You’ve probably heard of the recently released film, “God’s Not Dead.” It’s been getting a lot of attention and while I haven’t seen it, I understand it is based on a college student defending his Christian faith in a somewhat hostile classroom environment. His defense of God’s existence is based on several “proofs” for God that some believers have applauded as being very convincing, while skeptics have poked holes in. I don’t know if anyone has come to faith as a result of this film. I do know that faith in Christ is a gift. Hymnwriter Carl Schalk wrote that it burns it’s way into our hearts, unasked, unforced unearned.
Which brings me to a pet peeve I have about Easter. No, it’s not people eating all the Easter candy in the house before I get any. The thing that bugs me about Easter is when preachers and teachers and authors and Christian apologists try to PROVE the resurrection of Jesus with cold, hard facts.
It’s not hard to do it. You’ve got the broken Roman seal – breaking it was punishable by death according to Roman law. The disciples who had denied and forsaken Jesus for fear of Roman wrath and were hiding in a locked room on Easter morning like scared Easter rabbits, were not the type of guys to take this kind of risk. So the disciples didn’t steal the body. That’s fact one. And there’s more. You’ve got the empty tomb – anyone in Jerusalem could have checked it out to see it was empty. The grave clothes – anyone could see them for themselves. You’ve got the Roman guards – fear of punishment led to notoriously strict attention to their duty. There’s no way any of them would have allowed anyone in . . . or out without some divine power – or earthquake – at work. There are the witnesses and appearances of Jesus – none of which has ever been challenged by contemporary historians of the time. Classical historian, E. M. Blaiklock said, “I claim to be an historian. My approach to classics is historical. And I tell you that the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history.”
And yet this whole approach still bugs me. I guess if you’re the kind of person who likes to argue these things out, great. And if you’re on a debate team, you’ve got some really good facts on your side to argue for the historical resurrection of Jesus.
But what annoys me about this approach to the resurrection is that it makes belief in the resurrection of Jesus seem like some kind of intellectual exercise and faith some kind of a reasonable response to indisputable and irrefutable facts. And I don’t think that even come close to the point of Easter.
Facts alone are not going to change the minds of most doubting Thomases out there. I mean, the original doubting Thomas had all the facts I just mentioned about Easter and he still wouldn’t believe. He needed a living, breathing body. What changed Thomas’ mind and heart and soul was a relationship with a living Jesus. He had seen the empty tomb, but only Jesus could give him Easter faith. The other disciples had seen the grave clothes, the stone rolled away – they had talked to the eyewitnesses. But only the living, breathing body of Jesus could produce faith in their hearts.
A living breathing body – that is the only witness to the resurrection that in the end really matters. And for those who have encountered it, there is no need for historical facts. So where is the living breathing body, you ask? Have you ever heard of the term, “the body of Christ?” We throw that phrase around as a nice definition of the church, but the resurrection of Jesus helps us understand what it really means. We are the living, breathing resurrected body of Christ.
When the living, breathing Jesus appeared to his disciples, we find that he breathed on them and said, “I AM SENDING YOU!” I am sending you to breathe this Spirit on others – to extend forgiveness – to do for others what I just accomplished for you!
Peter, in preaching to the crowd in Jerusalem, understood his post-Easter role. He said to them, God raised Jesus to life and WE ARE WITNESSES OF THE FACT.
The resurrected Jesus sent us to be living proof of Easter. He didn’t send a fact sheet or a case document, he sent out living, breathing people. We gather on each little Easter morning – the first day of the week – to encounter a living Jesus in the sacrament and in his word. And that’s how faith is born. We review his life in our gathering together throughout the year to proclaim his birth, his epiphany, his death, his resurrection and his ascension. That’s how faith is celebrated. And we live each day as living, breathing proof that Jesus is alive. That’s how faith is spread.
Several among us here volunteered at the shelter this past week. We didn’t really ask for this assignment right after Easter, but there was a need and they asked us to help fill these slots. But what a perfect time to serve. I doubt any of our Grace of God volunteers got into any debates or presented well prepared defenses of their faith. They were there as living breathing bodies. They smiled. They helped out. They gave kids some attention. They listened to stories and struggles. They offered hugs. Right there in that shelter was proof that Jesus is alive.
In each living, breathing member of the body of Christ, there is something that has been resurrected that bears witness to the truth. You are the witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection and your joy gives it away, your hope gives it away, your peace gives it away, your perseverance gives it away, your forgiveness gives it away, your kindness, your service, your sacrifice, your offering, your life gives it away – perhaps without evening knowing it and without trying so hard.
Being a witness to Christ does not mean you have all the answers. Being a witness to Jesus does not mean being the one in your school or office who doesn’t curse or swear or gossip. Being a witness for Christ is not about you being a Christian “know it all” or saying and doing all the right things. When it comes right down to it, that’s not what Jesus sent his disciples out to do.
When Jesus appeared to Thomas, he did not say, “Thomas, you idiot. Face the facts!” No, he said, “Touch me.” Now Jesus needs us to embody this good news. Jesus sent the disciples out to live and breathe good news. He sent them to speak forgiveness to a broken world – to be a shining light in the darkness – and to proclaim life in a world haunted by death. He calls us to be his living, breathing body – to be his human touch. That is what Easter is all about! The only proof of the resurrection that matters is Jesus living in you and bursting out of you.
And when you have doubts or questions, come to the body of Christ for reassurance. Touch him here for this is where Jesus makes his appearance. And that’s evidence that no one can deny.
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