easter IS the gospel…
Now, if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain… your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. (1Corinthians 15.12-17)
How are we to account for the beginnings of Christianity? What made it different from the Jewish religion from which it sprang? All the earliest Christians were, of course, Jews. What made them choose to depart from their fathers' religious orthodoxy and heritage—a faith marked by miraculous election, redemption, and provision? It must have been something tremendous in light of the simple fact that Jews, then as now, tenaciously stick to their heritage and identity even when faith appears optional.
There needs to be more than the moral teaching of Christianity to account for the birth of this new movement. Most of the teachings of Jesus, though arresting in form, were familiar to His Israelite audience. In Mark 12.29-31, his summary of the law is that to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself is the heart of Jewish orthodoxy itself. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the earliest Christians had no new and distinct system of morals, though perhaps they placed greater emphasis than other Jews on love and service. But it was certainly not the Sermon on the Mount that produced Christianity.
Nor was it that they met separately and became a sort of Jesus synagogue. The Jews were very tolerant of different groups meeting separately within Judaism. Indeed, we are told that for a considerable period, the apostles and first believers habitually went to the Temple and synagogues to worship with the other Jews who did not believe in Jesus.
No! There is only one thing that accounts for the start of Christianity, only one peculiarity they had, which made them utterly different from others. It was this: they were convinced that Jesus was alive. Cambridge Professor C. F. D. Moule, in his book, The Phenomenon of Christianity, puts it very clearly: “From the very first, the conviction that Jesus had been raised from death has been that by which their very existence has stood or fallen.” The first Christians did not merely assert that the tomb of Jesus was empty on the first Easter day— though they did assert that. They also made it clear, both by what they said and what they did, that Jesus was alive in their midst. Experience bore witness to history! This has been the essential core of the Christian faith ever since. Christians are convinced that Jesus is risen— a personal experience in alignment with the facts of history.
C. S. Lewis summed it all up very clearly in his book Miracles (pp. 143f): “The Resurrection and its consequences were the ‘gospel’ or good news which the Christians brought. What we call the “gospels,” the narratives of our Lord’s life and death, were composed later for the benefit of those who had already accepted the gospel. They were in no sense the basis of Christianity; they were written for those already converted. The miracle of the Resurrection and the theology of that miracle comes first; the biography comes later as a comment on it. Nothing could be more unhistorical than to pick out selected sayings of Christ from the gospels and to regard those as the datum and the rest of the New Testament as a construction upon it. The first fact in the history of Christendom is a number of people who say they have seen the resurrection.”
Their experience testified not merely to that fact that they saw Him. Their experience proclaimed that He was for them and with them. He was the transformative presence that brought new life. The Resurrection was an experience before it was ever a doctrine, a personal testimony before it was ever a corporate confession. Their appeal and invitation were simply this: the new life that has overtaken ours you can experience too. Repent, believe, and receive was an invitation to an experience, not mere cognitive assent to a fact, while true, held no personal consequence or promise.
Do you know the ever-present, tangible, and personal presence of Jesus in your life right now? Yes? Then, take a moment to express your gratitude! No? Then, could you take a moment to ask Him to make His life-giving presence known to you? We do not have to pretend that life is all beauty, butterflies, or a box of chocolates. We are deeply aware of darkness, sin, poverty, pain, loss, and isolation. However, we live in the light of His relentless grace and steadfast presence. We can confidently and defiantly proclaim
We are an Easter People, and Alleluia is our song!*
THE LORD HAS RISEN!
He has risen FOR us…
He has risen TO us…
He has risen to be WITH us…
In light of this, may this be our common Easter prayer
Risen Christ,
for whom no door is locked, no entrance barred:
open the doors of our hearts,
that we may seek the good of others
and walk the joyful road of sacrifice and peace,
to the praise of God the Father**
THE LORD HAS RISEN
.… happy Easter!
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*Pope John Paul II in a letter to Catholics living in Adelaide, Australia, November 30, 1986.
** The Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Easter, The Book of Common Prayer, The Church of England
