He is risen.
Dr. Joshua Parker folded his long legs under him and
settled into the pew after the last song ended.
He picked up his well-worn New American Standard Bible and smiled as his
father, Benjamin Parker, walked up to the pulpit. “Brother Ben,” as Baptists in a tri-state
area referred to his father, was a towering man in his early seventies with a
deep booming voice and an accent that had never left the Ozark ridges where he
had been born at the end of the Great Depression. It was Easter Sunday, and Josh smiled at the
thought that Dad’s new church was about to hear his signature sermon for the
very first time. It was a message that
lay at the core of everything his father had believed and taught over a
ministry that stretched nearly fifty years.
Josh had heard it many times growing up, and every year his father
polished it a bit, updated the pop culture references to fit his current
congregation, and then, in the language of the rural South, “rared back and let
them have it.” Josh watched as his dad began to speak.
“This
morning I want to talk to you about one of my favorite passages of
Scripture. But it isn’t because it is my
favorite that I want to talk to you about it.
It’s because I consider it to be the MOST important passage in all the
New Testament – arguably the most important passage in all of Scripture.” As Brother Ben’s golden tones resonated
throughout the crowded auditorium, the audience shifted its attention
slightly. Some leaned forward; others
redirected their gaze from the people around them to the tall figure in the
pulpit. Obviously the new pastor, whom
they had already come to respect and admire, had something important to say.
Casting his piercing gaze around the room,
Parker smiled, then lowered his eyes to the large print Bible before him –
although he could quote this passage from memory, he wanted to drive home the
fact that he was quoting the Bible verbatim: “From the Book of First
Corinthians, Chapter Fifteen, beginning in Verse One: Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel
which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by
which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance
what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised
on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Cephas,
then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five
hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have
fallen asleep; then He appeared to James,
then to all the apostles; and last of
all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I
am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I
persecuted the church of God.”
Looking
up, he posed a question: “Why would I call this so important? Simple. It is, first of all, the earliest written
account we have of those who actually saw the Risen Christ. Most scholars think the crucifixion was in 33
AD. Paul wrote these lines in 54 AD –
twenty-one years later, and at least ten years before Matthew, Mark, and Luke
began composing their gospels.
Obviously, he placed great weight on these words, because he described
them “as of first importance.” This simple account of the Resurrection was
foundational to everything Paul taught the churches throughout his long
ministry. But let me draw your attention
to an odd phrase here: “I delivered to you . . . what I also received.” What does Paul mean? Well, when rabbis used that phrase, it was to
indicate that the teaching they were about to impart was something someone else
had taught them. And the list of
witnesses that followed is arranged in simple Greek verse form so it could be
easily memorized. This wasn’t just a random bit of trivia that someone taught
to Paul: it appears to be one of the very first catechisms composed by the
early church. So when would someone have
taught Paul about how many people witnessed the Resurrection? What opportunity did he have to meet the
original disciples who were there in Jerusalem that first Easter morning? The answer can be found in Paul’s very first
letter, which we call The Book of Galatians, written about six years before his
letters to Corinth. In his account of
his conversion, Paul explains: “Three years later” – that is, after his
conversion on the Damascus road – “I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted
with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days.”
Now of course, Cephas is the Greek form of Simon Peter. What makes this so critical? The timing, my friends. Paul was converted only a few years – maybe
two or three at most – after the Crucifixion.
And three years after that, he is in Jerusalem, visiting Simon
Peter. That would place this visit about
five or six years after Jesus was crucified.
Nearly all the eyewitnesses were still alive at this point! And not just
the friendly eyewitnesses either. The
men who crucified Jesus were still present, and most of them still in
power. The members of the angry mob that
arrested him were still around, as would have been some of the soldiers who
guarded the tomb.”
Parker
paused, gathering steam. In his pew,
Josh watched with interest. His dad had
them now. Every eye in the place was on
the pulpit. This was not just another
tame old Easter sermon, this was thought provoking stuff! The elder Parker continued: “Now, we have
grown up in the church, most of us. We
have had the Easter story recited to us every year since we were toddlers. And most of us have never questioned it at
all. So the incredible import of what Paul is telling us here is easy to
miss! Let me put it to you this way:
suppose that, around the summer of 1969 or 1970, I showed up in Dealey Plaza
down in Dallas. Then I found myself a
soapbox and began to talk about what had happened there just six years
earlier. Imagine if I said: “Yes, my
friends, it was right here, in this very spot, that President Kennedy’s
motorcade passed through town. And three
shots rang out, one of which pierced his brain and took his life. And he was buried in a lavish tomb in
Arlington National Cemetery that Monday, as all the world looked on. Then, three days later, he rose from the
dead, and he appeared – first to Bobby, then to the Cabinet. After that he appeared to LBJ, alone, then to
the cabinet again, and then to over 500 witnesses at the same time – most of
whom are still alive today! Last of all,
I saw him myself, right on I-30 between here and Texarkana! How do you think THAT would go over?” he
thundered.
The
audience was trying to process this.
Some of the younger ones laughed out loud, while many older ones scowled
at the pastor, wondering what he was getting at. Josh, who had heard this illustration many
times before, was nonetheless moved by it all over again. His father’s voice crackled across the
assembly: “They’d start measuring me for a rubber room, wouldn’t they? Because
they understood a fundamental truth in Dallas in 1970, just the same as they
understood it in Jerusalem in 40 AD – Dead people STAY dead!” Now they got it. Many in the audience began to nod; others
looked stunned as they processed what they were being told.
“Yet
right there in Jerusalem, the town that murdered Jesus, in the stronghold of
his enemies, the early church was not only proclaiming his resurrection, they
were giving a whole list of everyone who had seen him! And fifteen years later,
Paul was still able to say that most of the eyewitnesses were still alive! Now listen carefully, folks – there was only
ONE way that the early church could have gotten away with proclaiming such an
outrageous tale in the seat of Jesus’ enemies – and that was if even his
enemies knew the story to be true! After
all, if his body were still in that tomb that James Cameron says he found, all
the Pharisees and Roman authorities would have had to do would be exhume the
body and drag it through the streets of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Christianity would have been murdered in its
cradle! But they couldn’t do that, now
could they? Because the body was – not –
there.
Brother
Ben looked slowly around the room. “I put it to you today, my friends, that
Paul got it absolutely right. The world
has been doing its best to put Jesus back in that tomb for 2,000 years because
they understand what many Christians forget: that if Jesus did not rise from
the dead, our faith is based on a lie. Our belief is not in a risen Savior, but
a desiccated corpse. If Jesus did not
rise from the dead on the third day, we might as well tear down the church and
build a bowling alley, for all the good we are doing anyone!” He paused for the last time. “But that isn’t
the case, is it? We serve a living,
risen Lord! And because He was powerful
enough to conquer the grave two thousand years ago, He is powerful enough to
handle whatever you are struggling with today!
He holds out His hand to you this morning, offering to take your burden,
to forgive your sin, to cleanse your life, and to make you a new creature! All you have to do – is TAKE IT!”
No comments:
Post a Comment