If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain (I Corinthians 15:14)
At the heart of the Christian faith is this very sensational claim: that Jesus of Nazareth was raised from the dead!
I have known many people who could buy Jesus as a great teacher, or even a healer of some kind but did not by that he was raised from the dead. Their rational sensibilities hold sway.
I admit that I can understand why someone may not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. Resurrection does not happen in our everyday lives. But I do believe it happened. I absolutely believe it had to happen.
I came to faith through my head. At some point I came to the rational belief that if there is a God (and I was pretty sure that there was), then the kind of God that I could believe in and give my life to would be a God who came down to experience all that we experience in life, even experiencing death. And if that could happen, then Jesus, God-incarnate in the world, could absolutely be raised, proving that life trumps death.
Paul writes that if there is no resurrection, then all that we are doing is for naught. I agree. Our central Christian witness is that God in Christ brings life out of death -- not simply at the end of our lives, but amidst all the "mini-deaths" that we experience in this world (i.e. death of a dream, relationship, professional goal, sickness, etc.).
I believe that "resurrection" happens all the time, that God is forever in the "resurrection business" in our lives and the lives of the people of world. May we have the faith and the eyes to see it!
Ever-living God, open us to your life-giving and life-changing ways. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment