because it realizes that if true, then Jesus is indeed Lord! That would bring conflict with Rome in the spread of the good news (see Romans 1:1-4). More on this in a later article.

The resurrection of Jesus as many implications and today some of those come to light. We come together today, and every week thanking God for raising His Son from the dead, giving us the hope, the confident expectation of our own resurrection in the new heavens and new earth. We find the connection between Jesus and ourselves in our baptism when we were buried with Him and raised with Him (Romans 6:3-5). We are to think on things above because we have been raised with Christ (Colossians 3:1). The Lord’s Supper was introduced to us by Jesus in the midst of the Passover. The implications are many in comparing the events of both.

The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus is not just for one day. We live as resurrected people, proclaiming both what Jesus began to do and teach. Our lives are being transformed into the likeness of Jesus day by day. One day, when He returns, we will receive a body like His and live in a new and glorious earth, the new Jerusalem. So let us celebrate today, and tomorrow, and everyday until the Lord returns.

George B. Mearns

(1) Each of the authors mentioned have written on various topics. N.T. Wright has written a massive book on the resurrection called The Resurrection of The Son of God. More popular level books come from Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands A Verdict, and a new one with his son Sean. Dinesh D’Souza book What’s So Great About Christianity and Tim Keller The Reason For God address various ideas including that of the resurrection.

(2) From N.T. Wright in Jesus The Final Days, co-authored with Craig A. Evans, WJK, 2009, p. 106-107.