Hello,
“My brother said that Jesus did not rise from the dead,” said a young
preschool girl to me just a week or so ago. Her brother is not much older than she, but by his brotherly
declaration it became clear to me that it doesn’t take much life experience to
call into question, and even determine impossible, the central event of the
Christian faith: the resurrection of Jesus.
I am not sure what led the young brother to share his conclusion with
his sister. Had he been to a
funeral and experienced the crushing power of death along with a cemetery full
of gravesites that remain interred?
Had he, who regularly is in church and Sunday School, found himself with
a friend whose parents have raised their children in unbelief? Had he been read a fairy tale that
sounded a lot like the resurrection story, and extrapolated the lack of
historical truth from one to the other?
Had someone teased him for his belief and his fears overtook his belief? Had someone teased him for something
else, and it sure didn’t seem to him that Jesus was nearby to shelter him from
those bullies? Any of these things
could have been part of his declaration of doubt, because all of these things
are part of the harsh reality of a young person’s life.
In truth, all of those things are
part of everyone’s life, no matter what age. All those things are part of my life, and I am sure that
they are equally part of your life.
For us moderns from the earliest years of our lives to the latest the
resurrection of Jesus is bombarded with discrediting experiences. But not just for us moderns, as early
as the writings of Paul, the earliest writings in the New Testament, the
resurrection of Jesus stood in contrast to what people encountered day in and
day out. As Paul says in 1
Corinthians, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom”
So, what was Paul’s response to the realities of life that were throwing
cold water on the credulity of Jesus’ resurrection? “But we proclaim Christ
crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but
to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God.”
It seems to me that Paul’s response is our best response, too. There are those who try to answer with
signs and wisdom, but I don’t find such things to fertilize my tender faith as
it confronts the harsh soil of life. But we have what Paul had: the witness of the
resurrection and the power that it produces. From generation to generation, the witness has been passed
down, and from generation to generation its power has caused fear to roll on
its back like a whimpering puppy, its power has suffocated the condemning voice
of sin, its power has released the clenching grip of selfish desires, its power
has taken ruined lives and made them new, its power has burst death’s
triumphant balloon. In the face of
life’s experiences the witness has always been, “On the third day, Jesus rose
from the dead.” And in the face of
life’s experiences, the power that that witness ignites is one that casts
credibility on the witness.
No one is immune to the realities of life. That is why the doors of churches are open to everyone on
Sunday mornings. Not to escape the
realities of life, but to hear again the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and to
stoke the engines of our lives with divine fuel of that witness that explodes
in eternal life. Every Sunday
morning we who congregate do so with varied strength of faith….some with nearly
no faith….some with faith of galvanized steel….a little boy who says to his
sister that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead….and an elderly person staring
fearlessly into the mouth of death.
Wherever you are in that continuum of faith-strength, the doors of the
church are open to you. Six days
of the week the world gets to tell it’s story, a story that is often crushing
and hopeless. God takes one day each week to tell his, a story that has the
power of life, itself. Come and
hear it!
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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