The Resurrection of the Lord
I occasionally visit the parish religious education classes for our young people. The kids are allowed to ask me any question. Recently one of them asked me, “If God made us, who made God?” Another question was, “What do you do in heaven? It sounds boring.” I told the kid, “You get to play video games all day!” This kid really wants to go to heaven. Another kid did not have a question. He just said, “I don’t think Jesus rose from the dead! It is not possible.”
There is not a single one of us here without questions and doubts. There is not anyone here with all the answers. I have my own questions. I say to myself, the post-Messianic world is not supposed be a continuation of the very world that murdered her Messiah. If Jesus is risen, why has nothing changed? Why do people still kill? Why do people in power still lie? Why do people still oppress. Why do some still go to bed hungry and some even die? Why do children still cry?
I can come up with theological answers for these questions in the same way I answer kids. After all, I have a Ph.D. in theology. But theology has to become faith. Theology has to become conviction. So, what do I say to myself? How do I answer my own questions?
The Power of the Jesus Story
My faith conviction lies the power of the Jesus story. Let me explain. For me, the credibility of the man is the power of his story. For three years, Jesus preached, taught his disciples, and went about doing good. But his life also reached the Messianic crisis point. It led to opposition, his arrest, suffering, and death. But when it all reached a boiling point, he lived out the very things he taught and preached. He did not merely live out the inconsequential things, but things that had implications for life and death. For example, he said, “Blessed and the peacemakers; they will be called children of God” (Mt 5:9). Then one night, they came to arrest him for a crime he did not commit. His disciples wanted to go for the sword. One of them even cut off the ear of a soldier. In this precise moment it could either have all unraveled or it could all be proven. He ordered the sword put away, scolded his followers, then healed the very man who was there to arrest him. There was potential for violence, bloodshed, and viciousness. But Jesus becomes the very peacemaker he invited his followers to be. As he taught, Jesus put an end the cycle of violence and stood for peace and non-violence. In a moment of intense crisis, he lived by his word.
And again, he had uncompromisingly insisted on forgiveness. It was one thing to preach this to his hearers, but it was quite another to hang there by his hands and feet nailed to the cross and say, “Father, forgive them….” Again, it was one thing to teach his disciples that they must be humble and become the least and the servant of all. And then, he actually died in utter humility and in an act of supreme service to humanity. And again, he had told them that he loved them to the end. And he did! He loved them till his very last breath, till his very last drop of blood. He loved freely, he welcomed those everyone rejected, he sat at table with sinners, to the poor he brought good news, and the oppressed he set free. He was God, but as man he lived the human life genuinely and made his humanity the light of the human race.
The power of the story of Jesus is the absolute credibility of the man. The power of his story is my faith conviction.
I Believe in the Resurrection because I Believe Him
Here, then, is my argument about the resurrection. It is not a theological argument. It is my personal faith conviction. I believe in the resurrection because I believe in the man. Everything he said he proved true in his life. I believe his claim to be the Son of God because everything else he claimed came true. When he said he would die, he did die even though it was brutal. So, when he said he would rise, I believe it.
I do not believe in the resurrection because I believe in the resurrection. I believe in the resurrection because I believe Him. If his life was not what it was, and if his death was not how it was, then I could not reach a faith conviction. But because his life was what it was, because his death was how it was, no one has to prove the resurrection to me. I believe in the resurrection because I believe Him.
Do You Believe in the Resurrection?
It is two thousand years since the resurrection. You and I have come to celebrate the resurrection of the man who loved us beyond death. But the entire world is not convinced yet. Sometimes our own children do not believe. They have questions. They have doubts.
When it comes to the Jesus, the resurrection, and the new life, the world will not believe because we have the best army in the world or because we have won the toughest wars in the world, or because we have the power to turn the world on its head. They will not believe because of the grandeur of our architecture or the wealth of our institutions. They will not believe because of numbers of our members or the influence of our name. They will not believe because of our ornate vestments our intricate rituals and rubrics.
Rather, the world will only believe in the resurrection if the story of the Church is the story of Jesus lived credibly, genuinely, and truthfully. They will only believe if the story of those who call themselves Christians is the story of Jesus. We cannot call ourselves Christians and forget to love like He did. We cannot call ourselves Christians and forget to show mercy and compassion like He did. We cannot call ourselves Christian and neglect to only do good like He did. We cannot oppress, create disharmony, resort to violence, speak lies, villainize the poor, judge and condemn others and expect the world to believe in the resurrection. We cannot befriend evil, neglect to love God, fail to love our neighbor, not forgive our enemies, not pray for those who persecute us and expect our children to believe in the resurrection. They will only believe in the resurrection because they see the story of Jesus lived out authentically, genuinely and truly in us.
I am not sure if we will play video games, or have rich, juicy food, or choice wines in heaven all day. But we have a glimpse of whatever we will be in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Meanwhile, we celebrate the Eucharist to tell the world that Jesus is risen and that we are a resurrection people. And then we live the Eucharist of Jesus Christ in the world. We become the witness to the world and our children that Christ is indeed risen from the dead. Happy Easter!
- Fr. Satish Joseph