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April 16, 2006

The empty tomb doesn't convince me

Let's face it, Mary wasn't convinced by the empty tomb - she thought the gardener had stolen the body. And Peter wasn't convinced by the empty tomb either - he just couldn't work out what was going on. And the rest of the disciples simply dismissed the whole thing.

What did convince them all was meeting the risen Christ.

A world-changing event
Do you remember where you were when you heard about 9-11? An event so momentous that it changed the world?

Well, the disciples and Mary, and later Paul, would never forget being witnesses to this world-changing event - an event so huge that it re-shaped their understanding of reality, history, and the meaning of their own lives. It meant that that this world is not all there is, and that death is not the final word. It meant that Jesus was who he said he was, and that God was intervening in human history to throw open the doors of the kingdom of heaven to everyone.

A first-hand testimony
And this was the story they told - the story of meeting - and eating with - the physical, risen Jesus, with the wounds in his hands and feet, yet able to appear and disappear. Not some story of an empty tomb, and some hobbled-together conclusions, but their own experience of meeting the risen Christ. Paul reassures doubters about the resurrection by referring them to over 500 people who saw him alive again after the crucifixion.

As Rowan Williams has pointed out, this is not a reality that is threatened by a third-hand, second-century story - let alone a 21st-century novel.

As the disciples told the story of Jesus, the world was turned upside-down, because these were people who were actually living as though it were true - loving and serving one another, giving up their goods to help the needy, and suffering and dying for the message. They were no longer living for the prestige, possessions, and pleasures of this world that so many of us today who call ourselves Christians still pursue.

A life-changing reality
The resurrection of Christ gives hope to us all. It offers the Muslim assurance that there is forgiveness. It offers the poor and downtrodden the promise that the suffering of this world is not all there is. And it offers to each of us the foretaste of God's new reality, the future made present, where we can begin to experience freedom from fear, shame, rejection, and slavery to destructive habits.

All of this is for us in Christ, if we will come to him to receive it. For we too can meet the risen Christ.

But the resurrection also declares that we can no longer live as though this world is all there is. And for those of us who do have the possessions, comforts, and power that this world offers, that is a challenge. For Jesus lays claim to our allegiance, and assures us that real life is not found in the abundance of stuff or adrenaline rushes we have, but in giving all for him. Shall we then live for Christ? Or shall we claim his name, but continue to pursue our own prosperity, pleasure, and preference?

"He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." (2Cor 5:15)

A wonderful message

Christ is risen! - He is risen indeed!

I am convinced that Christ is risen, and that his resurrection offers hope for the world. May God help us today to rejoice again in the wonder of this world-changing truth, and to give ourselves to live as though it were as true as it actually is!

Tags: jesus christ jesus christ easter resurrection empty tomb death meaning of life

Posted by Keith at April 16, 2006 07:12 PM