Easter

C.S. Lewis famously said, "If Christianity is untrue it is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance.  The only thing that can not be said is that it is of moderate importance."

So is it true?  It's a topic that has been hotly debated for more than 2000 years.  So what's the evidence pointing to its being true?  All four of the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all point to the resurrection of Jesus Christ as being true and being the cornerstone of the faith. After all, the resurrection of a human being from death back to life, is a singular event in human history.  There is no other claim in recorded history that remotely compares.  It is the only one.

So is it true?  Paul, writing to the church in Corinth in 55 A.D., about 25 years after Christ's resurrection says this:  "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:  that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.  After that he appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all of the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born." (1 Cor 15:  

3-8).

Why does Paul say that he appeared to 500 people, some of whom are still living but some have fallen asleep (died)?  He apparently is telling the Christians in the church in Corinth, "If you don't believe me, that Christ was alive again, go ask them!  They saw Him alive!  They will tell you!"

Unfortunately we can't do that. We can't go ask someone who saw Him alive again after his death by crucifixion. We can only work from reason and the preponderance of evidence.  C.S. Lewis addresses the reasoning part in another of his famous quotes.  He confronts the arguments that Jesus was a liar when he claimed to be the Son of God, or that He was insane, a lunatic, or that he was, in fact, the Son of God. God in the flesh.  Or, that he might have been none of those things, just a really good moral teacher.  Here's what he says.

"I'm trying to prevent anyone from saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him.  'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be

the son of God.'  That is the one thing that we must not say.  A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.  He would either be a lunatic--on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg-- or else He would be the Devil of Hell.  You must make your choice.  Either this man was and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.  You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God.  But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher.  He has not left that open to us.  He did not intend to."

In the absence of eye witnesses that we can talk to, we can reason from the evidence as C.S. Lewis does so well.  But even that may not convince us.  We may need more.  We may need something even more convincing.  We may need solid proof, like Thomas, one of the Twelve who needed to be convinced.

"Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the Disciples when Jesus came.  (Note: this is referring to Jesus showing himself to the disciples that were present in the Upper Room on the Sunday of His resurrection). So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" 

But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my hand into His side,

I will not believe it."

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then He said to Thomas, Put your finger here; see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it into my side.  Stop doubting and believe."

Thomas said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"  (John 20: 24-28).

That's what happened to Thomas.  Then he was convinced of who Jesus was and is.

But does that sort of thing happen anymore?  An actual confrontation with the Living Lord? It does.  I've talked to a few people who have experienced it.  I've experienced it myself in different ways.  Maybe you have as well.  But if not, you, like Thomas, can state emphatically that you will not become a believer until He proves it to you.

But if you do that, be ready.  He will come to you, as He has to so many.  He is the Living Lord.

And he can prove it.

Happy Easter!

He has risen indeed!

Mark