The Following is adapted from my presentation of the Final Chapter of "Hosanna: A Spiritual Journey Through Holy Week" published by Kerygma. I acknowledge all influences and quotes from that material.
*** ASM ***
Much of the historical record concerning Jesus focuses on the last week prior to his execution. How he rode into Jerusalem in apparent fulfillment of God’s words spoken through the prophets. How he refocused the sacred feast of Passover. How he was crucified by the Roman authorities at the urging of the Jewish Sanhedrin. It has been said that biographies focus on the lives of their subjects; Jesus’ biographies focused on his death.
While some argue for a Thursday execution, most readers of the text support the traditional Friday crucifixion of Jesus. Out of respect, he was given a proper burial but that was it. His life, his ministry, was over. Nothing more could come of it. It is written in The [Jewish] Law: “a hanged man is cursed by God.”[1] Knowing this, Jesus’ followers, demoralized, scattered. His closest followers hid together in fear of what would come next. Jesus had been hanged and nothing more could come of it… or could it?
All four Gospels accounts agree that Jesus was raised from the dead. From Mark’s simple proclamation to the women by the young man, to the more detailed accounts of Matthew, Luke and John, “He is risen!” is the triumphant conclusion of the Evangelists. They don’t attempt to explain it. They simply state it. It is understood that Jesus was raised by the power and will of God.
Jesus’ resurrection is the capstone in the arch of Christianity. Without it, Jesus fades into a long line of pious preachers. By it, God vindicates everything Jesus’ said and did.
In his greeting to the Romans, Paul stated that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead” Romans 1:4 (ESV). Even Jesus points to His resurrection (although cryptically) as sign of His authority (Mat 12:39 & Luke 11:29 – the sign of Jonah; John 2:19 – destroy this Temple). It is no wonder that skeptics will offer a multitude of explanations to avoid the uncomfortable reality of the Resurrection. To acknowledge Jesus’ Resurrection is to allow that what He taught, what He demonstrated and what He stood for has divine authority that extends to this very day.
In C.S. Lewis’ book “The Screwtape Letters,” the devil Screwtape writes to his “nephew” Wormwood:
You must have often wondered why the Enemy [meaning God] does not make more use of is power to be sensibly present to human souls in any degree He chooses and at any moment. But you now see that the Irresistible and the Indisputable are the two weapons which the very nature of His scheme forbids Him to use. Merely to override a human will (as His felt presence in any but the faintest and most mitigated degree would certainly do) would be for Him useless. He cannot ravish. He can only woo.[2]
In like manner, Jesus resurrection appearances were only to His followers, demonstrating, as one artist titled his CD, “Everything Sad is Coming Untrue.” That He didn’t reveal Himself to His skeptics demonstrates God’s regard for our free will, not to mention that a determined unbeliever can always come up with an explanation for a miracle. Despite this, from the beginning, the church has proclaimed “He is Risen!” as the sign and assurance of our faith, hope and love.
It should be noted that none of the Gospel accounts even hint at anything but a corporeal resurrection. For the Hebrew mind, the “soul” and the “body” are a psychophysical unit. To kill the body was to destroy everything about the person. In the disciple’s minds, Jesus’ death was the end of all their hopes. His resurrection was a triumph; a joy too great to imagine.
“It’s the person who wants to know God that God reveals himself to.”- D Willard
[1] “And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. Deuteronomy 21:22–23 (ESV)
[2] Lewis, C. S. 1955 The Screwtape letters, ch/8, p/38
