What the Resurrection Demonstrates

Every disciple has doubts sometimes. Maybe not necessarily about God's existence, but about why God acts in the ways that God does. Paul Tillich opined that doubt was actually intrinsic to a healthy faith, rather than antithetical to it, because it showed that we were searching out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Many believers are envious when they read a text like Matthew's account of the ascension of Christ, found at Matthew 28.16-20. On the surface, having an experience of the risen Christ would seem to obviate any doubts or uncertainties about the existence of God and the divinity of Christ.

This is actually not the case. In fact, if we read Matthew's account carefully, we see a significant phrase: some of those who were presented doubted.

The reason why there would be doubt necessitates a look at the difference between the world view of the ancient Near East and our own worldview. Perspectives in ancient Israel differed, but there were many who believed in the possibility of resurrection. That is to say, for many in ancient Israel, it was possible for people to rise from the dead. Consequently, the fact that someone rose from the dead would not be perceived in the same way that we perceive it today. We live in a scientific age where it is generally accepted that people do not rise from the dead.

For the original disciples and the Christians in the first century, what would have been most remarkable about the resurrection is not that someone rose from the dead, but the fact that Jesus rose from the dead. And more importantly--what the early evangelists argued that the resurrection meant. That in the life and crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, God revealed God's power and glory. What would have been unbelievable to an ancient audience was not that someone was resurrected, but what the resurrection meant--that in Jesus, God had demonstrated God's power over sin and death, and had ushered in a new age.

The resurrection itself, standing alone, is not the good news that we proclaim. The good news that we proclaim is that in Christ, a new age has begun where God reigns. Where peace prevails over violence, love over hate, reconciliation over conflict, and mercy over retribution.