HOPE RESURRECTED ON EASTER SUNDAY
‘To live without hope is to cease to live.’ Fyodor Dostoevsky
This was the situation the few disciples of Jesus found themselves in. Having chosen to follow Jesus, but expecting a political revival, they found themselves on Good Friday, staring at the cross where Jesus was crucified. With all hope lost, confused and disappointed, they suddenly find the strangest of occurrences on Easter Sunday. Jesus had resurrected!
Now dead people stay dead, so how could this be? And as the fact of the resurrection was confirmed to them by personal appearances of Jesus in their midst, they began to recollect the words of Jesus and his many promises that he would rise again from the death. His message that he had come down to earth not to establish an earthly kingdom, but one that would last forever, even beyond death, now began to come to light. And if Jesus could defeat the ultimate enemy, death and rise from the grave, something that had never been done before, resurrection moved from the realm of the impossible to one of real possibility.
Come to think of it; what would you prefer- to conquer temporal challenges and declare temporary victory with your life that would certainly pass, or be able to overcome the ultimate enemy- death and live forever? The enormity of the truth struck the disciples- from having lost all hope, they find themselves in an instant, transported to a point of having the ultimate hope- that of conquering death. For in the resurrection of Jesus was the guarantee, that all who believed in Him would rise from the dead again.
Many people dismiss the Easter resurrection as a myth. CS Lewis responded, ‘those who say that haven’t read enough myths.’ In myths, which are common to many cultures around the world, stories are fashioned in a manner that were presumed to be useful to the listeners and never had the burden of historical proof or identification with day-to-day life. You don’t need to prove that a myth took place to incorporate it and enjoy it. However with the resurrection of Jesus, the Bible manuscripts describe in great detail and in simple terms without hyperbole, the resurrection and the appearances thereafter to many witnesses, the connection to prior prophecies and how it transformed people dramatically. And no other event in history has been scrutinized from a historical standpoint as much as the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Authors like Josh McDowell have written extensively about it and without elaborating, I would say it is fair to state if we believe that Julius Caesar existed, there a thousand more reasons to believe that the account of Jesus in the gospels is true.
And the message of Easter is singular- to one who sits in darkness without hope, comes alive the light of God and with it the ultimate hope- that of life beyond the grave!
