Today is Easter Sunday, Christians around the world will follow a tradition dating back to the first century, proclaiming:
Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed!
This belief is the centerpiece of our faith. In “Recovering the Strangeness of Easter,” Robert Barron, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, acknowledges it is a strange belief, noting attempts over the last two millennia to discredit it. Yet the first century Christians staked their lives (and many died martyrs’ deaths), proclaiming the literal resurrection of Christ. Barron observes,
If the grave of a hero is customarily a place of serene contemplation, this one is so disturbing that people run from it….It is imperative that Christians recover the sheer strangeness of the Resurrection of Jesus and stand athwart all attempts to domesticate it.
For those who are tempted to explain away the resurrection as a myth, Barron reminds us of C. S. Lewis’ taunt that those making this claim do not understand myths. Unlike the stories that begin, “Once upon a time,” or more recently, “A long time ago, in galaxy far, far away,” the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is rooted in a particular time and place. We know details such as His birth occurring in Nazareth, when Quirinius was governor of Syria and Augustus the Emperor of Rome.
Furthermore, the Apostle Paul used the Greek word, evangelion, or “good news” to describe the message of the resurrection. In fact, this phrase was the same one first century Greco-Romans used to proclaim Caesar’s imperial victories. It would have been nonsensical for Paul to use if he knew Christ’s resurrection was merely a myth (nor would he have left his cushy position to be abused, imprisoned and ultimately killed for a myth).
The reality of the risen Christ has many implications that Christians have been grappling with over the last 2,000 years. Barron focuses on three: First, Jesus demonstrated his preeminence over the governing authorities. In fact, the phrase Christians often use, “Jesus is Lord,” was a twist on the more common first century expression, proclaiming, “Caesar is Lord.” Second, the resurrection ratified the extraordinary claims Christ made about himself and drives Christians to make Him the unambiguous center of our lives.
Finally, the resurrection demonstrates God sacrificial love triumphs over the depths of human depravity. Barron concludes, “In the Resurrection of Jesus, God has won the victory over sin, over corruption and injustice, over death itself.”
He showed his wounds and he spoke the word Shalom, peace. On the one hand, Christians should not forget the depth of human depravity, the sin that contributed to the death of the Son of God….But on the other hand, we know that God’s love, his offer of Shalom, is greater than any possible sin of ours.