1. The “true
believers.” This group is firmly
convinced of the Resurrection and they harbor no doubts that through faith in
Jesus they will have eternal life with God.
2. The second group is the “quiet doubters.” Although they would like to belong to the “true
believers” congregation, they have doubts that Jesus really was resurrected
from the dead. However, they are silent
about their doubts because it might be considered impolite and it would upset
others at the Easter Service.
Let me focus on the quiet doubters.
For this group, the resurrection is at odds with what we know from
science and real life experiences. For
instance, we know that over the first 3 days of death, the physical body begins
to decay and some post-mortem bloating may set in. This raises serious questions about the
resurrection of Jesus. People are not
just resurrected from the dead, as the scriptures claim for Jesus of
Nazareth. “Perhaps,” this group says to
themselves, “Jesus was not really resurrected.
Perhaps his disciples just made up the resurrection because Jesus was
such a special moral leader.”
The level of doubt may range along a continuum from some persons who
completely reject the Resurrection as an actual event to others who basically
accept the Resurrection, even though they retain a twinge of doubt and
uncertainty in the back of their minds.
“Quiet doubters” may attend Easter services for a variety reasons, but they
usually refrain from openly sharing their doubts.
As a pastor, who in the past was a “quiet doubter,” I feel it is
important to point out to both congregations that there is a “bright red thread”
that runs throughout all four gospel accounts of Christ’s Resurrection. This
red thread is so obvious that it is almost impossible to overlook. Yet, many Easter services ignore or downplay
it. This red thread is that in all four gospels there is profound doubt about
the Resurrection expressed by some of Christ’s followers:
Ø In the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus’
disciples meet him on the mountain following his Resurrection, “they worshiped
him; but some doubted.” (Matthew 28:17)
Ø In Luke, when the women returned from the
empty tomb and their encounter with the two men in dazzling white, their words
seemed to the disciples to “an idle tale, and they did not believe them.”
Ø And, of course, in John we have the story of
“doubting Thomas,” who said: “‘Unless I
see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the
nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’” (John 20:25)
Ø In Mark’s account of the first Easter
morning, when the women arrive at the empty tomb and encounter the man in
white, they run away from the scene because they are seized by “terror and
amazement.” (Mark 16: 1-8) In Mark, when the disciples are afraid, it
usually indicates that they lack sufficient faith in Jesus Christ. For instance, when the disciples are crossing
the Sea of Galilee during a fierce storm, they become terrified. Then, Jesus calms the sea, reassuring the
disciples and asking them: “Why are you
afraid? Have you still no faith?” (Mark
4: 40)
Frequently, we overlook the disciples’ doubt in our rush to shout
“Alleluia!” and sing “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.” We ignore the red thread in our rush to plan
Easter egg hunts and scrumptious Easter dinners with our family and
friends. Amid the Easter eggs, jelly
beans, ‘peeps,’ chocolate bunnies, and Easter lilies, we always manage the
avoid discussion of the disciples’ doubts.
Yet, regardless of which Gospel account you turn to, there is always at
least one person who has doubts and is not sure about the resurrection.
I think that we should pay more attention to the disciples and other
followers of Jesus who had doubts about the Resurrection. As a former “quiet doubter” myself, I have always
found it easier to identify with “doubting Thomas” and the others who did not
initially accept the reality of the Resurrection.
In my Easter message this Sunday, I will share some of my intellectual
pilgrimage, as I have moved from “quiet doubter” to “true believer.”
A key, for me, was to see that Jesus’ Resurrection was not just another
unconnected miracle performed by God.
Instead, I came to see the Resurrection as part of the overarching story
of God’s Creative work in the universe. This
story begins when God created the whole universe and judged it to be very
good. (At this point a caveat is in
order. I do not believe that one must be a biblical literalist in
order to affirm God as Creator. That is,
we can affirm God as the Creator, while at the same time accepting the
scientific theory of evolution. This is
because the Bible and modern science are striving to answer separate
questions. On the one hand, the Bible
seeks to answer the question, “Why?”
Whereas, on the other hand, modern science seeks to answer the question,
“How?”)
For me, God’s work as Creator is not just limited to the beginning of
time. Rather, we know that God wants to
engage the world, especially human persons, in a mutual relationship of
love. As the Apostle Paul reminds the
Romans, not even death itself can ever separate us from the love of God through
Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 8:
38-39). Therefore, even after the
initial Creation, God continues creating, healing and redeeming the
world. When we say that God is the
Creator, we affirm not only that God created in the beginning, but also that
God continues to create, even up to the present moment.
But, there is more. Ultimately, I
believe that God is guiding the universe to the eschaton, a time when God’s Reign and
Peace will be fully realized throughout the universe and everything will be
transformed into a New Creation. This
vision of God’s ultimate plan is described in the New Testament Book of
Revelation where it is written: “Then I
saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away, …[and God said], ‘See, I am making all things new.’”(Revelation
21: 1-2, 5) In God’s New Creation, the
old will be transformed.
Viewed from this perspective, Jesus’ Resurrection represents a “tipping
point,” in which God begins the transformation of this universe into the New
Creation described in Revelation. In
theological terms, the resurrection event represents a “prolepsis;” in other
words, the Resurrection is the future already “present and active in the
present while remaining future, as exemplified by God’s act in raising Jesus
from the dead.”[1] To reiterate, I have become a “true believer”
in Christ’s Resurrection because I see it as part of a larger process in which
the entire universe is transformed into a radically New Creation through God’s
ongoing work as Creator.
This is just the basic outline of my theological perspective on Christ’s
Resurrection. I intend to develop it
further in my Easter message this weekend.
Come and celebrate Easter with us this Sunday, March 27th. Christ United Methodist Church is
located at 4530 A Street. Our classic
worship services are at 8:30 and 11:00 on Sunday mornings. On Easter Sunday, we will have an Easter Brunch
for everyone between the two services at 9:45. Come and join us.
Everyone
is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.
[1]
Robert John Russell, “Resurrection of the Body, Eschatology and Cosmology,” in Cosmology, From Alpha to Omega by Robert
John Russell (Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 2008), 313.
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