Two Reasons the Resurrection Matters
It would be hard for us to imagine the powerful emotions that must have churned in the hearts of the women who came to the tomb that Sunday morning. They were devastated at the loss of their friend and master, and they were mourning the death of all their dreams for the Kingdom he had announced.
And now, as they discover the empty tomb, they must endure still another shock. Surely in that moment they felt genuine fear, a terror of the unknown: they simply had no categories to explain what they found. What could this possibly mean?
Our Western, scientific mindset doesn’t like to admit there are things beyond our understanding, forces beyond our control. And it is true that we have comprehended and mastered many powerful forces. Fire can be terrifying, but we have harnessed the power of fire to propel our vehicles, and in them we move about without fear. Electricity can be deadly, but I am calmly utilizing the power of electricity to write these words.
But we must realize that the Resurrection of Jesus isn’t like the power of fire and electricity; the power of the Resurrection is a power we cannot quantify and control. The Resurrection is not just a matter of history and theology, a factoid we can safely file away; the transcendent power of the Resurrection has implications for the way we live our lives right now.
1. The Resurrection means that history has been turned inside out.
New Testament scholar NT Wright says we need to understand what happened that first Easter morning as a kind of invasion. In the Resurrection of Christ, the glorious future Kingdom came crashing into our broken and ruined world:
Easter was when Hope in person surprised the whole world by coming from the future into the present. The ultimate future hope remains a surprise, partly because we don’t know when it will arrive and partly because at present we have only images and metaphors for it, leaving us to guess that the reality will be far greater, and more surprising, still.
Our task in the present is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second. – NT Wright, Surprised by Hope
In other words, thanks to the Resurrection, we no longer have the option of living as if we cannot know the outcome of the great war between God and His enemies: in the Resurrection we see the outcome foretold. And we need no longer live in uncertainty and anxiety about how things will turn out: Christ has disabled the power of sin and death.
2. Our wonder at the Resurrection is essential for our spiritual formation.
It’s easy to misconstrue the Resurrection as a kind of finale to the sufferings of Jesus, a happy ending to an otherwise heartbreaking story. Jesus suffered and died, and his friends were sad. Then he rose from the grave and they were happy.
But that shallow view emasculates the Resurrection. If we can think of the Resurrection without awe and wonder, we don’t really understand what happened that day.
Eugene Peterson, translator of the popular Message paraphrase, says that a right understanding of the Resurrection infuses our spiritual formation with wonder:
If Jesus’ resurrection is at the center of our spiritual formation—which I’m convinced it is—then this sense of wonder is a big part of what is going on.
Without wonder, we approach spiritual formation as a self-help project. We employ techniques. We analyze gifts and potentialities. We set goals. We assess progress. Spiritual formation is reduced to cosmetics.
Adults like to think they have got things sorted, but children know they are vulnerable and dependent. Jesus said we must enter the Kingdom like little children, without pretense, full of awe and wonder.
Peterson is right: when I in my hubris drift away from wonder at what God has done in Christ, I reduce my spiritual life to a checklist to be accomplished. A checklist I can manage, but God has not called me to a manageable life; He has called me to trust Him and obey Him beyond my capacity, just like a child lost in wonder.
So what does the Resurrection mean?
It means far more than an exclamation point on the life of Jesus. The Resurrection was the asteroid-strike that transfigured human history. It was the day Wonder and Glory crashed into our world and changed everything.
This means that I cannot live my life as if Jesus hadn’t risen.
He shattered the chains of death and hell.
And that changes everything.
Persevere,
Paul Pyle
Discipleship Pastor