Now that Easter is over…. Many of us get that “faith feeling” at Easter and Christmas. After all, these stories are tender and we want to believe. It is time to ask the inevitable question: Do I believe in the resurrection?
Some years ago, while sitting on the plateau of Har Kar Kom1 I listened to a young Jewish wilderness guide. He was a secular Jew. As he talked, it was important for him to tell us that, in his belief, the Hebrew Bible did not present any concept of resurrection or life after death. This same view was held by the Sadducees of Jesus day as well. I believe that they were both mistaken.
What was he saying? In part, he was telling us that, in his view, the resurrection was purely a Christian concept. He was also telling us that being a Jew, to him, was defined by life style and story (connection to the past). He was proud of his heritage. He was formed by the stories of those who went before him. However, because those who went before him no longer existed beyond story, he was free to evolve beyond their stories.
This is sad to me; yet, I know there are those who believe that Christianity is merely a life style. Because of this, they feel free to evolve their beliefs even more than the practice of their faith. Instead of trying to understand Jesus within his context and looking carefully at the story of Biblical faith, they adapt Jesus to fit their personal bias and belief system.
How does the New Testament present Jesus? Jesus is given to us as the Way and not as the life style. Because this was mentioned in the book of Acts when most of the earliest followers of Jesus were Jewish, it is likely they were using “followers of the Way” to describe how these Jewish disciples were looking to Jesus as their Halakah. Halakah is Hebrew for “way of walking” or it could be understood as a description of how we conform our daily lives to the way of God. For Christians, we may understand "followers of the Way" (from Acts) to mean that Jesus is the lens through which we understand the scripture.
What is the difference you might ask between Jesus as the way and Jesus as the life style? First, when Jesus is followed as “the Way,” we understand life through the lens of Jesus. Instead of evolving beyond our relationship with Jesus, we are always his disciples and he remains the Lord of Life. Although Jesus told his disciples that they would do greater works than he did, this was only true in the context of following the guidance of the Spirit that he promised to send his followers. (One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism)
Second, Jesus is the Way and he is the Savior. Do you see how weak it becomes by comparison to say that Jesus is the life style? The Savior saves us from our sins and from our human condition (“… as in Adam, all die.” This is the human condition.) The New Testament tells us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise for a Messiah who will deliver us from sin and death.
Jesus is Lord. Let us remember that for Jesus to be the Way and the Savior, he must first be acknowledged as our Lord. Anything less means that we will always be asserting our will over the will of God. Only when Jesus is Lord will we consistently pray: Let my will become your will, O God.
Jesus believed in resurrection. That is clear in the New Testament in so many ways. From the earliest chapters of Genesis we learn that life comes from God. Apart from God, the Adam (human) returns to dust. The breach in the relationship, depicted in the Garden of Eden, separated humanity from more than paradise. In the garden we lost our relationship with God. At the cross, that relationship is restored. In the resurrection, the victory over death is assured forever. I believe in the resurrection.
Do you believe in the resurrection? Did Easter Sunday draw you into this wonderful truth? Why not use this time to reaffirm Jesus as the Lord of your life, as your Savior and as the one, who through the Spirit, will guide you in life.
1 A small mountain in the Negev (the wilderness area in southern Israel) that a small cadre of scholars believe is the Mt. Sinai of Moses time.
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