Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-18
The question of the historical truth of the resurrection has in the last few years loamed high. With the rational skepticism of our present age, we may think this a new phenomenon; but this “debate”, or better termed, concern, can be traced much further back. In fact, St Paul is addressing this issue in his letters years before the Gospels themselves were written. In the letter to the Corinthians it is clear that even among Christians the question existed as to the truth of Christ’s resurrection – and by extension their own. Paul writes to them: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.” (1 Corinthians 15:13-14, 18) He places the resurrection faith at the heart of Christian truth and Christian hope. However, Christians from the beginning have had to make to the world an accounting for this truth and hope that is in us (cf. 1 Peter 3:15), that is, the truth and hope of resurrection.
Since the dawn of the scientific revolution, for Christians the question as to the truth of the resurrection has become particularly focused, particularly acute. In his poem for Easter Day from The Christian Year, the poet John Keble poetically poses for his readers the questions which the rational and scientific world ask of Christianity: “The World thinks [not] on thee, thou blessed day: Or, if she think, it is in scorn: the vernal light of Easter morn
to her dark gaze no brighter seems
than Reason’s or the Law’s pale beams. “Where is your Lord?” she scornful asks:
“Where is His hire? we know his tasks;
sons of a King ye boast to be:
let us your crowns and treasures see.” If in our proclamation of the resurrection, we Christians are to speak with authority, or even any relevance, we must make some sort of credible response to the world. More specifically, as Episcopalians – as Anglicans – we must make that response in clear faithfulness to tradition, scripture and reason. At the same time, we must do so without any simplistic or facile commitment to “facts” or proofs. Belief in Christ’s resurrection is above all, a statement of faith; and the truth of a faith statement is not proved in an appeal to science or history – to empirical evidence – but, rather, in the fruits it produces in the lives of those who believe. The resurrection is true, not so much because we can point to its happening on such-and-such a date, in such-and-such a place, or in such-and-such a way, but because we witness its reality manifested in transformed lives. Its truth does not lie in a historical fact subject to proof or dis-proof, but in a lived experience of freedom and new life, in a lived experience that divisions between people are broken down, and that new possibilities are arising. The truth of the resurrection cannot be grasped by those who look on and examine it with scientific objectivity, but instead by those who are enter into and live its reality, by those who allow their lives to be transformed by the indwelling of the Risen Christ in them.
Many know John Newton as the writer of the hymn, Amazing Grace. Fewer know that he was originally involved in the 18th century slave trade, and it was only when he had an encounter with the Risen Christ that his life was transformed. This encounter with the liberating truth of the resurrection not only led him to be ordained a priest in the Church of England, but more importantly to work tirelessly for the abolition of slavery. Even in his day, proof for the resurrection was a common issue, and in one of his sermons he preached: “…the proof the resurrection of Christ, which is the most important and satisfactory of any, does not depend upon arguments and historical evidence….Those who have found the gospel to be the power of God to the salvation of their souls…know that the Lord is risen indeed, because they have been made partakers of the of the power of his resurrection, and have experienced a change in themselves, which could only be wrought by the Holy Spirit which Jesus is exalted to bestow.” He eloquently presents what the Church has always believed, that the truth of the resurrection makes itself known in changed lives.
More than mere historical fact, the resurrection is mystery; and mystery is a way of engaging with truth, deepest truth, truth too deep for words; truth so deep it can only be experienced. It is only manifested in the day to day living. It is manifested when we commit acts of courage in the face of frightening circumstances. It is manifested when we dare to love even as the world says our loving is useless or inappropriate. It is manifested when we continue to trust life and speak up for freedom, although it may be easier or safer to settle for a quiet existence. Ultimately, it is manifested when we embrace life – all life – without having to be afraid or cautious, without having to hold back. We know that when we encounter people who live their lives in such a way we are instinctively attracted to them; we know, whether we can immediately vocalise it or not, that we have encountered something of the holy, something of the whole, something of the resurrection.
The world will continue to ask for proof of the resurrection, and the only response we can make is the one the Church has always made – the living of transformed lives. It is the only proof we can offer. More than that, it is the only proof we would want to offer, because even if the resurrection of Christ could be proved as historical fact beyond dispute, it would be meaningless if its reality were not manifested somehow in real lives and real people, right here, right now. A Jesus resurrected in time 2000 years ago is in some sense rather meaningless, at best a fact of history. Real resurrection is Christ resurrected in you and me, and in everyone who has given his or life over to the Christ mystery, in everyone who has entered with him into the deep baptismal waters of death, and now shares his risen life. You and I, and how we live our lives, we are the real and only proof that Christ is alive and abroad in the world. That is what is means to be the Body of Christ. Only by God’s power being manifested in us can the truth of the resurrection be ever fully revealed; only through us – through all of us – can, as the prayetr book says, “the whole world
see and know that things which were being cast down are being
raised up, and things which had grown old are being made
new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection.” Isn’t this, after all the true meaning of resurrection? Amen.
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