He Did What ?!?!

Easter

John 20:1-18

I had a conversation with a new friend on Monday or Tuesday. I told him how busy Easter week is for me, and then when you throw in completing the income taxes – well, you know . . . Anyway, he asked a question. “Is Easter still that big of a day for you in terms of how many people show up?” We commented about the growth of Christmas services in popularity, and the seeming decline in Easter worship, and I said to him, “Well, Easter is the hard part of the story to believe!!”

For a lot of people, Easter is the hard part – to believe. The story is a simple story – God creates man, man messes up, God needs to redeem man. So God sends God’s Son. The birth part of the story is easily believable. Jesus walks among us – roughly 33 years – teaching us something of what God is like, and then He dies for our sins. That part we can buy – especially the “our sins” part of it. We can believe Jesus came to earth, We have lots of “Jesus” documentation. Nearly everyone believes he was here.

But then Sunday morning rolls around, the stone has been rolled away, and we say to our collective selves, “He did what?!?!?!”

Resurrection. Brought back to life. We have some stories of the sort – even in contemporary life – near death experiences – people trapped under the ice for 30 minutes, not breathing, and then resuscitated – things like that. But after they’ve been dead for three days? This is the stuff of fairy tales and myths!!

From the very first moments it’s been a hard story to believe. The women checked out the tomb early in the morning, and then ran to report the missing body to the disciples. They didn’t believe them. So the boys went running – had to check this one out for themselves. John got there first, and he says that he believed immediately. I wonder. Peter – always in John’s mind the “dense one” – didn’t put it together until sometime later. And what did they do with this miraculous news. They went home. That’s all – they went home.

The authorities had difficulty with the story as well. They concocted a story that put the responsibility on the disciples. They even anticipated such – posting guards at the tomb. They finally said that someone must have stolen the body – dead folk don’t get up and walk out of tombs.

Thomas didn’t believe it at first. I suspect that if the other disciples hadn’t been in the upper room when Jesus first appeared to them all – except Thomas – I suspect they would have had trouble believing it as well. At least Thomas was honest – “I’ll have to see Him for myself – see the wounds – before I’ll believe.” That happened in a few days.

There were more appearance stories. He met with Simon Peter and the boys for breakfast on the seashore. He appeared to a couple walking on the road to Emmaus – they didn’t recognize Him until He broke the bread in front of their eyes. He appeared to the 40 regular followers, and then there are accounts of Him appearing to several others.

Finally, as if to cap off the appearance stories, He meets with them, gives them a commission, and then ascends into the heavens.

It’s a pretty tall story to believe. It is the hard part to believe.

I was watching a documentary on television just yesterday, and some New Testament scholars were commenting about the difficulty of this part of the story. They spoke of all the theories surrounding His body and His disappearance. One professor reminded us that often people conjure appearance of those they have loved and lost to death. Grieving people come up with stories all the time about seeing their loved one standing at the foot of the bed and calling out to them. Usually we chalk those stories up to the dream world.

Then they posed the question, “What if they came up with evidence of a body? What if they found Jesus – now?” They kicked it around for a while, and about half of them indicated that the presence of a body wouldn’t alter their faith.

I want to remind us of something. These people in the story – they were Jews. I’ve known a few Jewish people in my life. When I was a teenager, we lived across the street from Ed and Ruth Shapiro in Pasadena, Texas. They were wonderful neighbors – exceptionally ecumenical – and that’s before I knew what that word meant. We would take them something symbolizing their roots to the Passover, and they would send us Easter baskets. We would take over a Chanukah fruit basket, and they would send over Christmas presents. In other words, we had a mutual respect for the faith tradition of each other.

I took a course during my doctoral work with Dr. Charles Ashby on Biblical Education practices. As a part of our study outside the classroom, we attended the synagogue in Fort Worth one Friday evening. It was an eye-opening experience. One of the things that our professor told us was that most of the Jewish population doesn’t believe in an afterlife. That this is all there is – and that when you die, that’s all. Your legacy was found in your lineage, and the success of your children and grandchildren.

