12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…
This is a reading from 1 Corinthians 15. Paul, a church planter and pastor wrote at least two letters to the church in Corinth that he started a few years earlier. The church struggled with many things including the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Usually you will hear this read sometime around Easter and definitely not in the season of Christmas, let alone me writing about it on New Year’s Eve. However, I have my reasons.
Yesterday, I ran across an article on a website written by a Presbyterian pastor and then shared on Facebook by a classmate of mine. The Presbyterian pastor wrote a somewhat snarky article stating that he is going to hell for not believing in the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
He writes, “In my hard-heartedness I asked one of my accusers if, instead of being a one time magic trick, the resurrection might not be understood as a poem about the whole life process. Like Jesus before Pilate, my accuser was silent. I asked, if the virgin birth and resurrection were essential to Christianity, why the earliest versions of Mark’s gospel had neither.”
Yes, it is true that there is no birth story in Mark, but there is a resurrection story! The tomb is open and empty and the angel tells the women “But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ ” If this was made up, we wouldn’t be talking about Jesus today. There would be no Christianity. Mark’s gospel reminds us that Jesus is out ahead of us and we should go out and look for Him!
Back to the point, I am sad when I hear a Christian pastor stating that he does not believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus our Lord and Savior. I don’t condemn him nor am I proclaiming eternal damnation upon him. I am sad that he only follows the philosophy of Jesus’ teachings. I am sad that a Christian leader doesn’t believe the one thing that our faith depends upon. Don’t believe me? Go back and read Paul’s words above.
Paul wasn’t an eyewitness to the resurrection but he encountered Jesus in such a profound way that he experienced radical life-change (see Acts 9). After that experience, Paul became the most dedicated Christian pastor/church planter/theologian/apologist the world has ever known.
Paul states clearly in his first letter to the church of Corinth that if the resurrection of Christ is a fabricated story we Christians a sorry lot. Paul says it this way, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all people.” In other words, if we see Jesus as someone to emulate in this life only as if having a philosophy of living, then we are missing the point and people should feel sorry for us.
Through Paul, the Bible addresses the uncertainty if not the un-believability of Jesus Christ rising from the dead. Even the disciples doubted the women who reported that the tomb of Jesus was empty. Jesus reportedly said this to the doubting Thomas in attempts to bring comfort those who would read the gospel of John throughout the ages, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The resurrection of Jesus is Christ is not an outdated shibboleth of conservative Christianity nor is the denial of a bodily resurrection a badge of honor for progressive Christians. The resurrection of Jesus is good news for all!
The resurrection is not a poem or an allegory; it is an event that changed the world… even if it defies the natural order of things.
As for me, I believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. I take comfort in knowing that Christ came back to tell the world that not even sin and death have the final word.
I pray that everyone who reads this understands the depths of God’s love for the world to send Himself in the person of Jesus to live, die and rise again to tell us that the best is yet to come.
God bless you now and forever,
Pr. Ben