The
older I get, the less concerned I am about the historical facts of my faith.
Don't get me wrong, if I could know some new historical facts regarding the life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus, I'd jump at the opportunity; it's more a matter of accepting the
inherent limitations of the type of knowledge faith reveals. I see so
many folks trading their faith for a kind of intellectual dishonesty that makes
bizarre claims in an attempt to find empirical backing to what they claim to
believe already.
Christian curmudgeons who scour the Bible making esoteric connections that
reveal the exact time Christ will return is an example of this type of
dishonesty. Another kind of intellectual dishonesty that is prevalent are the
myths handed down by unsuspecting pastors who “read this somewhere” that when
Jesus said to turn the other cheek, rather than being a form of submission to
an aggressor, it was, in fact, a Middle Eastern custom of offering your enemy
your left cheek as a form of insult. Or how about the old “eye of the needle”
problem for wealthy people seeking the Kingdom? I’ve heard this explained away
from the pulpit by referring to unnamed sources that, in fact, the “eye” was a
very narrow gate that a camel could
get through, but that it had to go on its knees to make it. The good news here
is that you can have your riches and make it through the “eye” on your knees.
Of course, there never was such a gate in Jesus’ time, and even the metaphor
itself is strained to find Good News for the wealthy (see Kittel’s Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 3, pp. 592-594 ). But there is no way to
explain away the necessity for crucifixion before resurrection while claiming
orthodox Christian faith. There is no other way to resurrection than through
crucifixion. This is the substance of my faith when I proclaim each
Sunday "He was crucified, died and buried. On the third day, he rose
again in accordance with the scriptures."
Crucifixion forces our hand and breaks our plans for an orderly and carefully
controlled life while putting us at the feet of the cross, or on it. We
will likely never have empirical, historical evidence of Jesus’ bodily
resurrection, but one thing is not
difficult to believe: Jesus was killed on the cross by Roman and religious
authorities who were threatened by the prospect of losing power and control:
Jesus said he was a king, and Jesus said he was the Messiah. The only
possible way Jesus could walk to the cross was a faith born not in what would come after, but in the
sustaining relationship of love he had with the Father. Jesus' fear, and the feeling of dejection in murmuring the 22nd Psalm "My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me" ends with the 31st Psalm: "Into your hands, O Lord,
I commend my spirit."
The Resurrection is what happened after. The disciples witnessed it
according to the accounts of Scripture. But my faith in the Resurrection
is also founded on the resurrections I've experienced in others and in myself
that have their origin in The Resurrection. This yoking of death with birth is
an incredibly rich source of our human experience recorded in art and
literature.
Easter is the "difficult birth" of a faith borne on the cross
of a two-thousand-year-old man who claimed to be a king and Messiah, but the
millions of new lives hewn from the roughness of the Cross is witness to a
deeper and more profound truth than a single historical event; the Resurrection
has lived long after Jesus walked the earth.
Easter is the "difficult birth" of a faith borne on the cross
of a two-thousand-year-old man who claimed to be a king and Messiah, but the
millions of new lives hewn from the roughness of the Cross is witness to a
deeper and more profound truth than a single historical event; the Resurrection
has lived long after Jesus walked the earth.
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