Well, I hadn’t had any personal experience with afterlife beliefs of the Jewish people, so I wasn’t sure that what Dr. Ashby was telling us was really accurate. Always question authority, especially when you’re a doctoral candidate, right? Well, I was back in Houston for a tour of duty in a church on the west side of town, and Mom called with the news that Ruth Shapiro had died. I was visiting Mom and Dad just the next week, and was out in the yard, and I noticed Dr. Ed out tooling around in his yard, and so I went over to express my condolences. I said something like, “Ed, I’m sure sorry about Ruth. We certainly loved her, and she was always to very good to us.” And he said, “Yes, it’s strange. A person’s here, and then they’re gone, and then that’s it.” Dr. Ashby’s words raced back into my mind – “no afterlife.”

When Jesus appeared to His disciples, things changed exponentially for them. Nothingness turned into eternity – with possibilities!! An afterlife – heaven – eternal life!! What a concept. All that they’d known was erased in a moment’s notice. There was something – an existence – after death!!!

Friends, I’ve asked myself this question all week. Does the resurrection matter? Does it matter for our salvation? It’s an important question. Do we have to believe in the resurrection in order to be saved? We tell people all the time, “All you have to do is trust Christ!” And by that, we mean that we must trust the sacrifice of Jesus, His death which paid the price for our redemption, in order to find salvation. But is belief in His resurrection necessary for salvation?

I looked this question up on the internet yesterday. I ran across a chart that lists the beliefs of various Christian denominations on a wide variety of subjects. Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist and Baptist beliefs were listed. When it got this question, do you know what was there? Every denomination listed their beliefs – except the Baptists. I was shocked. We have beliefs on everything. And Baptists are such a diverse group, sometimes we have multiple beliefs.

That being no help, I turned to the two best Baptist theologians I know – W.T. Connor and E.Y. Mullins. They’re the guys we studied in seminary.

Connor said it this way: “In the first place, one needs a clear understanding and a firm grasp on the elemental things in salvation. This is not to say that he needs to be an expert theologian. He does not. Nor is it to say with the Catholic creeds that, if he does not believe certain dogmas, he shall be anathema. But he does need a firm grasp on the fact that Christ has made full provision for our sins and that we are saved by faith in him. There can be no definite assurance of salvation where one does not definitely grasp this fact. Sometimes one may know that he has been changed without having a clear consciousness of salvation, but this clear consciousness of salvation will come when one firmly grasps the fact that it is faith in the crucified and risen Redeemer that saves.”[1]

That helped a little, but Connor sounded a little shaky to me. So I turned to his teacher, E.Y. Mullins. In speaking first of the resurrection of Christ, and then the general resurrection of all believers, Mullins said, “In other words, the resurrection was a religious necessity. God will not forsake his servant, even in death.”[2] That’s a little more blunt. Here’s his point – God accomplishes our salvation. In fact, God’s good name rests on God’s ability to do what God says God will do. God accomplishes our salvation, and God doesn’t do anything part way. So, when God redeems fallen humanity, God redeems us, not just for this life, but for all of eternity.

I’ll say this one other thing about the resurrection in a theological sense. If it isn’t a necessity that we believe in the resurrection in order to experience salvation, then at least, the resurrection, and our hope of eternal life – is the gravy to our redemption. Not only are we saved from our sins – redeemed – but we are saved into eternity.

I said that I’ve been asking this question this past week, but frankly, I’ve asked myself this question for the past year. Ever since Dad died last April, I’ve pined for contact with him. During May and June of last year, there were agonizing moments when I absolutely craved conversation with him. Those days gave way to an occasional need for contact, and finally to the random moments of panic and sadness. But I know something. I’m going to get to talk with my Dad again. Maybe soon, maybe years from now. But I have full assurance that I will see him again, and together we will worship the risen Lord side by side with all those whom I have loved who have gone ahead of me. Full assurance.

It’s a feeling, really. Friday night, when we left this place, we had been reminded of the price paid for our salvation. It was a good feeling, in a strange sort of way, to be reminded that our salvation was purchased – paid for – done and finished. But it was also something of an empty feeling. Then Sunday rolls around, and the stone is rolled away, and the risen Lord stands before us. Now it is finished. Now there’s something to look forward to. Now we have a hope of eternity. In His resurrection, we find the promise of our resurrection.

And that’s the gospel. That’s the good news.

Richard W. Dunn, PhD.

[1] W.T.Connor, Christian Doctrine, 1937, p.221.
[2] E.Y.Mullins, The Christian Religion in its Doctrinal Expression, 1917, p.447