Colossians as first reading)
“You’re
all fools!
“Wasting
your time here in church. Believing in
God – might as well believe in a sky fairy.
Intelligent people know better.
Intelligent people don’t need any of that.
“And
believing that some dude died and came back from the dead and is still alive? C’mon! What a joke. “
Increasingly,
at least in our part of it, these are the attitudes of the world out
there. Atheists, agnostics and “secular
humanists” and even people who could care less either way - are becoming more
and more emboldened to mock and look down their noses at people of faith, and
will do so especially on this day. This holiest
of days on which we, who have the gift of faith, celebrate Jesus risen from the
dead!
And
I dare say that it may be that there are some among us here today, who’ve perhaps
come along with family or friends, who pretty much think this same way.
So
I spent some time this week pondering this question – what can I possibly tell
them or tell the world out there, that will make them believe that what we
believe, that what we celebrate here, that what we celebrate here especially to
day – is true?
I
got on line and looked for what wise and intelligent men and women might have
written to try to prove that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.
I
found an especially good article – an excerpt actually from the book “Handbook
of Christian Apologetics” – it’s a whole chapter from that book, written by Drs.
Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli – only problem is it doesn’t really “prove” the
resurrection.
Rather,
the authors go about discussing all the possible explanations of the
resurrection account if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead – such as - perhaps
He didn’t really die. Or maybe His
disciples hallucinated? Or was Jesus as
well as His death and resurrection all a myth?
Or was it all a conspiracy – did the disciples all just get together and
plot to deceive everyone into thinking this dead man rose from the dead?
The
authors, admitting that they can’t actually prove that Our Lord rose from the
dead, set out to disprove all of the possible alternatives to the resurrection,
and they do a very good job of it, I think.
Time prevents me from delving into all of their well-thought-out
arguments, but I’d like to focus on just two, in answer to the idea that it was
all just a big lie, a plot, a big conspiracy:
First,
if the whole thing were a lie, somebody along the way, at some point, would
have ‘fessed up. Would have admitted the
lie. To quote the book – “no one, weak
or strong, saint or sinner, Christian or heretic, ever confessed, freely or
under pressure, bribe or even torture that the whole story of the resurrection was
a fake, a lie, a deliberate deception.”
But
more importantly, this event changed the
lives of all of those who witnessed His resurrection – who saw Him die and
then saw Him alive! Yes, His disciples
were very different people because of the event that happened that Sunday
morning.
To
quote Dr. Kreeft – “their sincerity is proved by their words and deeds. [His disciples] preached a resurrected Christ
and they lived a resurrected Christ.
[And] they willingly died for their ‘conspiracy.’ Nothing proves
sincerity like martyrdom.” We pause to remember the 148 students martyred for
their faith just three days ago at a college in Kenya.
Kreeft
continues: “The change in their lives
from fear to faith, despair to confidence, confusion to certitude, runaway
cowardice to steadfast boldness under threat and persecution, not only proves
their sincerity but testifies to some powerful cause of it. Can a lie cause such a transformation?”
unquote.
Sisters
and brothers, it is true that there is no “proof” that we can speak to an
unbelieving world and make them believe what we believe and celebrate this day –
that is, that Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, was born, died for our sins
and to reconcile us the Father, was buried, and on the third day rose again
from the dead.
But
you and I can give them powerful witness, powerful evidence. And that evidence is the way we live our
lives - if you and I live resurrected lives ourselves. You see, Christ’s rising from the dead
defeated death and restores life, and yes, that means on our last day to be
sure, praise God!, but it also means right here and now in our lives.
You
see, we all have our share of brokenness, dishevelment, disorder, sin, in our
lives. We are all sinners, all in a
sense, dead in one way or another – be it stuck in a particular sin - greed, or
pride, lust, sloth, indifference. Trapped
perhaps in habits or addictions, or maybe burdened by worry or self-doubt, or perhaps
carrying grudges, unyielding and closed to forgiveness, or maybe imprisoned in
a sinful lifestyle.
Christ’s
good news today is that by the same power that raised Him from the dead, we,
too, may rise. By the same power that raised
Jesus Christ from death, you and I, too, may be set free of all that burdens
us, all that ties us down, and live in His freedom, His peace, His great joy. Set free to live our lives very differently from
the world around us. Set free to lives
of great joy, of great peace, of great hope, for He is the only hope.
Yes,
brothers and sisters, if only we ask Him and place our trust in Him, we, too, will
rise from all that is dead in our lives.
By that same power we, too, can live lives of faith, not fear,
confidence not despair, certitude not confusion, and steadfast boldness not
cowardice.
And
you and I will be the most powerful evidence to this world of the presence even
now of the Risen Savior Jesus Christ. The most powerful witness. If you and I live our lives very differently
from this world, they will want to know why.
And they, too, will come to know Him and believe.
And
they, too, will share with us the hope and the joy that we celebrate this day –
that this life, and its all its brokenness and pain and sin, has been redeemed
by the saving power of Our God and Lord, Jesus Christ. That by His death and
resurrection, He has once and for all conquered sin and death. And that eternal
joy awaits us upon our own Resurrection on the last day, if only we confess our
belief in Him and persist to that day.
Brothers
and sisters - Jesus Christ is indeed risen from the dead! Alleluia!
Alleluia! Alleluia!
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