Each year Christians around the world set aside a week to reflect on the death of a first-century peasant Jewish carpenter known as Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus, like thousands of other citizens of the ancient Roman world, was executed by the authorities with a technique known as crucifixion. Today, the cross is universally recognized as a symbol of Jesus’ followers and the church established in his name. The question seems obvious: How does the death of one man launch a global movement that continues even two thousand years after his death? What was special about this Roman execution as opposed to the thousands of others like it? How does an instrument of torture (a cross) become a symbol of one of the world’s great religions?
The answer is found in what happened after the death of Jesus. We are told in the New Testament as well as in other first century literature, that the followers of Jesus claimed he was miraculously raised from the dead on the third day following his execution. To validate this claim, they pointed to an empty tomb and several encounters they claimed to have with their resurrected Lord. The truth of their claim was a topic of great debate in the first century. That debate continues. If Jesus was, in fact, raised from the dead, it explains why the death of one first-century peasant matters two thousand years later. If, however, Jesus was not raised from the dead, then his death on the cross should matter no more or less than any of the thousands who died the same way. The Apostle Paul said, “... if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith ... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile ... If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19 NIV). In other words, if the resurrection didn’t happen, we are wasting our time! If Easter is nothing more than a nice story or an annual tradition, all the claims of the New Testament and the Church are worth little more than the paper on which they are printed.
There are some, many of whom may identify themselves as Christians, who see the resurrection as nothing more than a beautiful symbol or story of God’s triumph over evil. While they may not believe Jesus literally came back from the dead, they celebrate Easter as a tradition of their hope in God. They, along with others, argue that Jesus is remembered not because he was raised from the dead, but because he was a great moral teacher, perhaps even a prophet of God. They do not, however, accept that his death on the cross serves as any universal means of salvation, much less that he was literally resurrected from the dead. C.S. Lewis once famously argued, “That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – or else he would be the Devil of Hell.” (Mere Christianity, pg. 52)
As people around the world observe the celebration of Easter, it becomes an annual invitation to wrestle with the one foundational claim of the Christian faith … Did Jesus come back to life? If he did, then everything he claimed about himself and his offer of salvation is true. If he did not, then nothing else he said matters. Whatever our religious background, such a radical claim deserves our consideration.
The answer is found in what happened after the death of Jesus. We are told in the New Testament as well as in other first century literature, that the followers of Jesus claimed he was miraculously raised from the dead on the third day following his execution. To validate this claim, they pointed to an empty tomb and several encounters they claimed to have with their resurrected Lord. The truth of their claim was a topic of great debate in the first century. That debate continues. If Jesus was, in fact, raised from the dead, it explains why the death of one first-century peasant matters two thousand years later. If, however, Jesus was not raised from the dead, then his death on the cross should matter no more or less than any of the thousands who died the same way. The Apostle Paul said, “... if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith ... And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile ... If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:12-19 NIV). In other words, if the resurrection didn’t happen, we are wasting our time! If Easter is nothing more than a nice story or an annual tradition, all the claims of the New Testament and the Church are worth little more than the paper on which they are printed.
There are some, many of whom may identify themselves as Christians, who see the resurrection as nothing more than a beautiful symbol or story of God’s triumph over evil. While they may not believe Jesus literally came back from the dead, they celebrate Easter as a tradition of their hope in God. They, along with others, argue that Jesus is remembered not because he was raised from the dead, but because he was a great moral teacher, perhaps even a prophet of God. They do not, however, accept that his death on the cross serves as any universal means of salvation, much less that he was literally resurrected from the dead. C.S. Lewis once famously argued, “That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – or else he would be the Devil of Hell.” (Mere Christianity, pg. 52)
As people around the world observe the celebration of Easter, it becomes an annual invitation to wrestle with the one foundational claim of the Christian faith … Did Jesus come back to life? If he did, then everything he claimed about himself and his offer of salvation is true. If he did not, then nothing else he said matters. Whatever our religious background, such a radical claim deserves our consideration.
